Title 33, Title 33 Practice and Procedure

Probate courts shall also have the power to grant petitions of executors, administrators, or guardians for leave to lay out, make, or dedicate highways, streets, or gangways upon lands of the deceased or ward, and to plat those lands into house lots, with streets, gangways, or op…

In granting any petition under any of the preceding sections, the court may impose such conditions, in addition to those imposed by law, as it may see fit.

Every executor, administrator, or guardian making a sale as provided in this chapter may, by virtue of his or her authority, make and execute, in due form of law, conveyances of the real estate sold; and the conveyances shall make as good title to the purchaser as the testator or…

A guardian appointed within this state, whose ward leaves or resides out of the state, may sell the real property of his or her ward and transfer and pay over the whole or any part of the proceeds or of the ward’s personal property to a guardian, trustee, or committee appointed b…

Guardians, after giving notice as required upon petition for leave to sell real estate, may be authorized by probate courts to release and discharge a vested, contingent or possible right or interest in or to real estate, upon such terms and conditions as may appear to the courts…

Probate courts may authorize executors, administrators, and guardians, after notice to all persons interested as provided, or upon the assent of all interested persons, filed in court, to sell and convey or release, upon the terms and in such manner as the courts may order, lots …

Probate courts may authorize guardians appointed or approved by them to exchange any lot of their wards in any burial ground or cemetery within this state, or any right or interest of their wards in any burial or cemetery lot, for any lot, right, or interest in the lot or in any …

A mortgage given by an executor, administrator, or guardian, under leave from a probate court, may contain such powers of sale, conditions and covenants as are usual in mortgages taken by savings banks in this state. Notes secured by, and covenants contained in, mortgages given b…

No sale of real estate made by an executor, administrator, or guardian, under decree of a probate court, and no title under the sale, shall be avoided because the deed was not delivered within one year after the decree, or on account of any irregularity in the proceedings, if it …

If the validity of a sale is drawn in question by a person claiming adversely to the title of the deceased or of the ward, or claiming under a title that is not derived from or through the deceased or the ward, the sale shall not be held to be void on account of any irregularity …

Surplus proceeds arising from the sale or mortgage of the real estate of a deceased person by an executor or administrator, or from the sale or mortgage of the real estate of a ward by his or her guardian, remaining on the settlement of the final account of the executor, administ…

Every executor, administrator, and guardian authorized to sell real estate by decree of court shall be required, upon application to the probate court by an heir, creditor, ward, or other person interested in the estate, to make answer, upon oath, as to all matters touching his o…

In settling the accounts of executors, administrators, and guardians, the probate courts shall examine and adjudge whether they have complied with the law and the directions of the court in regard to the sale or mortgage of real estate.

The probate court which appointed or approved a guardian, upon the petition of the guardian, setting forth a description of the real estate which it is proposed to lease, upon hearing, after the notice as the court shall order, may authorize the guardian to give a written lease o…

If any person who resides out of the state, but within the United States, is under guardianship in the state, territory, or district where he or she resides, and has no guardian appointed in this state, the foreign guardian may file a copy of his or her appointment, duly authenti…

(a) “Guardian” as used in § 33-19-27 shall be deemed to include a guardian, conservator, curator, committee, or trustee, and any other fiduciary having substantially the same powers and duties as a guardian, conservator, curator, committee, or trustee, with reference to the estat…

The probate court which issued letters testamentary, of administration, guardianship, or conservatorship may grant authority to an executor or administrator to sell the real estate of a deceased person, or to a guardian or conservator to sell the real estate of his or her ward, f…

If in any case it appears to the court to be necessary to sell only a part of the real estate described, but that by the partial sale, the residue of the estate or of some part thereof would be greatly injured, the court may authorize the sale of the whole of the estate or such p…

When a decree is granted by a probate court authorizing a sale or mortgage of real estate of a deceased person, or of a person under guardianship, the adjudication of the court that the sale or mortgage is required shall be final so far as it may affect any title acquired by virt…

Every license granted by a probate court to sell real estate shall continue in force for one year, and every license to mortgage real estate shall continue in force for six (6) months, from the date of the decree; but the conveyance may be executed and delivered after these perio…

Every executor or administrator empowered to sell or mortgage real estate as provided in § 33-19-3 shall, before making the sale or mortgage, give bond with a surety or sureties satisfactory to the court that he or she will apply the proceeds of the sale or mortgage to the purpos…

Every guardian empowered to sell or mortgage as provided in this chapter shall, before making the sale or mortgage, give bond with a surety or sureties satisfactory to the court that he or she will apply the proceeds of the sale or mortgage to the purposes for which the sale or m…

The probate court may authorize executors, administrators, and guardians, at their option, to sell real estate of a deceased or of a ward, either at public auction or by private contract. The court, on petition with notice, if satisfied that the action will not be prejudicial to …

(a) If a resident of this state, having property in this state, has disappeared, has been absent from his or her usual place of residence, his or her whereabouts have been unknown for more than one year, and he or she has left no agent in charge of his or her property, the court …

At any time upon petition signed by the absentee, or on petition of any attorney in fact acting under an adequate power of attorney granted by the absentee, the court shall direct the termination of the conservatorship and the transfer of all property held under the conservatorsh…

Any personalty remaining in the hands of the probate court under the provisions of this chapter after payment of all claims on the absentees’ estate, if there are no heirs or next of kin known to be surviving, shall be subject to the provisions of chapters 21 and 21.1 of this tit…

The court before appointing a receiver shall give at least thirty (30) days’ notice by publication in one or more newspaper published in the state, in the manner provided for petitions for appointment of administrators, and by mailing a copy of the notice to the last known addres…

During such time as the United States shall be engaged in any war, the term “last known address”, as used in § 33-20-2, shall be construed to mean the last known address within the confines of the United States.

Any person may appear and show cause why the prayer of the petitioner should not be granted. If a receiver is appointed, he or she shall give bond to the probate court in such sum and with such conditions as the court orders, with surety satisfactory to the court.

The court may make orders for the care, custody, leasing, and investing of the property and its proceeds. The court may order livestock or perishable property, or any property, which cannot be kept without great and disproportionate expense, to be sold at public or private sale. …

The probate court may authorize the receiver to apply the income of the property, and if the income is insufficient, then the property or the proceeds of any sale thereof, in payment of charges incurred, or that may be incurred, in the support and maintenance of the absentee’s wi…

The receiver shall be allowed such compensation and such disbursements, to be paid out of the income, property, or proceeds, as the probate court may approve.

Whenever a person, hereinafter referred to as an absentee, who while serving in or with the armed forces of the United States, or while serving as a merchant seaman, has been reported or listed as missing, or missing in action, or interned in a neutral country, or beleaguered, be…

The court shall have full discretionary authority to appoint any suitable person as conservator and may require the conservator to post an adequate surety bond and to make such reports as the court may deem necessary. The conservator shall have the same powers and authority as th…

Whenever any person shall die leaving any real estate within this state, and shall leave no heir or legal representative to claim the real estate, the town council of the town in which the real estate is located may direct the town treasurer of the town to take the property into …

The town treasurer shall keep an exact record of his or her proceedings under the provisions of this chapter.

If any person shall appear to be in possession of any real estate of one dying without known heirs or other legal representatives as provided in § 33-21-1, and shall on request refuse to deliver or surrender possession of the real estate to the town treasurer directed as provided…

Whenever any real estate shall be taken into possession by any town treasurer pursuant to this chapter, the real estate shall be subject and liable to the payment of the debts of the deceased to whom it belonged, as liens on the property; and these liens may be established and en…

Whenever a town shall have been in possession of any real estate under the provisions of § 33-21-1 for ten (10) years without any person having claimed the same as heir at law, devisee, legatee, or legal representative of the deceased person, and shall, by complaint setting forth…

The proceeds of a sale, and the balance of any proceeds after proceedings by creditors under § 33-21-4, over and above all expenses incurred by the town, shall be held by the town and be accounted for in the same way and be held for the same uses as the real estate would have bee…

All postal savings system accounts created by the deposits of persons whose last known addresses are in this state which have not been claimed by the persons entitled thereto before May 1, 1971, are presumed to have been abandoned by their owners and are declared to escheat and b…

The general treasurer shall request from the bureau of accounts of the United States treasury department records providing the following information: the names of depositors at the post offices of this state whose accounts are unclaimed, their last addresses as shown by the recor…

(a) The general treasurer may bring proceedings in the superior court for Providence and Bristol counties to escheat unclaimed postal savings system accounts held by the United States treasury department. A single proceeding may be used to escheat as many accounts as may be avail…

The general treasurer shall notify depositors whose accounts are to be escheated as follows: (1) A letter advising that a postal savings system account in the name of the addressee is about to be escheated and setting forth the procedure by which a deposit may be claimed shall be…

The general treasurer shall present a copy of each final judgment of escheat to the United States treasury department for payment of the principal due and the interest computed under regulations of the United States treasury department. The payment received shall be deposited in …

This state shall indemnify the United States for any losses suffered as a result of the escheat of unclaimed postal savings system accounts. The burden of indemnification falls upon the fund into which the proceeds of the escheated accounts have been paid.