Title 33, Title 33 Practice and Procedure

When a testator shall by will bequeath the use for life or for a term of years of any livestock, provisions, wearing apparel, or other personal property, which will necessarily be consumed by using, the bequest shall give to the legatee an absolute estate in the property so beque…

A general devise of the real estate of the testator, or of the real estate of the testator in any place or in the occupation of any person mentioned in his or her will, or otherwise described in a general manner, shall be construed to include any real estate or any real estate to…

When a person devises lands of which he or she is not seised, but in which he or she has a right of entry, or when a testator after making a will is disseised of lands devised by the will, the lands shall nevertheless pass to the devisee in like manner as they would have descende…

When any person to whom any real or personal estate shall be devised or bequeathed for any estate or interest not determinable at or before the death of that person, shall die in the lifetime of the testator, leaving issue, and any issue of that person shall be living at the time…

In case by any will or codicil any real or personal estate shall be charged with any debt or debts, and any creditor whose debt is so charged shall attest the execution of the will or codicil, the creditor, notwithstanding the charge, shall be admitted as a witness to prove the e…

Unless a contrary intention shall appear by the will, such real estate or interest therein as shall be comprised or intended to be comprised in any devise contained in the will, which shall fail or be void by reason of the death of the devisee in the lifetime of the testator with…

When a testator omits to provide in his or her will for any child of his or hers born after the execution of his or her will, either during his or her lifetime or after his or her death, or for any issue of a deceased child of his or hers dying after the execution of his or her w…

When a posthumous child, or a child, or the issue of a child, omitted in the will, takes under the provisions of § 33-6-23 a portion of the estate of a testator, that portion shall be taken equally from all the devisees and legatees in proportion to the value of what they respect…

In case the testator, by making a specific devise or bequest, has virtually exempted a devisee or legatee from liability to contribute with the others for the payment of debts, or if by any other provisions in his or her will he or she has prescribed or required an appropriation …

When a posthumous child, or a child, or the issue of a child, omitted in the testator’s will, takes under § 33-6-23 a portion of the estate of a testator, that portion of the estate shall, for all purposes of §§ 33-6-25 and 33-6-26, be considered as if it had been devised or bequ…

When a person liable to contribute according to the provisions of §§ 33-6-25 to 33-6-27 is insolvent or unable to pay his or her just proportion of the contribution required, the other persons liable to contribute shall be severally liable for the loss occasioned by the insolvenc…

In case any devisee or legatee who shall attest the execution of any will or codicil which shall hereafter be made shall die in the lifetime of the testator or before the probate of the will, the devisee or legatee shall be deemed to have been a legal witness to the execution of …

All real and personal property, not devised or bequeathed in the last will and testament of any person shall be distributed in the same manner as if the person had died intestate.

Title to real or personal property shall pass by will when the will has been finally proved; provided, however, that title to real estate situated in any town or city of this state other than that in which the will is proved shall not pass by will for the purpose of conveyance by…

Original wills shall be kept on file in the probate court where they were proved, and shall only be taken from the files by order of the court or under the provisions of statutes now or hereafter in force.

A devise, bequest, or appointment in a will validly executed under the provisions of this chapter may be made in form or substance to the trustee or trustees of a trust in writing executed by the testator or any other person or persons prior to and in existence at the time of the…

No person shall, on account of his or her being an executor of, or trustee under, a will, be incompetent to be admitted a witness to prove the execution of the will or codicil, or to prove the validity or invalidity thereof.

All questions arising as to the meaning, interpretation, or construction of a will executed outside the state, affecting real estate within this state, shall be determined according to the laws of this state.

Every will shall be construed, with reference to the real estate and personal estate comprised in it, to speak and take effect as if it had been executed immediately before the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention shall expressly appear by the will.

Whenever any real estate shall be devised without words of limitation, the devise shall be construed to pass the fee simple, or the other whole estate or interest which the testator had power to dispose of by will in the real estate, unless a contrary intention shall appear by th…

Where any real estate shall be devised to any trustee or executor, the devise shall be construed to pass the fee simple, or the other whole estate or interest which the testator had power to dispose of by will in the real estate, unless a definite term of years, absolute or deter…

Whenever a devise or bequest is made to one for life and thereafter to his or her issue in any will hereafter made, issue shall be construed to be the children of the life tenant living at his or her death, and the lineal descendants of those children as may have then died, as te…

Whenever it shall appear to a probate court, before which a purported will has been presented for probate, and whenever it shall appear to the superior court, before which a petition for probate of a will is pending on appeal, that a will cannot be proven as otherwise provided by…

The provisions of § 33-7-10, and the authority therein granted, shall be deemed to be supplemental to, and not in derogation of, the authority of the probate court and the superior court to act upon petitions for the probating of wills.

The superior court may authorize the persons named as executors in an instrument purporting to be the last will of a deceased person, or the administrator with the will annexed, at any time before a final decree approving the instrument as the last will of the deceased person is …

When the executors or administrators with the will annexed have in writing compromised any controversy as provided in § 33-7-12, they, or any party thereto, may file a civil action in the superior court for the county in which the will is pending for probate, praying the court to…

If a person under legal disability is a necessary party to a civil action, he or she shall be represented by his or her guardian, or by a guardian ad litem appointed by the court, who shall, in the name and in behalf of the party he or she represents, make and receive all proper …

If it shall appear to the court that any future contingent interests which would arise under the will, if admitted to probate, would be affected by the compromise, the court shall appoint some suitable person or persons to represent those interests in the proceedings. The court s…

The compromise, if found by the court under the circumstances to be just and reasonable in relation to the parties in being, and in its effect upon any future contingent interests that might arise under the will, and to any gifts to charities made in the will, shall be confirmed …

If the probate of the will in a case is pending on appeal in the superior court, the court may prove and allow the will, and the clerk of court shall certify and transmit for record copies of the decree admitting the will to probate, and copies of the compromise and the decree of…

Whenever the executor or any other person interested in any will, which has been finally proved and allowed in a probate court in any territory, district, or state of the United States, or in a probate court in any foreign country, shall produce a copy of the will and of the will…

Upon the request to record a foreign probated will, the court shall cause notice thereof to be given in the same manner as if the will was presented to the court for probate, so that any person may appear and show cause why the copy should not be filed and recorded.

If, at the hearing, no sufficient cause is shown to the contrary, the court may order the copy to be placed on file and recorded; provided, however, that, as to real estate in towns other than that in which the copy is filed and recorded, the title shall not pass, for the purpose…

Whenever a copy of any will which has been finally proved and allowed in any probate court in any territory, district, or state of the United States, or in any foreign country, shall be finally ordered to be filed and recorded in a probate court in this state pursuant to §§ 33-7-…

A person interested in a will which is operative without probate by the laws of the state or country where the testator had his or her domicile at the time of his or her death may produce to the probate court of any town in this state in which there is any property, real or perso…

The final probate of a will by the probate court, or on appeal, shall be conclusive as to its due execution.

The probate court in which an original will has been duly proved, allowed, and recorded may, after the expiration of the time within which an appeal may be taken from the decree admitting the will to probate, upon the petition of the executor, or of a legatee named in the will, o…

(a) The will of a nondomiciliary which upon probate may operate upon any property in the state and which is executed in the same manner as is prescribed for the execution of wills of Rhode Island residents under the laws of this state may be admitted to original probate in any pr…

In the absence of objection by anyone interested in the estate of a deceased person, the probate court may admit to probate a purported will or codicil of the deceased person upon oral testimony or affidavit in the following manner: (1) The oral testimony of any one of the subscr…

(a) Every person, other than a probate clerk, who has custody of a will shall, within thirty (30) days after notice of the death of the testator, deliver the will into the probate court which has jurisdiction of the probate thereof, or to the executors named in the will, who shal…

Upon complaint under oath, made to a probate court, by a person claiming to be interested in the estate of a person deceased against any one suspected of retaining, concealing, or conspiring with others to retain or conceal a will or testamentary instrument of the deceased, the c…

Any person who shall either during the life of the testator or after his or her death steal or for any fraudulent purpose destroy or conceal any will or other testamentary instrument, either before or after probate, shall be imprisoned in the adult correctional institutions for a…

The several city and town probate courts within the state are hereby authorized and directed to return all documents in their possession intended as last wills and testaments and accepted in accordance with the provisions of this chapter as follows: (1) A notice, by certified mai…

The will, duly executed, of any person who resides outside the state at the time of his or her death, may be proved before the probate court of any town where any property is situated upon which the will may operate.

If any of the executors named in a will are not parties to a petition for probate, the clerk of the probate court, upon probate of the will, shall forthwith notify by mail the executors who are not parties and whose post office addresses are known or can be ascertained.

Upon the probate of a will the probate court shall issue letters testamentary thereon to the executor named therein, if he or she is legally competent, and if he or she gives bond as by law required.