Title 30, Administration of Estates

(a) Other than by filing of claims or the revivor of actions pending against the decedent at the time of the decedent's death, no suits shall be brought or other action taken by any creditor against the estate until the expiration of three (3) months from the issuance of letters,…

(a) To all suits instituted within three (3) months after issuance of letters, the administrator or executor shall plead the prematurity of the action in abatement, or, in default thereof, shall be held liable as for a devastavit, if the estate proves insolvent. (b) A judgment by…

Judgments obtained against the deceased in the deceased's lifetime may be revived without delay.

Nothing in part 3 of this chapter or § 30-2-501 shall be so construed as to exempt a personal representative from suit by either a creditor or a beneficiary for waste or misappropriation of the assets of the estate or other wrongful act in connection therewith, or to affect any e…

If a general sessions court judge's execution against an executor or administrator be returned “no property to be found,” the judge who rendered the judgment, or who holds the papers in the cause, shall, on suggestion and application of the plaintiff, the plaintiff's agent or att…

Upon the return of papers under § 30-2-505, scire facias shall be issued, and all other proceedings had for the satisfaction of the judgment, either out of the goods and chattels, lands and tenements of the defendant, in case the executor or administrator has wasted the assets, o…

The like proceeding as provided in § 30-2-506, shall be had in case of an execution issued after the death of the debtor, and returned “nothing to be found,” on a judgment recovered in the debtor's lifetime.

(a) (1) Within fifteen (15) months from the date of qualification, the personal representative shall make an accounting with the clerk of the court exercising probate jurisdiction in the county of the estate. If accountings have been waived by the decedent's will or other pleadin…

If any personal representative fails to settle the accounts or file a status report as prescribed in § 30-2-601, the clerk shall cite the personal representative to appear and settle on a given day, to be specified in the citation, and if the personal representative disobeys the …

(a) No account of any personal representative shall be taken until the clerk of the probate or chancery court, taking the account, or the personal representative or the personal representative's attorney has served the parties interested with notice of taking the account at least…

The clerk or commissioner may, and, when it seems to the clerk or commissioner necessary, shall examine the accounting party, upon oath, touching the representative's receipts and disbursements.

On sufficient cause shown by affidavit, the clerk may continue the settlement from time to time.

The clerk shall charge every accounting party with all sums of money the accounting party has received, or might have received by using due and reasonable diligence, and shall credit the accounting party with a reasonable compensation for services, and with disbursements supporte…

Any person interested in the estate may except to the account within a thirty-day period after it has been stated by the clerk, and, if dissatisfied with the clerk's decision on the exceptions, may within an additional thirty-day period appeal to the court. The clerk shall, withi…

Any person interested in any deceased person's estate as legatee, distributee, surviving spouse, creditor, or otherwise, may, at any time before final settlement of the estate, show by proof that the personal representative has not returned a complete inventory, and the article o…

(a) In any county having a population of five hundred thousand (500,000) or more according to the 2000 federal census or any subsequent federal census, when the court having probate jurisdiction finally settles an account, any person adversely affected by the settlement may appea…

The settlement, when so made, and recorded, shall be prima facie evidence in favor of the accounting party.

Besides the fees allowed to the clerk for the clerk's service, as provided in [former] § 8-21-701(28)-(30) [repealed] for taking and stating accounts, the clerk shall receive such further sum as the court of first instance or on appeal may allow, upon a confirmation of the settle…

After the settlement of any administrator's or executor's account, the probate court may compel the personal representative to pay into the office of the clerk the balance found against the personal representative, and may, on motion of the clerk or any surviving spouse, distribu…

(a) No executor or administrator shall neglect or refuse, for thirty (30) days after service of a subpoena, to appear before the clerk of the probate court and settle the accounts. (b) The clerk of the probate court shall return to the clerk of the circuit or criminal court, on o…

(a) For the purposes of this section, “persons interested in the estate” means all persons who may be entitled to receive, or who have received, any property or interest that is required to be included in the gross estate of a decedent, or any benefit whatsoever with respect to a…

(a) The personal representative and all persons whose consent is required to reach a binding settlement to be approved by the court may enter into a binding nonjudicial settlement agreement regarding any matter involving estate administration. (b) A nonjudicial settlement agreeme…

Upon the payment of all claims that are not contested and upon provision being made for expenses of administration, obligations on account of taxes and assessments that have not been settled, claims not due and undetermined contested claims, together with costs and expenses of li…

(a) Whenever the personal representative of the estate of any deceased person in this state is ready to make a final report and settlement, and is prevented or precluded from making final settlement, because there is no personal representative of the estate of a deceased distribu…

(a) Shares so placed in the state treasury shall not become the property of the state, but shall be and remain trust property demandable at any time by the owner or by the guardian of any owner, distributee or by the personal representative of any deceased owner. (b) Any person l…

Every legatee and distributee, or representative of a legatee or distributee, who applies for payment of that person's portion of the decedent's estate, or any part thereof, prior to the time provided by law, shall, before receiving the payment, give bond with two (2) or more suf…

The executor or administrator shall bring the bond into the proper court at the next session after its date, and it shall be spread on the minutes, and the original lodged in the office of the clerk, and the bond and the copy on the minutes shall have the verity and character of …

(a) Where an executor or administrator has pleaded fully administered, no assets, or not sufficient assets to satisfy the plaintiff's or complainant's demand, and that plea has been found in favor of the defendant, and judgment has been recovered against the defendant, to be levi…

Every person interested in the distribution of an estate shall execute to the executor, administrator, clerk, or person whose duty it is to distribute the estate, a receipt for that person's legacy, distributive share, or interest in the estate, upon payment of the same. It shall…

(a) Any distributee or legatee of the estate may, after the expiration of eighteen (18) months from the grant of letters, apply to the probate or chancery court of the county in which administration was taken out, to compel the payment of the distributee's or legatee's distributi…

An affidavit before a commissioner of this state, or before any consul or notary public, as to the pedigree or right as legatee or distributee of any person, may be received as prima facie evidence of the pedigree or right by any personal representative in case no contest arises.

(a) Affidavits duly sworn to upon the personal knowledge of the affiant before an officer entitled to administer oaths in the jurisdiction where the affidavit is made, setting forth any fact or facts concerning the relationship of any parties to persons deceased, or containing a …

(a) Whenever an executor, administrator with will annexed or a trustee is empowered under the will or trust of a decedent to satisfy a pecuniary bequest, devise or transfer in trust, in kind with assets at their value for federal estate tax purposes, that fiduciary, in order to i…

(a) When all the debts of any deceased person are paid in full, and the administrator or executor of the deceased persons has resigned, or is dead, and there is no person representing the deceased person as administrator or executor, and there are claims due the estate of the dec…

This part shall be known and may be cited as the “Uniform Absence as Evidence of Death and Absentees' Property Law.”

(a) A person absent from such person's place of residence and unheard of for seven (7) years or longer, whose absence is not satisfactorily explained, is presumed to be dead; provided, however, such presumption may be rebutted by proof. (b) Exposure to specific peril shall be con…

(a) No provisions concerning the effect to be given to evidence of absence or of death, in any policy of life or accident insurance or in the charter or bylaws of any mutual or fraternal insurance association executed or adopted after February 15, 1941, shall be valid. (b) (1) Wh…

(a) When a person domiciled in this state and having an interest in any form of property disappears and is absent from the person's place of residence without being heard of after diligent inquiry, upon application for a finding of such disappearance and absence and of the necess…

(a) Upon the filing of the application referred to in § 30-3-104, the court may for cause shown appoint a temporary receiver to take charge of the property of the absentee and conserve it pending hearing upon the application. Such temporary receiver shall qualify by giving bond i…

All notices required under this part shall be served upon all parties, ordered by the court to be served, in the manner prescribed by existing statutes or rules, except that in addition thereto the absentee shall be served by publication once a week for four (4) successive weeks …

(a) The court, upon application, may direct the receiver to make search for the absentee in any manner which the court may deem advisable, including any or all of the following methods:(1) By inserting in one or more suitable periodicals a notice requesting information from any p…

(a) At any time during the proceedings, upon application to the court and presentation of satisfactory evidence of the absentee's death, the court may make a final finding and decree that the absentee is dead, in which event the decree and a transcript of all of the receivership …

No action shall be brought by an absentee to recover any portion of the absentee's property after the final finding and judgment provided for in § 30-3-108.

(1) Upon the entry of any final finding and decree as provided in § 30-3-108, the court shall proceed to wind up the receivership and terminate the proceedings:(1) In the case of a finding under subsections (a) or (c) of § 30-3-108, that the absentee is dead:(A) By satisfying all…

The property remaining for distribution in accordance with § 30-3-110(2)(C), shall be distributed among those persons who would be entitled thereto under the laws of descent and distribution of this state had the absentee died intestate as of the date determined by the court in i…

(a) At the time of the distribution under § 30-3-111, the court may direct the payment to the beneficiaries of any sums due and unpaid under any policies of insurance upon the life of the absentee, if the claim is uncontested by the insurer. (b) If the claim is contested the cour…