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30.1-12 General Provisions

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CHAPTER 30.1-12GENERAL PROVISIONS30.1-12-01. (3-101) Devolution of estate at death - Restrictions. The power of aperson to leave property by will, and the rights of creditors, devisees, and heirs to the person's<br>property, are subject to the restrictions and limitations contained in this title to facilitate the<br>prompt settlement of estates. Upon the death of a person, the decedent's real and personal<br>property devolves to the persons to whom it is devised by the decedent's last will or to those<br>indicated as substitutes for them in cases involving lapse, renunciation, or other circumstances<br>affecting the devolution of testate estate, or in the absence of testamentary disposition, to the<br>decedent's heirs, or to those indicated as substitutes for them in cases involving renunciation or<br>other circumstances affecting devolution of intestate estates, subject to homestead allowance,<br>exempt property, and family allowance, to rights of creditors, elective share of the surviving<br>spouse, and to administration.30.1-12-02.(3-102) Necessity of order of probate for will.Except as provided insection 30.1-23-01, to be effective to prove the transfer of any property or to nominate an<br>executor, a will must be declared to be valid by an order of informal probate or an adjudication of<br>probate by the court.30.1-12-03.(3-103) Necessity of appointment for administration.Except asotherwise provided in chapters 30.1-24 and 30.1-25, to acquire the powers and undertake the<br>duties and liabilities of a personal representative of a decedent, a person must be appointed by<br>order of the court, qualify, and be issued letters. Administration of an estate is commenced by<br>the issuance of letters.30.1-12-04.(3-104) Claims against decedent - Necessity of administration.Noproceeding to enforce a claim against the estate of a decedent or the decedent's successors may<br>be revived or commenced before the appointment of a personal representative.After theappointment and until distribution, all proceedings and actions to enforce a claim against the<br>estate are governed by the procedure prescribed by chapters 30.1-12 through 30.1-23. After<br>distribution, a creditor whose claim has not been barred may recover from the distributees as<br>provided in section 30.1-21-04 or from a former personal representative individually liable as<br>provided in section 30.1-21-05. This section has no application to a proceeding by a secured<br>creditor of the decedent to enforce the secured creditor's right to the secured creditor's security<br>except as to any deficiency judgment which might be sought therein.30.1-12-05.(3-105) Proceedings affecting devolution and administration -Jurisdiction of subject matter. Persons interested in decedents' estates may apply to the court<br>for determination in the informal proceedings provided in chapters 30.1-12 through 30.1-23 and<br>may petition the court for orders in formal proceedings within the court's jurisdiction, including<br>those described in chapters 30.1-12 through 30.1-23. The court has exclusive jurisdiction of<br>formal proceedings to determine how decedents' estates subject to the laws of this state are to<br>be administered, expended, and distributed, including actions to determine title to property<br>alleged to belong to the estate and of any action or proceeding in which property distributed by a<br>personal representative or its value is sought to be subjected to rights of creditors or successors<br>of the decedent.30.1-12-06. (3-106) Proceedings within the exclusive jurisdiction of court - Service -Jurisdiction over persons. In proceedings within the exclusive jurisdiction of the court where<br>notice is required by this title or by rule, and in proceedings to construe probated wills or<br>determine heirs which concern estates that have not been and cannot now be opened for<br>administration, interested persons may be bound by the orders of the court in respect to property<br>in or subject to the laws of this state by notice in conformity with section 30.1-03-01. An order is<br>binding as to all who are given notice of the proceeding though less than all interested persons<br>are notified.Page No. 130.1-12-07. (3-107) Scope of proceedings - Proceedings independent - Exception.Unless supervised administration as described in chapter 30.1-16 is involved, each proceeding<br>before the court is independent of any other proceeding involving the same estate. Petitions for<br>formal orders of the court may combine various requests for relief in a single proceeding if the<br>orders sought may be finally granted without delay. Except as required for proceedings which<br>are particularly described by other sections of chapters 30.1-12 through 30.1-23, no petition is<br>defective because it fails to embrace all matters which might then be the subject of a final order,<br>proceedings for probate of wills or adjudications of no will may be combined with proceedings for<br>appointment of personal representatives, and a proceeding for appointment of personal<br>representative is concluded by an order making or declining the appointment.30.1-12-08. (3-108) Probate, testacy, and appointment proceedings - Ultimate timelimit.No informal probate or appointment proceeding or formal testacy or appointmentproceeding, other than a proceeding to probate a will previously probated at the testator's<br>domicile and appointment proceedings relating to an estate in which there has been a prior<br>appointment, may be commenced more than three years after the decedent's death, except:1.If a previous proceeding was dismissed because of doubt about the fact of the<br>decedent's death, appropriate probate, appointment, or testacy proceedings may be<br>maintained at any time thereafter upon a finding that the decedent's death occurred<br>prior to the initiation of the previous proceeding and the applicant or petitioner has<br>not delayed unduly in initiating the subsequent proceedings.2.Appropriate probate, appointment, or testacy proceedings may be maintained in<br>relation to the estate of an absent, disappeared, or missing person for whose estate<br>a conservator has been appointed, at any time within three years after the<br>conservator becomes able to establish the death of the protected person.3.A proceeding to contest an informally probated will and to secure appointment of the<br>person with legal priority for appointment in the event the contest is successful may<br>be commenced within the later of twelve months from the informal probate or three<br>years from the decedent's death.4.An informal appointment or a formal testacy or appointment proceeding may be<br>commenced thereafter if no proceeding concerning the succession or estate<br>administration has occurred within the three-year period after the decedent's death,<br>but the personal representative has no right to possess estate assets as provided in<br>section 30.1-18-09 beyond that necessary to confirm title to the assets in the<br>successors to the estate and claims other than expenses of administration may not<br>be presented against the estate.5.A formal testacy proceeding may be commenced at any time after three years from<br>the decedent's death for the purpose of establishing an instrument to direct or<br>control the ownership of property passing or distributable after the decedent's death<br>from one other than the decedent when the property is to be appointed by the terms<br>of the decedent's will or is to pass or be distributed as a part of the decedent's estate<br>or its transfer is otherwise to be controlled by the terms of the decedent's will.These limitations do not apply to proceedings to construe probated wills or determine heirs of an<br>intestate.In cases under subsection 1 or 2, the date on which a testacy or appointmentproceeding is properly commenced shall be deemed to be the date of the decedent's death for<br>purposes of other limitations provisions of this title which relate to the date of death.30.1-12-09. (3-109) Statutes of limitation on decedent's claim for relief. No statute oflimitation running on a claim for relief belonging to a decedent which had not been barred as of<br>the date of the decedent's death applies to bar a claim for relief surviving the decedent's death<br>sooner than four months after death. A claim for relief which, but for this section, would have<br>been barred less than four months after death is barred after four months unless tolled.Page No. 2Document Outlinechapter 30.1-12 general provisions