Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                        CHAPTER 325-H.F.No. 123 
           An act relating to probate; providing for an increased 
          sum payable to a surviving spouse by affidavit; 
          allowing nursing home care costs to be a claim of the 
          same class as medical and hospital expenses; amending 
          Minnesota Statutes 1986, sections 181.58; and 
          524.3-805. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 181.58, is 
amended to read: 
    181.58 [SURVIVING SPOUSE PAID WAGES DUE.] 
    For the purposes of this section the word "employer" 
includes every person, firm, partnership, corporation, the state 
of Minnesota, all political subdivisions, and all municipal 
corporations.  
    If, at the time of the death of any person, an employer is 
indebted to the person for work, labor, or services performed, 
and no executor or administrator personal representative of the 
person's estate has been appointed, such employer shall, upon 
the request of the surviving spouse, forthwith pay this 
indebtedness, in such an amount as may be due, not exceeding the 
sum of $3,000 $10,000, to the surviving spouse.  The employer 
may in the same manner provide for payment to the surviving 
spouse of accumulated credits under the vacation or overtime 
plan or system maintained by the employer.  The employer shall 
require proof of claimant's relationship to decedent by 
affidavit, and require claimant to acknowledge receipt of such 
payment in writing.  Any payments made by the employer pursuant 
to the provisions of this section shall operate as a full and 
complete discharge of the employer's indebtedness to the extent 
of the payment, and no employer shall thereafter be liable 
therefor to the decedent's estate or the decedent's executor or 
administrator personal representative thereafter appointed. Any 
amounts so received by a spouse shall be considered in 
diminution of the allowance to the spouse under section 525.15.  
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 524.3-805, is 
amended to read: 
    524.3-805 [CLASSIFICATION OF CLAIMS.] 
    (a) If the applicable assets of the estate are insufficient 
to pay all claims in full, the personal representative shall 
make payment in the following order: 
    (1) costs and expenses of administration; 
    (2) reasonable funeral expenses; 
    (3) debts and taxes with preference under federal law; 
    (4) reasonable and necessary medical and, hospital, or 
nursing home expenses of the last illness of the decedent, 
including compensation of persons attending the decedent and 
including a claim filed pursuant to section 256B.15; 
     (5) reasonable and necessary medical, hospital, and nursing 
home expenses for the care of the decedent during the year 
immediately preceding death; 
    (5) (6) debts with preference under other laws of this 
state, and state taxes; 
    (6) (7) all other claims. 
    (b) No preference shall be given in the payment of any 
claim over any other claim of the same class, and a claim due 
and payable shall not be entitled to a preference over claims 
not due, except that if claims for expenses of the last illness 
involve only claims filed under section 246.53 for costs of 
state hospital care and claims filed under section 256B.15, 
claims filed under section 246.53 have preference over claims 
filed under section 256B.15. 
    Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Section 2 is effective the day following final enactment 
for claims filed on or after the effective date of section 2. 
    Approved May 29, 1987