Minnesota Session Laws - 1992, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1992 

                        CHAPTER 423-H.F.No. 2572 
           An act relating to probate; altering the definition of 
          successors; amending Minnesota Statutes 1990, sections 
          353A.02, subdivision 21; 524.1-201; 524.3-303; and 
          524.3-308. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 353A.02, 
subdivision 21, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 21.  [OTHER ITEMS OF VALUE.] "Other items of value" 
means any real property, personal property, or interest in real 
or personal property not evidenced by or appropriately 
characterized as a security as that term is defined by section 
524.1-201, clause (37) (32).  
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 524.1-201, is 
amended to read: 
    524.1-201 [GENERAL DEFINITIONS.] 
    Subject to additional definitions contained in the 
subsequent articles which are applicable to specific articles or 
parts, and unless the context otherwise requires, in chapters 
524 and 525: 
    (1) "Application" means a written request to the registrar 
for an order of informal probate or appointment under article 
III, part 3. 
    (2) "Beneficiary," as it relates to trust beneficiaries, 
includes a person who has any present or future interest, vested 
or contingent, and also includes the owner of an interest by 
assignment or other transfer and as it relates to a charitable 
trust, includes any person entitled to enforce the trust. 
    (3) "Child" includes any individual entitled to take as a 
child under law by intestate succession from the parent whose 
relationship is involved and excludes any person who is only a 
stepchild, a foster child, a grandchild or any more remote 
descendant. 
    (4) "Claims" includes liabilities of the decedent whether 
arising in contract or otherwise and liabilities of the estate 
which arise after the death of the decedent including funeral 
expenses and expenses of administration. The term does not 
include taxes, demands or disputes regarding title of a decedent 
to specific assets alleged to be included in the estate, tort 
claims, foreclosure of mechanic's liens, or to actions pursuant 
to section 573.02. 
    (5) "Court" means the court or branch having jurisdiction 
in matters relating to the affairs of decedents.  This court in 
this state is known as the probate court or county court. 
    (6) "Conservator" means a person who is appointed by a 
court to manage the estate of a protected person. 
    (7) "Devise," when used as a noun, means a testamentary 
disposition of real or personal property and when used as a 
verb, means to dispose of real or personal property by will. 
    (8) "Devisee" means any person designated in a will to 
receive a devise.  In the case of a devise to an existing trust 
or trustee, or to a trustee on trust described by will, the 
trust or trustee is the devisee and the beneficiaries are not 
devisees. 
    (9) "Disability" means cause for a protective order as 
described by section 525.54. 
    (10) "Distributee" means any person who has received 
property of a decedent from the decedent's personal 
representative other than as a creditor or purchaser.  A 
testamentary trustee is a distributee only to the extent of 
distributed assets or increment thereto remaining in the 
trustee's hands.  A beneficiary of a testamentary trust to whom 
the trustee has distributed property received from a personal 
representative is a distributee of the personal representative.  
For purposes of this provision, "testamentary trustee" includes 
a trustee to whom assets are transferred by will, to the extent 
of the devised assets. 
    (11) "Estate" includes all of the property of the decedent, 
trust, or other person whose affairs are subject to this chapter 
as originally constituted and as it exists from time to time 
during administration. 
    (13) (12) "Fiduciary" includes personal representative, 
guardian, conservator and trustee. 
    (14) (13) "Foreign personal representative" means a 
personal representative of another jurisdiction. 
    (15) (14) "Formal proceedings" means those conducted before 
a judge with notice to interested persons. 
    (16) (15) "Guardian" means a person who has qualified as a 
guardian of a minor or incapacitated person pursuant to 
testamentary or court appointment, but excludes one who is 
merely a guardian ad litem. 
    (17) (16) "Heirs" means those persons, including the 
surviving spouse, who are entitled under the statutes of 
intestate succession to the property of a decedent. 
    (18) (17) "Incapacitated person" is as described in section 
525.54, other than a minor. 
    (19) (18) "Informal proceedings" means those conducted by 
the judge, the registrar, or the person or persons designated by 
the judge for probate of a will or appointment of a personal 
representative in accordance with sections 524.3-301 to 
524.3-311. 
    (20) (19) "Interested person" includes heirs, devisees, 
children, spouses, creditors, beneficiaries and any others 
having a property right in or claim against the estate of a 
decedent, ward or protected person which may be affected by the 
proceeding.  It also includes persons having priority for 
appointment as personal representative, and other fiduciaries 
representing interested persons.  The meaning as it relates to 
particular persons may vary from time to time and must be 
determined according to the particular purposes of, and matter 
involved in, any proceeding. 
    (22) (20) "Lease" includes an oil, gas, or other mineral 
lease. 
    (23) (21) "Letters" includes letters testamentary, letters 
of guardianship, letters of administration, and letters of 
conservatorship. 
    (25) (22) "Mortgage" means any conveyance, agreement or 
arrangement in which property is used as security. 
    (26) (23) "Nonresident decedent" means a decedent who was 
domiciled in another jurisdiction at the time of death. 
    (27) (24) "Organization" includes a corporation, government 
or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, 
trust, partnership or association, two or more persons having a 
joint or common interest, or any other legal entity. 
    (29) (25) "Person" means an individual, a corporation, an 
organization, or other legal entity. 
    (30) (26) "Personal representative" includes executor, 
administrator, successor personal representative, special 
administrator, and persons who perform substantially the same 
function under the law governing their status. "General personal 
representative" excludes special administrator. 
    (31) (27) "Petition" means a written request to the court 
for an order after notice. 
    (32) (28) "Proceeding" includes action at law and suit in 
equity. 
    (33) (29) "Property" includes both real and personal 
property or any interest therein and means anything that may be 
the subject of ownership. 
    (34) (30) "Protected person" is as described in section 
525.54, subdivision 2. 
    (36) (31) "Registrar" refers to the judge of the court or 
the person designated by the court to perform the functions of 
registrar as provided in section 524.1-307. 
    (37) (32) "Security" includes any note, stock, treasury 
stock, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of 
interest or participation in an oil, gas or mining title or 
lease or in payments out of production under such a title or 
lease, collateral trust certificate, transferable share, voting 
trust certificate or, in general, any interest or instrument 
commonly known as a security, or any certificate of interest or 
participation, any temporary or interim certificate, receipt or 
certificate of deposit for, or any warrant or right to subscribe 
to or purchase, any of the foregoing. 
    (38) (33) "Settlement," in reference to a decedent's 
estate, includes the full process of administration, 
distribution and closing. 
    (39) (34) "Special administrator" means a personal 
representative as described by sections 524.3-614 to 524.3-618. 
    (40) (35) "State" includes any state of the United States, 
the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and 
any territory or possession subject to the legislative authority 
of the United States. 
    (41) (36) "Successor personal representative" means a 
personal representative, other than a special administrator, who 
is appointed to succeed a previously appointed personal 
representative. 
    (42) (37) "Successors" means those persons, other than 
creditors, who are entitled to property of a decedent under the 
decedent's will, this chapter or chapter 525.  "Successors" also 
means a funeral director or county government that provides the 
funeral and burial of the decedent. 
    (43) (38) "Supervised administration" refers to the 
proceedings described in sections 524.3-501 to 524.3-505. 
    (44) (39) "Testacy proceeding" means a proceeding to 
establish a will or determine intestacy. 
    (45) (40) "Trust" includes any express trust, private or 
charitable, with additions thereto, wherever and however 
created.  It also includes a trust created or determined by 
judgment or decree under which the trust is to be administered 
in the manner of an express trust.  "Trust" excludes other 
constructive trusts, and it excludes resulting trusts, 
conservatorships, personal representatives, trust accounts as 
defined in chapter 528, custodial arrangements pursuant to 
sections 149.11 to 149.14, 318.01 to 318.06, 527.01 to 527.44, 
business trusts providing for certificates to be issued to 
beneficiaries, common trust funds, voting trusts, security 
arrangements, liquidation trusts, and trusts for the primary 
purpose of paying debts, dividends, interest, salaries, wages, 
profits, pensions, or employee benefits of any kind, and any 
arrangement under which a person is nominee or escrowee for 
another. 
    (46) (41) "Trustee" includes an original, additional, or 
successor trustee, whether or not appointed or confirmed by 
court. 
    (47) (42) "Ward" is as described in section 525.54, 
subdivision 1. 
    (48) (43) "Will" includes codicil and any testamentary 
instrument which merely appoints an executor or revokes or 
revises another will. 
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 524.3-303, is 
amended to read: 
    524.3-303 [INFORMAL PROBATE; PROOF AND FINDINGS REQUIRED.] 
    (a) In an informal proceeding for original probate of a 
will, the registrar shall determine whether: 
    (1) the application is complete; 
    (2) the applicant has made oath or affirmation that the 
statements contained in the application are true to the best of 
the applicant's knowledge and belief; 
    (3) the applicant appears from the application to be an 
interested person as defined in section 524.1-201(20) 524.1-201, 
clause (19); 
    (4) on the basis of the statements in the application, 
venue is proper; 
    (5) an original, duly executed and apparently unrevoked 
will is in the registrar's possession; 
    (6) any notice required by section 524.3-204 has been 
given; and 
    (7) it appears from the application that the time limit for 
original probate has not expired. 
    (b) The application shall be denied if it indicates that a 
personal representative has been appointed in another county of 
this state or except as provided in subsection (d) below, if it 
appears that this or another will of the decedent has been the 
subject of a previous probate order. 
    (c) A will which appears to have the required signatures 
and which contains an attestation clause showing that 
requirements of execution under section 524.2-502 or 524.2-506 
have been met shall be probated without further proof. In other 
cases, the registrar may assume execution if the will appears to 
have been properly executed, or the registrar may accept a sworn 
statement or affidavit of any person having knowledge of the 
circumstances of execution, whether or not the person was a 
witness to the will. 
     (d) Informal probate of a will which has been previously 
probated elsewhere may be granted at any time upon written 
application by any interested person, together with deposit of 
an authenticated copy of the will and of the statement probating 
it from the office or court where it was first probated. 
     (e) A will from a place which does not provide for probate 
of a will after death and which is not eligible for probate 
under subsection (a), may be probated in this state upon receipt 
by the registrar of a duly authenticated copy of the will and a 
duly authenticated certificate of its legal custodian that the 
copy filed is a true copy and that the will has become operative 
under the law of the other place. 
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 524.3-308, is 
amended to read: 
    524.3-308 [INFORMAL APPOINTMENT PROCEEDINGS; PROOF AND 
FINDINGS REQUIRED.] 
    (a) In informal appointment proceedings, the registrar must 
determine whether: 
    (1) the application for informal appointment of a personal 
representative is complete; 
    (2) the applicant has made oath or affirmation that the 
statements contained in the application are true to the best of 
the applicant's knowledge and belief; 
    (3) the applicant appears from the application to be an 
interested person as defined in section 524.1-201(20) 524.1-201, 
clause (19); 
    (4) on the basis of the statements in the application, 
venue is proper; 
    (5) any will to which the requested appointment relates has 
been formally or informally probated; but this requirement does 
not apply to the appointment of a special administrator; 
    (6) any notice required by section 524.3-204 has been 
given; 
    (7) from the statements in the application, the person 
whose appointment is sought has a priority entitlement to the 
appointment.  
    (b) Unless section 524.3-612 controls, the application must 
be denied if it indicates that a personal representative who has 
not filed a written statement of resignation as provided in 
section 524.3-610(c) has been appointed in this or another 
county of this state, that, unless the applicant is the 
domiciliary personal representative or the representative's 
nominee, the decedent was not domiciled in this state and that a 
personal representative whose appointment has not been 
terminated has been appointed by a court in the state of 
domicile, or that other requirements of this section have not 
been met. 
    Presented to the governor April 6, 1992 
    Signed by the governor April 8, 1992, 4:27 p.m.