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Key: (1) language to be deleted (2) new language

                            CHAPTER 472-H.F.No. 1659 
                  An act relating to probate; updating article 2 on 
                  intestacy, wills, and donative transfers; correcting a 
                  reference; recodifying the Minnesota multiparty 
                  accounts act; amending Minnesota Statutes 1992, 
                  sections 524.1-201; 524.2-101; 524.2-102; 524.2-103; 
                  524.2-104; 524.2-105; 524.2-106; 524.2-108; 524.2-109; 
                  524.2-110; 524.2-111; 524.2-113; 524.2-114; 524.2-301; 
                  524.2-302; 524.2-502; 524.2-504; 524.2-505; 524.2-507; 
                  524.2-508; 524.2-509; 524.2-512; 524.2-602; 524.2-603; 
                  524.2-604; 524.2-605; 524.2-606; 524.2-607; 524.2-608; 
                  524.2-609; and 524.2-701; proposing coding for new law 
                  in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 524; repealing 
                  Minnesota Statutes 1992, sections 524.2-112; 
                  524.2-201; 524.2-202; 524.2-203; 524.2-204; 524.2-205; 
                  524.2-206; 524.2-207; 524.2-503; 524.2-610; 524.2-612; 
                  524.3-905; 525.15; 525.151; 525.22; 525.221; and 
                  525.223. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, 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) (2) "Application" means a written request to the 
        registrar for an order of informal probate or appointment under 
        article III, part 3. 
           (2) (3) "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) (5) "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) (6) "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) (7) "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) (8) "Conservator" means a person who is appointed by a 
        court to manage the estate of a protected person.  
           (9) "Descendant" of an individual means all of the 
        individual's descendants of all generations, with the 
        relationship of parent and child at each generation being 
        determined by the definition of child and parent contained in 
        this section. 
           (7) (10) "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) (11) "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) (12) "Disability" means cause for a protective order as 
        described by section 525.54. 
           (10) (13) "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) (14) "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. 
           (12) (16) "Fiduciary" includes personal representative, 
        guardian, conservator and trustee. 
           (13) (17) "Foreign personal representative" means a 
        personal representative of another jurisdiction. 
           (14) (18) "Formal proceedings" means those conducted before 
        a judge with notice to interested persons. 
           (15) (20) "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. 
           (16) (21) "Heirs" means those persons, including the 
        surviving spouse, who are entitled under the statutes of 
        intestate succession to the property of a decedent. 
           (17) (22) "Incapacitated person" is as described in section 
        525.54, other than a minor. 
           (18) (23) "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. 
           (19) (24) "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. 
           (20) (27) "Lease" includes an oil, gas, or other mineral 
        lease. 
           (21) (28) "Letters" includes letters testamentary, letters 
        of guardianship, letters of administration, and letters of 
        conservatorship. 
           (22) (30) "Mortgage" means any conveyance, agreement or 
        arrangement in which property is used as security. 
           (23) (31) "Nonresident decedent" means a decedent who was 
        domiciled in another jurisdiction at the time of death. 
           (24) (32) "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. 
           (25) (35) "Person" means an individual, a corporation, an 
        organization, or other legal entity. 
           (26) (36) "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. 
           (27) (37) "Petition" means a written request to the court 
        for an order after notice. 
           (28) (38) "Proceeding" includes action at law and suit in 
        equity. 
           (29) (39) "Property" includes both real and personal 
        property or any interest therein and means anything that may be 
        the subject of ownership. 
           (30) (40) "Protected person" is as described in section 
        525.54, subdivision 2 1. 
           (31) (42) "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. 
           (32) (43) "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. 
           (33) (44) "Settlement," in reference to a decedent's 
        estate, includes the full process of administration, 
        distribution and closing. 
           (34) (45) "Special administrator" means a personal 
        representative as described by sections 524.3-614 to 524.3-618. 
           (35) (46) "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. 
           (36) (47) "Successor personal representative" means a 
        personal representative, other than a special administrator, who 
        is appointed to succeed a previously appointed personal 
        representative. 
           (37) (48) "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. 
           (38) (49) "Supervised administration" refers to the 
        proceedings described in sections 524.3-501 to 524.3-505. 
           (39) (51) "Testacy proceeding" means a proceeding to 
        establish a will or determine intestacy. 
           (40) (53) "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. 
           (41) (54) "Trustee" includes an original, additional, or 
        successor trustee, whether or not appointed or confirmed by 
        court. 
           (42) (55) "Ward" is as described in section 525.54, 
        subdivision 1. 
           (43) (56) "Will" includes codicil and any testamentary 
        instrument which merely appoints an executor or revokes or 
        revises another will. 
           Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-101, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-101 [INTESTATE ESTATE.] 
           Except as provided in sections 525.14 and 525.145, and 
        subject to the allowances provided in section 525.15, and the 
        payment of the expenses of administration, funeral expenses, 
        expenses of last illness, taxes, and debts, any part of the 
        estate of a decedent not effectively disposed of by the 
        decedent's will passes to the decedent's heirs as prescribed in 
        sections 524.2-102 to 524.2-114.  
           (a) Any part of a decedent's estate not effectively 
        disposed of by will passes by intestate succession to the 
        decedent's heirs as prescribed in this chapter, except as 
        modified by the decedent's will. 
           (b) A decedent by will may expressly exclude or limit the 
        right of an individual or class to succeed to property of the 
        decedent passing by intestate succession.  If that individual or 
        a member of that class survives the decedent, the share of the 
        decedent's intestate estate to which that individual or class 
        would have succeeded passes as if that individual or each member 
        of that class had disclaimed his or her intestate share. 
           Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-102, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-102 [SHARE OF THE SPOUSE.] 
           The intestate share of the a decedent's surviving spouse is:
           (1) if there is no surviving issue of the decedent, the 
        entire intestate estate; 
           (2) if there are surviving issue all of whom are issue of 
        the surviving spouse also, the first $70,000, plus one-half of 
        the balance of the intestate estate; 
           (3) if there are surviving issue one or more of whom are 
        not issue of the surviving spouse, one-half of the intestate 
        estate. the entire intestate estate if:  
           (i) no descendant of the decedent survives the decedent; or 
           (ii) all of the decedent's surviving descendants are also 
        descendants of the surviving spouse and there is no other 
        descendant of the surviving spouse who survives the decedent; 
           (2) the first $150,000, plus one-half of any balance of the 
        intestate estate, if all of the decedent's surviving descendants 
        are also descendants of the surviving spouse and the surviving 
        spouse has one or more surviving descendants who are not 
        descendants of the decedent, or if one or more of the decedent's 
        surviving descendants are not descendants of the surviving 
        spouse. 
           Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-103, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-103 [SHARE OF HEIRS OTHER THAN SURVIVING SPOUSE.] 
           The Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the 
        decedent's surviving spouse under section 524.2-102, or the 
        entire intestate estate if there is no surviving spouse, 
        passes as follows in the following order to the individuals 
        designated below who survive the decedent:  
           (1) to the issue of the decedent; any who are children of 
        the decedent take equally and others decedent's descendants by 
        representation; 
           (2) if there is no surviving issue descendant, to 
        the parent or decedent's parents equally if both survive, or to 
        the surviving parent; 
           (3) if there is no surviving issue descendant or parent, to 
        the issue descendants of the decedent's parents or either of 
        them by representation; 
           (4) if there is no surviving issue descendant, parent, 
        or issue descendant of a parent, but the decedent is survived by 
        one or more grandparents or descendants of grandparents, half of 
        the estate passes to the decedent's paternal grandparents 
        equally if both survive, or to the surviving paternal 
        grandparent, or to the descendants of the decedent's paternal 
        grandparents or either of them if both are deceased, the 
        descendants taking by representation; and the other half passes 
        to the decedent's maternal relatives in the same manner; but if 
        there is no surviving grandparent or descendant of a grandparent 
        on either the paternal or the maternal side, the entire estate 
        passes to the decedent's relatives on the other side in the same 
        manner as the half; 
           (5) if there is no surviving descendant, parent, descendant 
        of a parent, grandparent, or descendant of a grandparent, to the 
        next of kin in equal degree, except that when there are two or 
        more collateral kindred in equal degree claiming through 
        different ancestors, those who claim through the nearest 
        ancestor shall take to the exclusion of those claiming through 
        an ancestor more remote.  
           Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-104, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-104 [REQUIREMENT THAT HEIR SURVIVE DECEDENT FOR 120 
        HOURS.] 
           A person An individual who fails to survive the decedent by 
        120 hours is deemed to have predeceased the decedent for 
        purposes of descent of the homestead, exempt property, and 
        intestate succession, and the decedent's heirs are determined 
        accordingly.  If the time of death of the decedent or of the 
        person who would otherwise be an heir, or the times of death of 
        both, cannot be determined, and it cannot be is not established 
        that the person an individual who would otherwise be an heir has 
        survived the decedent by 120 hours, it is deemed that the person 
        individual failed to survive for the required period.  This 
        section is not to be applied where if its application would 
        result in a taking of intestate estate by the state under 
        section 524.2-105.  
           Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-105, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-105 [NO TAKER.] 
           If there is no taker under the provisions of sections 
        524.2-102 to 524.2-114 this article, the intestate estate passes 
        to the state. 
           Sec. 7.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-106, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-106 [REPRESENTATION.] 
           (a) [APPLICATION.] If representation is called for 
        by sections 524.2-102 to 524.2-114: this article, paragraphs (b) 
        and (c) apply. 
           (1) (b) [DECEDENT'S DESCENDANTS.] In the case of issue 
        descendants of the decedent, the estate is divided into as many 
        shares as there are surviving children of the decedent and 
        deceased children who left issue descendants who survive the 
        decedent, each surviving child receiving one share and the share 
        of each deceased child being divided among its issue descendants 
        in the same manner.  
           (2) (c) [DESCENDANTS OF PARENTS OR GRANDPARENTS.] In the 
        case of issue of the parents of the decedent (other than issue 
        of the decedent) the If, under section 524.2-103, clause (3) or 
        (4), a decedent's intestate estate or a part thereof passes by 
        "representation" to the descendants of the decedent's deceased 
        parents or either of them or to the descendants of the 
        decedent's deceased paternal or maternal grandparents or either 
        of them, the estate or part thereof is divided in the following 
        manner: 
           (1) In the case of descendants of the decedent's deceased 
        parents or either of them, the estate or part thereof is divided 
        into as many equal shares as there are (i) surviving heirs 
        descendants in the generation nearest degree of kinship and the 
        deceased persons in the same degree parents or either of them, 
        and (ii) deceased descendants in the same generation who left 
        issue who survived the decedent surviving descendants, if any. 
        Each surviving heir descendant in the nearest degree receiving 
        generation is allocated one share, and the share of each 
        deceased person in the same degree being divided among the 
        surviving descendants of each deceased person's children, and 
        the descendants of deceased children of that deceased 
        person descendant in the same generation are allocated one 
        share, to be divided in the same manner as specified in clause 
        (1) paragraph (b). 
           (2) In the case of descendants of the decedent's deceased 
        paternal or maternal grandparents or either of them, the estate 
        or part thereof is divided into as many equal shares as there 
        are surviving descendants in the generation nearest the deceased 
        grandparents or either of them that contains one or more 
        surviving descendants.  Each surviving descendant in the nearest 
        generation is allocated one share. 
           Sec. 8.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-108, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-108 [AFTERBORN AFTER-BORN HEIRS.] 
           Relatives of the decedent conceived before death but born 
        thereafter inherit as if they had been born in the lifetime of 
        the decedent.  An individual in gestation at a particular time 
        is treated as living at that time if the individual lives 120 
        hours or more after birth.  
           Sec. 9.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-109, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-109 [MEANING OF CHILD AND RELATED TERMS 
        ADVANCEMENTS.] 
           If, for purposes of intestate succession, a relationship of 
        parent and child must be established to determine succession by, 
        through, or from a person:  
           (1) An adopted person is the child of an adopting parent 
        and not of the natural parents except that adoption of a child 
        by the spouse of a natural parent has no effect on the 
        relationship between the child and that natural parent.  If a 
        parent dies and a child is subsequently adopted by a stepparent 
        who is the spouse of a surviving parent, any rights of 
        inheritance of the child or the child's issue from or through 
        the deceased parent of the child which exist at the time of the 
        death of that parent shall not be affected by the adoption.  
           (2) In cases not covered by clause (1), a person is the 
        child of the person's parents regardless of the marital status 
        of the parents and the parent and child relationship may be 
        established under the parentage act, sections 257.51 to 257.74. 
           (a) If an individual dies intestate as to all or a portion 
        of his or her estate, property the decedent gave during the 
        decedent's lifetime to an individual who, at the decedent's 
        death, is an heir is treated as an advancement against the 
        heir's intestate share only if: 
           (i) the decedent declared in a contemporaneous writing or 
        the heir acknowledged in writing that the gift is an 
        advancement; or 
           (ii) the decedent's contemporaneous writing or the heir's 
        written acknowledgment otherwise indicates that the gift is to 
        be taken into account in computing the division and distribution 
        of the decedent's intestate estate. 
           (b) For purposes of paragraph (a), property advanced is 
        valued as of the time the heir came into possession or enjoyment 
        of the property or as of the time of the decedent's death, 
        whichever first occurs. 
           (c) If the recipient of the property fails to survive the 
        decedent, the property is not taken into account in computing 
        the division and distribution of the decedent's intestate 
        estate, unless the decedent's contemporaneous writing provides 
        otherwise. 
           Sec. 10.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-110, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-110 [ADVANCEMENTS DEBTS TO DECEDENT.] 
           If a person dies intestate as to all the person's estate, 
        property given while living to an heir is treated as an 
        advancement against the latter's share of the estate only if 
        declared in a contemporaneous writing by the decedent or 
        acknowledged in writing by the heir to be an advancement.  For 
        this purpose the property advanced is valued as of the time the 
        heir came into possession or enjoyment of the property or as of 
        the time of death of the decedent, whichever first occurs.  If 
        the recipient of the property fails to survive the decedent, the 
        property is not taken into account in computing the intestate 
        share to be received by the recipient's issue, unless the 
        declaration or acknowledgment provides otherwise.  A debt owed 
        to a decedent is not charged against the intestate share of any 
        individual except the debtor.  If the debtor fails to survive 
        the decedent, the debt is not taken into account in computing 
        the intestate share of the debtor's descendants. 
           Sec. 11.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-111, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-111 [DEBTS TO DECEDENT ALIENAGE.] 
           A debt owed to the decedent is not charged against the 
        intestate share of any person except the debtor.  If the debtor 
        fails to survive the decedent, the debt is not taken into 
        account in computing the intestate share of the debtor's issue.  
        No individual is disqualified to take as an heir because the 
        individual or an individual through whom he or she claims is or 
        has been an alien. 
           Sec. 12.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-113, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-113 [PERSONS INDIVIDUALS RELATED TO DECEDENT THROUGH 
        TWO LINES.] 
           A person An individual who is related to the decedent 
        through two lines of relationship is entitled to only a single 
        share based on the relationship which that would entitle such 
        person the individual to the larger share. 
           Sec. 13.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-114, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-114 [INSTRUMENTS REFERENCING INTESTACY LAWS MEANING 
        OF CHILD AND RELATED TERMS.] 
           If a maker has executed a will or other instrument on or 
        before December 31, 1986, which directs disposition of all or 
        part of the estate pursuant to the intestacy laws of the state 
        of Minnesota, the laws to be applied shall be in accordance with 
        the laws of intestate succession in effect on or before December 
        31, 1986, unless the will or instrument directs otherwise.  If, 
        for purposes of intestate succession, a relationship of parent 
        and child must be established to determine succession by, 
        through, or from a person: 
           (1) An adopted person is the child of an adopting parent 
        and not of the natural parents except that adoption of a child 
        by the spouse of a natural parent has no effect on the 
        relationship between the child and that natural parent.  If a 
        parent dies and a child is subsequently adopted by a stepparent 
        who is the spouse of a surviving parent, any rights of 
        inheritance of the child or the child's descendant from or 
        through the deceased parent of the child which exist at the time 
        of the death of that parent shall not be affected by the 
        adoption. 
           (2) In cases not covered by clause (1), a person is the 
        child of the person's parents regardless of the marital status 
        of the parents and the parent and child relationship may be 
        established under the parentage act, sections 257.51 and 257.74. 
           Sec. 14.  [524.2-115] [INSTRUMENTS REFERENCING INTESTACY 
        LAWS.] 
           If a maker has executed a will or other instrument before 
        the effective date of this act which directs disposition of all 
        or part of the estate pursuant to the intestacy laws of the 
        state of Minnesota, the laws to be applied shall be in 
        accordance with the laws of intestate succession in effect on 
        the date of the will or other instrument, unless the will or 
        instrument directs otherwise. 
                                     Part 2 
                       ELECTIVE SHARE OF SURVIVING SPOUSE 
           Sec. 15.  [524.2-201] [DEFINITIONS.] 
           In this part:  
           (1) As used in sections other than section 524.2-205, 
        "decedent's nonprobate transfers to others" means the amounts 
        that are included in the augmented estate under section 
        524.2-205. 
           (2) "Interest in property held with right of survivorship" 
        means the severable interest owned by the person or persons 
        whose interest is being determined in property held in joint 
        tenancy or in other form of common ownership with a right of 
        survivorship.  The interest shall be identified and valued as of 
        the time immediately prior to the death of the decedent or the 
        date of the transfer which causes the property to be included in 
        the augmented estate, as the case may be.  In the case of an 
        account described in article VI, part 2, the severable interest 
        owned by the person is the amount which belonged to the person 
        determined under section 524.6-203.  In the case of property 
        described in article VI, part 3, the severable interest owned by 
        the person is the amount consistent with section 524.6-306.  
           (3) "Marriage," as it relates to a transfer by the decedent 
        during marriage, means any marriage of the decedent to the 
        decedent's surviving spouse.  
           (4) "Nonadverse party" means a person who does not have a 
        substantial beneficial interest in the trust or other property 
        arrangement that would be adversely affected by the exercise or 
        nonexercise of the power that he or she possesses respecting the 
        trust or other property arrangement.  A person having a general 
        power of appointment over property is deemed to have a 
        beneficial interest in the property.  
           (5) "Power" or "power of appointment" includes a power to 
        designate the beneficiary of an insurance policy or other 
        contractual arrangement.  
           (6) "Presently exercisable general power of appointment" 
        means a power possessed by a person at the time in question to 
        create a present or future interest in the person, in the 
        person's creditors, in the person's estate, or in the creditor 
        of the person's estate, whether or not the person then had the 
        capacity to exercise the power.  "General power of appointment" 
        means a power, whether or not presently exercisable, possessed 
        by a person to create a present or future interest in the 
        person, in the person's creditors, in the person's estate, or in 
        creditors of the person's estate.  
           (7) "Probate estate" means property that would pass by 
        intestate succession if the decedent dies without a valid will.  
           (8) "Property" includes values subject to a beneficiary 
        designation.  
           (9) "Right to income" includes a right to payments under a 
        commercial or private annuity, an annuity trust, a unitrust, or 
        a similar arrangement.  
           (10) "Transfer" includes:  (i) the exercise, release, or 
        lapse of a general power of appointment created by the decedent 
        alone or in conjunction with any other person, or exercisable by 
        a nonadverse party; and (ii) the exercise or release by the 
        decedent of a presently exercisable general power of appointment 
        created by someone other than the decedent.  "Transfer" does not 
        include the lapse, other than a lapse at death, of a power 
        described in clause (ii).  
           (11) "Bona fide purchaser" means a purchaser for value in 
        good faith and without notice or actual knowledge of an adverse 
        claim, or a person who receives a payment or other item of 
        property in partial or full satisfaction of a legally 
        enforceable obligation in good faith without notice of an 
        adverse claim.  In the case of real property located in 
        Minnesota purchased from a successor or successors in interest 
        of a decedent, the purchaser is without notice of an adverse 
        claim arising under this part or, if the decedent was not 
        domiciled in Minnesota at the time of death, arising under 
        similar provisions of the law of the decedent's domicile, unless 
        the decedent's surviving spouse has filed a notice in the office 
        of the county recorder of the county in which the real property 
        is located or, if the property is registered land, in the office 
        of the registrar of titles of the county in which the real 
        property is located, containing the legal description of the 
        property, a brief statement of the nature and extent of the 
        interest claimed, and the venue, title, and file number of the 
        proceeding for an elective share, if any has been commenced.  
        The registrar of titles is authorized to accept for registration 
        without production of the owner's duplicate of the certificate 
        of title any such notice which relates to registered land. 
           Sec. 16.  [524.2-202] [ELECTIVE SHARE.] 
           (a) [ELECTIVE SHARE AMOUNT.] The surviving spouse of a 
        decedent who dies domiciled in this state has a right of 
        election, under the limitations and conditions stated in this 
        part, to take an elective-share amount equal to the value of the 
        elective-share percentage of the augmented estate, determined by 
        the length of time the spouse and the decedent were married to 
        each other, in accordance with the following schedule: 
             If the decedent and the      The elective-share
               spouse were married to       percentage is:
               each other:
             Less than one year           Supplemental amount only
             One year but less than       Three percent of the
               two years                    augmented estate
             Two years but less than      Six percent of the
               three years                  augmented estate
             Three years but less than    Nine percent of the
               four years                   augmented estate
             Four years but less than     12 percent of the
               five years                   augmented estate
             Five years but less than     15 percent of the
               six years                    augmented estate
             Six years but less than      18 percent of the
               seven years                  augmented estate
             Seven years but less than    21 percent of the
               eight years                  augmented estate
             Eight years but less than    24 percent of the
               nine years                   augmented estate
             Nine years but less than     27 percent of the
               ten years                    augmented estate
             Ten years but less than      30 percent of the
               11 years                     augmented estate
             11 years but less than       34 percent of the
               12 years                     augmented estate
             12 years but less than       38 percent of the
               13 years                     augmented estate
             13 years but less            42 percent of the
               than 14 years                augmented estate
             14 years but less            46 percent of the
               than 15 years                augmented estate
             15 years or more             50 percent of the
                                            augmented estate
           (b) [SUPPLEMENTAL ELECTIVE-SHARE AMOUNT.] If the sum of the 
        amounts described in sections 524.2-207, 524.2-209, paragraph 
        (a), clause (1), and that part of the elective-share amount 
        payable from the decedent's probate estate and nonprobate 
        transfers to others under section 524.2-209, paragraphs (b) and 
        (c), is less than $50,000, the surviving spouse is entitled to a 
        supplemental elective-share amount equal to $50,000, minus the 
        sum of the amounts described in those sections.  The 
        supplemental elective-share amount is payable from the 
        decedent's probate estate and from recipients of the decedent's 
        nonprobate transfers to others in the order of priority set 
        forth in section 524.2-209, paragraphs (b) and (c). 
           (c) [EFFECT OF ELECTION ON STATUTORY BENEFITS.] If the 
        right of election is exercised by or on behalf of the surviving 
        spouse, the surviving spouse's homestead rights and other 
        allowances under sections 524.2-402, 524.2-403 and 524.2-404, if 
        any, are not charged against but are in addition to the 
        elective-share and supplemental elective-share amounts.  
           (d) [NONDOMICILIARY.] The right, if any, of the surviving 
        spouse of a decedent who dies domiciled outside this state to 
        take an elective share in property in this state is governed by 
        the law of the decedent's domicile at death. 
           Sec. 17.  [524.2-203] [COMPOSITION OF THE AUGMENTED 
        ESTATE.] 
           Subject to section 524.2-208, the value of the augmented 
        estate, to the extent provided in sections 524.2-204, 524.2-205, 
        524.2-206, and 524.2-207, consists of the sum of the values of 
        all property, whether real or personal, movable or immovable, 
        tangible or intangible, wherever situated, that constitute the 
        decedent's net probate estate, the decedent's nonprobate 
        transfers to others, the decedent's nonprobate transfers to the 
        surviving spouse, and the surviving spouse's property and 
        nonprobate transfers to others.  
           Sec. 18.  [524.2-204] [DECEDENT'S NET PROBATE ESTATE.] 
           The value of the augmented estate includes the value of the 
        decedent's probate estate, reduced by funeral and administration 
        expenses, the homestead, family allowances and exemptions, 
        liens, mortgages, and enforceable claims.  
           Sec. 19.  [524.2-205] [DECEDENT'S NONPROBATE TRANSFERS TO 
        OTHERS.] 
           The value of the augmented estate includes the value of the 
        decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, other than the 
        homestead, of any of the following types, in the amount provided 
        respectively for each type of transfer.  
           (1) Property owned or owned in substance by the decedent 
        immediately before death that passed outside probate at the 
        decedent's death.  Property included under this category 
        consists of:  
           (i) Property over which the decedent alone, immediately 
        before death, held a presently exercisable general power of 
        appointment.  The amount included is the value of the property 
        subject to the power, to the extent the property passed at the 
        decedent's death, by exercise, release, lapse, default, or 
        otherwise, to or for the benefit of any person other than the 
        decedent's estate or surviving spouse.  
           (ii) The decedent's interest in property held with the 
        right of survivorship.  The amount included is the value of the 
        decedent's interest, to the extent the interest passed by right 
        of survivorship at the decedent's death to someone other than 
        the decedent's surviving spouse.  
           (iii) Proceeds of insurance, including accidental death 
        benefits, on the life of the decedent, if the decedent owned the 
        insurance policy immediately before death or if and to the 
        extent the decedent alone and immediately before death held a 
        presently exercisable general power of appointment over the 
        policy or its proceeds.  The amount included is the value of the 
        proceeds, to the extent they were payable at the decedent's 
        death to or for the benefit of any person other than the 
        decedent's estate or surviving spouse.  
           (iv) The value payable after the decedent's death to or for 
        the benefit of any person other than the decedent's surviving 
        spouse of the proceeds of annuity contracts under which the 
        decedent was the primary annuitant.  The amount included is any 
        amount over which the person has an immediate right of 
        withdrawal after the decedent's death plus the commuted value of 
        other amounts payable in the future.  
           (v) The value payable after the decedent's death to or for 
        the benefit of any person other than the decedent's surviving 
        spouse of amounts under any public or private pension, 
        disability compensation, benefit, or retirement plan or account, 
        excluding the federal Social Security system.  The amount 
        included is any amount over which the person has an immediate 
        right of withdrawal after the decedent's death plus the commuted 
        value of other amounts payable in the future.  
           (2) Property transferred in any of the following forms by 
        the decedent during marriage, to the extent not included under 
        paragraph (1):  
           (i) Any irrevocable transfer in which the decedent retained 
        the right to the possession or enjoyment of, or to the income 
        from, the property if and to the extent the decedent's right 
        terminated at or continued beyond the decedent's death.  The 
        amount included is the value of the fraction of the property to 
        which the decedent's right related, to the extent the fraction 
        of the property passed outside probate to or for the benefit of 
        any person other than the decedent's estate or surviving spouse. 
           (ii) Any transfer in which the decedent created a general 
        power of appointment over income or property exercisable by the 
        decedent alone or in conjunction with any other person, or 
        exercisable by a nonadverse party.  The amount included with 
        respect to a power over property is the value of the property 
        subject to the power, and the amount included with respect to a 
        power over income is the value of the property that produces or 
        produced the income, to the extent in either case that the 
        property passed at the decedent's death to or for the benefit of 
        any person other than the decedent's estate or surviving 
        spouse.  If the power is a power over both income and property 
        and the preceding sentence produces different amounts, the 
        amount included is the greater amount.  
           (3) Property that passed during marriage and during the 
        two-year period next preceding the decedent's death as a result 
        of a transfer by the decedent if the transfer was of any of the 
        following types:  
           (i) Any property that passed as a result of the termination 
        of a right or interest in, or power over, property that would 
        have been included in the augmented estate under paragraph (1), 
        clause (i), (ii), (iv), or (v), or under paragraph (2), if the 
        right, interest, or power had not terminated until the 
        decedent's death.  The amount included is the value of the 
        property that would have been included under those paragraphs if 
        the property were valued at the time the right, interest, or 
        power terminated, and is included only to the extent the 
        property passed upon termination to or for the benefit of any 
        person other than the decedent or the decedent's estate, spouse, 
        or surviving spouse.  As used in this paragraph, "termination," 
        with respect to a right or interest in property, occurs when the 
        power is terminated by exercise, release, default, or otherwise, 
        but with respect to a power described in paragraph (1), clause 
        (i), "termination" occurs when the power is terminated by 
        exercise or release, but not otherwise.  
           (ii) Any transfer of or relating to an insurance policy on 
        the life of the decedent if the proceeds would have been 
        included in the augmented estate under paragraph (1), clause 
        (iii), had the transfer not occurred.  The amount included is 
        the value of the insurance proceeds to the extent the proceeds 
        were payable at the decedent's death to or for the benefit of 
        any person other than the decedent's estate or surviving spouse. 
           (iii) Any transfer of property, to the extent not otherwise 
        included in the augmented estate, made to or for the benefit of 
        a person other than the decedent's surviving spouse.  The amount 
        included is the value of the transferred property to the extent 
        the aggregate transfers to any one donee in either of the two 
        years exceeded $10,000.  
           Sec. 20.  [524.2-206] [DECEDENT'S NONPROBATE TRANSFERS TO 
        THE SURVIVING SPOUSE.] 
           Excluding the homestead and property passing to the 
        surviving spouse under the federal Social Security system, the 
        value of the augmented estate includes the value of the 
        decedent's nonprobate transfers to the decedent's spouse, which 
        consists of all property that passed outside probate at the 
        decedent's death from the decedent to the surviving spouse by 
        reason of the decedent's death that would have been included in 
        the augmented estate under section 524.2-205, paragraph (1) or 
        (2), had the property passed to or for the benefit of a person 
        other than the decedent's spouse, the decedent, or the 
        decedent's creditors, estate, or estate creditors.  
           Sec. 21.  [524.2-207] [SURVIVING SPOUSE'S PROPERTY AND 
        NONPROBATE TRANSFERS TO OTHERS.] 
           (a) [INCLUDED PROPERTY.] Except to the extent included in 
        the augmented estate under section 524.2-204 or 524.2-206, the 
        value of the augmented estate includes the value of:  
           (1) property, other than the homestead, that was owned by 
        the surviving spouse at the decedent's death, including the 
        surviving spouse's interest in property held with right of 
        survivorship; and 
           (2) property that would have been included in the surviving 
        spouse's nonprobate transfers to others, other than the spouse's 
        interest in property held with right of survivorship included 
        under clause (1), had the spouse been the decedent.  
           (b) [TIME OF VALUATION.] Property included under this 
        section is valued at the decedent's death, taking the fact that 
        the decedent predeceased the spouse into account, but, for 
        purposes of the surviving spouse's interest in property held 
        with right of survivorship included under paragraph (a), clause 
        (1), the value of the spouse's interest is determined 
        immediately before the decedent's death if the decedent was then 
        a joint tenant or a coowner of the property or accounts.  For 
        purposes of paragraph (a), clause (2), proceeds of insurance 
        that would have been included in the spouse's nonprobate 
        transfers to others under section 524.2-205, paragraph (1), 
        clause (iii), are not valued as if the spouse were deceased.  
           (c) [REDUCTION FOR ENFORCEABLE CLAIMS.] The value of 
        property included under this section is reduced by mortgages, 
        liens, and enforceable claims against the property or against 
        the surviving spouse.  
           Sec. 22.  [524.2-208] [EXCLUSIONS, VALUATION, AND 
        OVERLAPPING APPLICATION.] 
           (a) [EXCLUSIONS.] The value of any property is excluded 
        from the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others (i) to the 
        extent the decedent received adequate and full consideration in 
        money or money's worth for a transfer of the property, or (ii) 
        if the property was transferred with the written joinder of, or 
        if the transfer was consented to in writing by, the surviving 
        spouse.  
           (b) [PROTECTION OF BONA FIDE PURCHASERS.] A bona fide 
        purchaser who purchases property from a successor or successors 
        in interest of the decedent or from a transferee of the decedent 
        is neither obligated under this part to return the payment, item 
        of property, or benefit nor is liable under this part for the 
        amount of the payment or the value of the item of property or 
        benefit.  
           (c) [VALUATION.] The value of property:  
           (1) included in the augmented estate under section 
        524.2-205, 524.2-206, or 524.2-207 is reduced in each category 
        by mortgages, liens, and enforceable claims against the included 
        property; and 
           (2) includes the commuted value of any present or future 
        interest and the commuted value of amounts payable under any 
        trust, life insurance settlement option, annuity contract, 
        public or private pension, disability compensation, death 
        benefit or retirement plan, or any similar arrangement, 
        exclusive of the federal Social Security system.  The commuted 
        value of the surviving spouse's interest in a life estate or in 
        any trust shall be calculated as if worth one-half of the total 
        value of the property subject to the life estate, or of the 
        trust estate, unless higher or lower values for these interests 
        are established by proof.  
           (d) [OVERLAPPING APPLICATION; NO DOUBLE INCLUSION.] In case 
        of overlapping application to the same property of portions of 
        section 524.2-205, 524.2-206, or 524.2-207, the property is 
        included in the augmented estate under the provision yielding 
        the greatest value, and under only one overlapping provision if 
        they all yield the same value.  
           Sec. 23.  [524.2-209] [SOURCES FROM WHICH ELECTIVE SHARE 
        PAYABLE.] 
           (a) [ELECTIVE-SHARE AMOUNT ONLY.] In a proceeding for an 
        elective share, the following are applied first to satisfy the 
        elective-share amount and to reduce or eliminate any 
        contributions due from the decedent's probate estate and 
        recipients of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others:  
           (1) amounts included in the augmented estate under section 
        524.2-204 which pass or have passed to the surviving spouse by 
        testate or intestate succession and amounts included in the 
        augmented estate under section 524.2-206; 
           (2) amounts included in the augmented estate which would 
        have passed to the spouse but were disclaimed; and 
           (3) amounts included in the augmented estate under section 
        524.2-207 up to the applicable percentage thereof.  For the 
        purposes of this paragraph, the "applicable percentage" is twice 
        the elective-share percentage set forth in the schedule in 
        section 524.2-202, paragraph (a), appropriate to the length of 
        time the spouse and the decedent were married to each other.  
           (b) [UNSATISFIED BALANCE OF ELECTIVE-SHARE AMOUNT; 
        SUPPLEMENTAL ELECTIVE-SHARE AMOUNT.] If, after the application 
        of paragraph (a), the elective-share amount is not fully 
        satisfied or the surviving spouse is entitled to a supplemental 
        elective-share amount, amounts included in the decedent's 
        probate estate and in the decedent's nonprobate transfers to 
        others, other than amounts included under section 524.2-205, 
        paragraph (3), clause (i) or (iii), are applied first to satisfy 
        the unsatisfied balance of the elective-share amount or the 
        supplemental elective-share amount.  The decedent's probate 
        estate and that portion of the decedent's nonprobate transfers 
        to others are so applied that liability for the unsatisfied 
        balance of the elective-share amount or for the supplemental 
        elective-share amount is equitably apportioned among the 
        recipients of the decedent's probate estate and of that portion 
        of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others in proportion 
        to the value of their interests therein.  
           (c) [UNSATISFIED BALANCE OF ELECTIVE-SHARE AND SUPPLEMENTAL 
        ELECTIVE-SHARE AMOUNTS.] If, after the application of paragraphs 
        (a) and (b), the elective-share or supplemental elective-share 
        amount is not fully satisfied, the remaining portion of the 
        decedent's nonprobate transfers to others is so applied that 
        liability for the unsatisfied balance of the elective-share or 
        supplemental elective-share amount is equitably apportioned 
        among the recipients of the remaining portion of the decedent's 
        nonprobate transfers to others in proportion to the value of 
        their interests therein.  
           Sec. 24.  [524.2-210] [PERSONAL LIABILITY OF RECIPIENTS.] 
           (a) Only original recipients of the decedent's nonprobate 
        transfers to others, and the donees of the recipients of the 
        decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, to the extent the 
        donees have the property or its proceeds, are liable to make a 
        proportional contribution toward satisfaction of the surviving 
        spouse's elective-share or supplemental elective-share amount.  
        A person liable to make contribution may choose to give up the 
        proportional part of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to him 
        or her or to pay the value the amount for which he or she is 
        liable.  
           (b) If any section or part of any section of this part is 
        preempted by federal law with respect to a payment, an item of 
        property, or any other benefit included in the decedent's 
        nonprobate transfers to others, a person who is not a bona fide 
        purchaser and who receives the payment, item of property, or any 
        other benefit is obligated to return the payment, item of 
        property, or benefit, or is personally liable for the amount of 
        the payment or the value of that item of property or benefit, as 
        provided in section 524.2-209, to the person who would have been 
        entitled to it were that section or part of that section not 
        preempted. 
           Sec. 25.  [524.2-211] [PROCEEDING FOR ELECTIVE SHARE; TIME 
        LIMIT.] 
           (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), the election must 
        be made by filing in the court and mailing or delivering to the 
        personal representative, if any, a petition for the elective 
        share within nine months after the date of the decedent's death, 
        or within six months after the probate of the decedent's will, 
        whichever limitation later expires.  The surviving spouse must 
        give notice of the time and place set for hearing to persons 
        interested in the estate and to the distributees and recipients 
        of portions of the augmented estate whose interests will be 
        adversely affected by the taking of the elective share.  Except 
        as provided in paragraph (b), the decedent's nonprobate 
        transfers to others are not included within the augmented estate 
        for the purpose of computing the elective share, if the petition 
        is filed more than nine months after the decedent's death.  
           (b) Within nine months after a decedent's death, the 
        surviving spouse may petition the court for an extension of time 
        for making an election.  If, within nine months after the 
        decedent's death, the spouse gives notice of the petition to all 
        persons interested in the decedent's nonprobate transfers to 
        others, the court for cause shown by the surviving spouse may 
        extend the time for election.  If the court grants the spouse's 
        petition for an extension, the decedent's nonprobate transfers 
        to others are not excluded from the augmented estate for the 
        purpose of computing the elective-share and supplemental 
        elective-share amounts, if the spouse makes an election by 
        filing in the court and mailing or delivering to the personal 
        representative, if any, a petition for the elective share within 
        the time allowed by the extension.  
           (c) The surviving spouse may withdraw his or her demand for 
        an elective share at any time before entry of a final 
        determination by the court.  
           (d) After notice and hearing, the court shall determine the 
        elective-share and supplemental elective-share amounts, and 
        shall order its payment from the assets of the augmented estate 
        or by contribution as appears appropriate under sections 
        524.2-209 and 524.2-210.  If it appears that a fund or property 
        included in the augmented estate has not come into the 
        possession of the personal representative, or has been 
        distributed by the personal representative, the court 
        nevertheless shall fix the liability of any person who has any 
        interest in the fund or property or who has possession thereof, 
        whether as trustee or otherwise.  The proceeding may be 
        maintained against fewer than all persons against whom relief 
        could be sought, but no person is subject to contribution in any 
        greater amount than he or she would have been under sections 
        524.2-209 and 524.2-210 had relief been secured against all 
        persons subject to contribution.  
           (e) An order of judgment of the court may be enforced as 
        necessary in suit for contribution or payment in other courts of 
        this state or other jurisdictions.  
           (f) Whether or not an election has been made under 
        paragraph (a), the surviving spouse may elect statutory rights 
        in the homestead by filing in the manner provided in this 
        section a petition in which the spouse asserts the rights 
        provided in section 524.2-402, provided that:  
           (1) when the homestead is subject to a testamentary 
        disposition, the filing must be within nine months after the 
        date of death, or within six months after the probate of the 
        decedent's will, whichever limitation last expires; or 
           (2) where the homestead is subject to other disposition, 
        the filing must be within nine months after the date of death.  
           The court may extend the time for election in the manner 
        provided in paragraph (b).  
           Sec. 26.  [524.2-212] [RIGHT OF ELECTION PERSONAL TO 
        SURVIVING SPOUSE.] 
           The right of election of the surviving spouse may be 
        exercised only during the surviving spouse's lifetime.  In the 
        case of a protected person, the right of election may be 
        exercised only by order of the court in which protective 
        proceedings as to the protected person's property are pending, 
        after finding (1) that exercise is necessary to provide adequate 
        support for the protected person during the protected person's 
        probable life expectancy and (2) that the election will be 
        consistent with the best interests of the natural bounty of the 
        protected person's affection.  
           Sec. 27.  [524.2-213] [WAIVER OF RIGHT TO ELECT AND OF 
        OTHER RIGHTS.] 
           The right of election of a surviving spouse and the rights 
        of the surviving spouse to the homestead, exempt property, and 
        family allowance, or any of them, may be waived, wholly or 
        partially, after marriage, by a written contract, agreement, or 
        waiver signed by the party waiving after fair disclosure.  
        Unless it provides to the contrary, a waiver of "all rights," or 
        equivalent language, in the property or estate of a spouse is a 
        waiver only of the right to the elective share.  Any waiver 
        prior to marriage must be made pursuant to section 519.11.  
           Sec. 28.  [524.2-214] [PROTECTION OF PAYORS AND OTHER THIRD 
        PARTIES.] 
           (a) Although under section 524.2-205 a payment, item of 
        property, or other benefit is included in the decedent's 
        nonprobate transfers to others, a payor or other third party is 
        not liable for having made a payment or transferred an item of 
        property or other benefit to a beneficiary designated in a 
        governing instrument, or for having taken any other action in 
        good faith reliance on the validity of a governing instrument, 
        upon request and satisfactory proof of the decedent's death, 
        before the payor or other third party received written notice 
        from the surviving spouse or spouse's representative of an 
        intention to file a petition for the elective share or that a 
        petition for the elective share has been filed.  A payor or 
        other third party is liable for payments made or other actions 
        taken after the payor or other third party received written 
        notice of an intention to file a petition for the elective share 
        or that a petition for the elective share has been filed.  
           (b) A written notice of intention to file a petition for 
        the elective share or that a petition for the elective share has 
        been filed must be mailed to the payor's or other third party's 
        main office or home by registered or certified mail, return 
        receipt requested, or served upon the payor or other third party 
        in the same manner as a summons in a civil action.  Upon receipt 
        of written notice of intention to file a petition for the 
        elective share or that a petition for the elective share has 
        been filed, a payor or other third party may pay any amount owed 
        or transfer or deposit any item of property held by it to or 
        with the court having jurisdiction of the probate proceedings 
        relating to the decedent's estate or, if no proceedings have 
        been commenced, to or with the court having jurisdiction of 
        probate proceedings relating to decedents' estates located in 
        the county of the decedent's residence.  The court shall hold 
        the funds or item of property and, upon its determination under 
        section 524.2-211, paragraph (d), shall order disbursement in 
        accordance with the determination.  If no petition is filed in 
        the court within the specified time under section 524.2-211, 
        paragraph (a), or, if filed, the demand for an elective share is 
        withdrawn under section 524.2-211, paragraph (c), the court 
        shall order disbursement to the designated beneficiary.  
        Payments or transfers to the court or deposits made into court 
        discharge the payor or other third party from all claims for 
        amounts so paid or the value of property so transferred or 
        deposited.  
           (c) Upon petition to the court described in paragraph (b) 
        by the beneficiary designated in the governing instrument, the 
        court may order that all or part of the property be paid to the 
        beneficiary in an amount and subject to conditions consistent 
        with this part. 
           Sec. 29.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-301, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-301 [OMITTED ENTITLEMENT OF SPOUSE; PREMARITAL WILL.] 
           (a) If a testator fails to provide by will for a surviving 
        spouse who married the testator after the execution of the will, 
        the omitted spouse shall receive the same share of the estate as 
        if the decedent left no will unless it appears from the will 
        that the omission was intentional or the testator provided for 
        the spouse by transfer outside the will and the intent that the 
        transfer be in lieu of a testamentary provision is shown by 
        statements of the testator or from the amount of the transfer or 
        other evidence.  
           (b) In satisfying a share provided by this section, the 
        devises made by the will abate as provided in section 524.3-902. 
           (a) If a testator's surviving spouse married the testator 
        after the testator executed his or her will, the surviving 
        spouse is entitled to receive, as an intestate share, no less 
        than the value of the share of the estate he or she would have 
        received if the testator had died intestate as to that portion 
        of the testator's estate, if any, that neither is devised to a 
        child of the testator who was born before the testator married 
        the surviving spouse and who is not a child of the surviving 
        spouse nor is devised to a descendant of such a child or passes 
        under section 524.2-603 or 524.2-604 to such a child or to a 
        descendant of such a child, unless: 
           (1) it appears from the will or other evidence that the 
        will was made in contemplation of the testator's marriage to the 
        surviving spouse; 
           (2) the will expresses the intention that it is to be 
        effective notwithstanding any subsequent marriage; or 
           (3) the testator provided for the spouse by transfer 
        outside the will and the intent that the transfer be in lieu of 
        a testamentary provision is shown by the testator's statements 
        or is reasonably inferred from the amount of the transfer or 
        other evidence. 
           (b) In satisfying the share provided by this section, 
        devises made by the will to the testator's surviving spouse, if 
        any, are applied first, and other devises, other than a devise 
        to a child of the testator who was born before the testator 
        married the surviving spouse and who is not a child of the 
        surviving spouse or a devise or substitute gift under section 
        524.2-603 or 524.2-604 to a descendant of such a child, abate as 
        provided in section 524.3-902. 
           Sec. 30.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-302, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-302 [PRETERMITTED OMITTED CHILDREN.] 
           (a) If a testator fails to provide for any child born or 
        adopted after the execution of the testator's will, the omitted 
        child receives a share in the estate equal in value to that 
        which that child would have received if the testator had died 
        intestate unless:  
           (1) it appears from the will that the omission was 
        intentional; 
           (2) when the will was executed the testator had one or more 
        children and devised substantially all the estate to the other 
        parent of the omitted child; or 
           (3) the testator provided for the child by transfer outside 
        the will and the intent that the transfer be in lieu of a 
        testamentary provision is shown by statements of the testator or 
        from the amount of the transfer or other evidence.  
           (b) If at the time of execution of the will the testator 
        fails to provide for a living child solely because of a belief 
        that the child is dead, the child receives a share in the estate 
        equal in value to that which that child would have received if 
        the testator had died intestate.  
           (c) In satisfying a share provided by this section, the 
        devises made by the will abate as provided in section 524.3-902. 
           (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), if a testator 
        fails to provide in his or her will for any of his or her 
        children born or adopted after the execution of the will, the 
        omitted after-born or after-adopted child receives a share in 
        the estate as follows: 
           (1) If the testator had no child living when he or she 
        executed the will, an omitted after-born or after-adopted child 
        receives a share in the estate equal in value to that which the 
        child would have received had the testator died intestate, 
        unless the will devised all or substantially all the estate to 
        the other parent of the omitted child and that other parent 
        survives the testator and is entitled to take under the will. 
           (2) If the testator had one or more children living when he 
        or she executed the will, and the will devised property or an 
        interest in property to one or more of the then-living children, 
        an omitted after-born or after-adopted child is entitled to 
        share in the testator's estate as follows: 
           (i) The portion of the testator's estate in which the 
        omitted after-born or after-adopted child is entitled to share 
        is limited to devises made to the testator's then-living 
        children under the will. 
           (ii) The omitted after-born or after-adopted child is 
        entitled to receive the share of the testator's estate, as 
        limited in subclause (i), that the child would have received had 
        the testator included all omitted after-born and after-adopted 
        children with the children to whom devises were made under the 
        will and had given an equal share of the estate to each child. 
           (iii) To the extent feasible, the interest granted an 
        omitted after-born or after-adopted child under this section 
        must be of the same character, whether equitable or legal, 
        present or future, as that devised to the testator's then-living 
        children under the will. 
           (iv) In satisfying a share provided by this paragraph, 
        devises to the testator's children who were living when the will 
        was executed abate ratably.  In abating the devises of the 
        then-living children, the court shall preserve to the maximum 
        extent possible the character of the testamentary plan adopted 
        by the testator. 
           (b) Neither paragraph (a), clause (1) or (2), nor paragraph 
        (c), applies if: 
           (1) it appears from the will that the omission was 
        intentional; or 
           (2) the testator provided for the omitted after-born or 
        after-adopted child by transfer outside the will and the intent 
        that the transfer be in lieu of a testamentary provision is 
        shown by the testator's statements or is reasonably inferred 
        from the amount of the transfer or other evidence. 
           (c) If at the time of execution of the will the testator 
        fails to provide in his or her will for a living child solely 
        because he or she believes the child to be dead, the child 
        receives a share in the estate equal in value to that which the 
        child would have received had the testator died intestate. 
           (d) In satisfying a share provided by paragraph (a), clause 
        (1), or (c), devises made by the will abate under section 
        524.3-902. 
                                     Part 4 
                         EXEMPT PROPERTY AND ALLOWANCES 
           Sec. 31.  [524.2-401] [APPLICABLE LAW.] 
           This part applies to the estate of a decedent who dies 
        domiciled in this state.  Rights to homestead, exempt property, 
        and family allowance for a decedent who dies not domiciled in 
        this state are governed by the law of the decedent's domicile at 
        death. 
           Sec. 32.  [524.2-402] [DESCENT OF HOMESTEAD.] 
           (a) If there is a surviving spouse, the homestead, 
        including a manufactured home which is the family residence, 
        descends free from any testamentary or other disposition of it 
        to which the spouse has not consented in writing or as provided 
        by law, as follows: 
           (1) if there is no surviving descendant of decedent, to the 
        spouse; or 
           (2) if there are surviving descendants of decedent, then to 
        the spouse for the term of the spouse's natural life and the 
        remainder in equal shares to the decedent's descendants by 
        representation. 
           (b) If there is no surviving spouse and the homestead has 
        not been disposed of by will it descends as other real estate. 
           (c) If the homestead passes by descent or will to the 
        spouse or decedent's descendants, it is exempt from all debts 
        which were not valid charges on it at the time of decedent's 
        death except that the homestead is subject to a claim filed 
        pursuant to section 246.53 for state hospital care or 256B.15 
        for medical assistance benefits.  If the homestead passes to a 
        person other than a spouse or decedent's descendants, it is 
        subject to the payment of the items mentioned in section 
        524.2-101.  No lien or other charge against a homestead so 
        exempted is enforceable in the probate court, but the claimant 
        may enforce the lien or charge by an appropriate action in the 
        district court. 
           (d) For purposes of this section, except as provided in 
        section 524.2-301, the surviving spouse is deemed to consent to 
        any testamentary or other disposition of the homestead to which 
        the spouse has not previously consented in writing unless the 
        spouse files in the manner provided in section 524.2-211, 
        paragraph (f), a petition that asserts the homestead rights 
        provided to the spouse by this section. 
           Sec. 33.  [524.2-403] [EXEMPT PROPERTY.] 
           (a) If there is a surviving spouse, then, in addition to 
        the homestead and family allowance, the surviving spouse is 
        entitled from the estate to: 
           (1) property not exceeding $10,000 in value in excess of 
        any security interests therein, in household furniture, 
        furnishings, appliances, and personal effects, subject to an 
        award of sentimental value property under section 525.152; and 
           (2) one automobile, if any, without regard to value. 
           (b) If there is no surviving spouse, the decedent's 
        children are entitled jointly to the same property as provided 
        in paragraph (a). 
           (c) If encumbered chattels are selected and the value in 
        excess of security interests, plus that of other exempt 
        property, is less than $10,000, or if there is not $10,000 worth 
        of exempt property in the estate, the surviving spouse or 
        children are entitled to other personal property of the estate, 
        if any, to the extent necessary to make up the $10,000 value. 
           (d) Rights to exempt property and assets needed to make up 
        a deficiency of exempt property have priority over all claims 
        against the estate, but the right to any assets to make up a 
        deficiency of exempt property abates as necessary to permit 
        earlier payment of the family allowance. 
           (e) The rights granted by this section are in addition to 
        any benefit or share passing to the surviving spouse or children 
        by the decedent's will, unless otherwise provided by intestate 
        succession or by way of elective share. 
           Sec. 34.  [524.2-404] [FAMILY ALLOWANCE.] 
           (a) In addition to the right to the homestead and exempt 
        property, the decedent's surviving spouse and minor children 
        whom the decedent was obligated to support, and children who 
        were in fact being supported by the decedent, shall be allowed a 
        reasonable family allowance in money out of the estate for their 
        maintenance as follows: 
           (1) for one year if the estate is inadequate to discharge 
        allowed claims; or 
           (2) for 18 months if the estate is adequate to discharge 
        allowed claims. 
           (b) The amount of the family allowance may be determined by 
        the personal representative in an amount not to exceed $1,500 
        per month. 
           (c) The family allowance is payable to the surviving 
        spouse, if living; otherwise to the children, their guardian or 
        conservator, or persons having their care and custody. 
           (d) The family allowance is exempt from and has priority 
        over all claims. 
           (e) The family allowance is not chargeable against any 
        benefit or share passing to the surviving spouse or children by 
        the will of the decedent unless otherwise provided, by intestate 
        succession or by way of elective share.  The death of any person 
        entitled to family allowance does not terminate the right of 
        that person to the allowance. 
           (f) The personal representative or an interested person 
        aggrieved by any determination, payment, proposed payment, or 
        failure to act under this section may petition the court for 
        appropriate relief, which may include a family allowance other 
        than that which the personal representative determined or could 
        have determined. 
           Sec. 35.  [524.2-405] [SOURCE, DETERMINATION, AND 
        DOCUMENTATION.] 
           (a) If the estate is otherwise sufficient, property 
        specifically devised may not be used to satisfy rights to exempt 
        property.  Subject to this restriction, the surviving spouse, 
        guardians or conservators of minor children, or children who are 
        adults may select property of the estate as exempt property.  
        The personal representative may make those selections if the 
        surviving spouse, the children, or the guardians of the minor 
        children are unable or fail to do so within a reasonable time or 
        there is no guardian of a minor child. 
           (b) The personal representative may execute an instrument 
        or deed of distribution to establish the ownership of property 
        taken as exempt property. 
           (c) The personal representative or an interested person 
        aggrieved by any selection, determination, payment, proposed 
        payment, or failure to act under this section may petition the 
        court for appropriate relief, which may include a selection or 
        determination under this section other than that which the 
        surviving spouse, guardians or conservators of minor children, 
        children who are adults, or the personal representative 
        selected, could have selected, determined, or could have 
        determined. 
           Sec. 36.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-502, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-502 [EXECUTION; WITNESSED WILLS.] 
           Except as provided for writings within section 524.2-513 
        and wills within section 524.2-506, every will shall be in 
        writing signed by the testator or in the testator's name by some 
        other person in the testator's presence and by the testator's 
        direction, and shall be signed by at least two persons each of 
        whom witnessed either the signing or the testator's 
        acknowledgment of the signature or of the will.  Except as 
        provided in sections 524.2-506 and 524.2-513, a will must be: 
           (1) in writing; 
           (2) signed by the testator or in the testator's name by 
        some other individual in the testator's conscious presence and 
        by the testator's direction; and 
           (3) signed by at least two individuals, each of whom signed 
        within a reasonable time after he or she witnessed either the 
        signing of the will as described in clause (2) or the testator's 
        acknowledgment of that signature or acknowledgment of the will. 
           Sec. 37.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-504, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-504 [SELF-PROVED WILL.] 
           An attested will may at the time of its execution or at any 
        subsequent date be made self-proved, by the acknowledgment 
        thereof by the testator and the affidavits of the witnesses, 
        each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under 
        the laws of this state, or under the laws of the state where 
        execution occurs, and evidenced by the officer's certificate, 
        under official seal, attached or annexed to the will in form and 
        content substantially as follows: 
           THE STATE OF ................... 
           COUNTY OF ...................... 
           We, ..........., ............, and ............, the 
        testator and the witnesses, respectively, whose names are signed 
        to the attached or foregoing instrument, being first duly sworn, 
        do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that the testator 
        signed and executed the instrument as the testator's last will, 
        that the testator signed it willingly or directed another to 
        sign it for the testator, that it was executed as a free and 
        voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that each 
        of the witnesses, in the presence and hearing of the testator, 
        signed the will as witnesses, and that to the best of their 
        knowledge the testator was at the time 18 or more years of age, 
        of sound mind and under no constraint or undue influence. 
                                  ........................
                                       Testator
                                  ........................
                                        Witness
                                  ........................
                                        Witness
           Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by 
        ............, the testator, and subscribed and sworn to before 
        me by ............. and .............., witnesses, this ...... 
        day of ......., ....... . 
         (SEAL)                   (Signed)......................
                                  ..............................
                                  (Official capacity of officer)
           (a) A will may be contemporaneously executed, attested, and 
        made self-proved, by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and 
        affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer 
        authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state in 
        which execution occurs and evidenced by the officer's 
        certificate, under official seal, in substantially the following 
        form: 
           I, ............, the testator, sign my name to this 
        instrument this ... day of ............, and being first duly 
        sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that I 
        sign and execute this instrument as my will and that I sign it 
        willingly (or willingly direct another to sign for me), that I 
        execute it as my free and voluntary act for the purposes therein 
        expressed, and that I am 18 years of age or older, of sound 
        mind, and under no constraint or undue influence. 
                                           ........................
                                                           Testator
           We, ............, ............, the witnesses, sign our 
        names to this instrument, being first duly sworn, and do hereby 
        declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signs and 
        executes this instrument as the testator's will and that the 
        testator signs it willingly (or willingly directs another to 
        sign for the testator), and that each of us, in the presence and 
        hearing of the testator, hereby signs this will as witness to 
        the testator's signing, and that to the best of our knowledge 
        the testator is 18 years of age or older, of sound mind, and 
        under no constraint or undue influence. 
                                    ...............................
                                                            Witness
                                    ...............................
                                                            Witness
        State of ................ 
        County of ............... 
           Subscribed, sworn to, and acknowledged before me by 
        ............, the testator, and subscribed and sworn to before 
        me by ............, and ............, witnesses, this ... day of 
        ........, .... . 
        (Seal) 
                     (Signed)......................................
                     ..............................................
                     (Official capacity of officer)                
           (b) An attested will may be made self-proved at any time 
        after its execution by the acknowledgment thereof by the 
        testator and the affidavits of the witnesses, each made before 
        an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the 
        state in which the acknowledgment occurs and evidenced by the 
        officer's certificate, under the official seal, attached or 
        annexed to the will in substantially the following form: 
        State of ................ 
        County of ............... 
           We, ............, ............, and ............, the 
        testator and the witnesses, respectively, whose names are signed 
        to the attached or foregoing instrument, being first duly sworn, 
        do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that the testator 
        signed and executed the instrument as the testator's will and 
        that the testator had signed willingly (or willingly directed 
        another to sign for the testator), and that the testator 
        executed it as the testator's free and voluntary act for the 
        purposes therein expressed, and each of the witnesses, in the 
        presence and hearing of the testator, signed the will as witness 
        and that to the best of the witness' knowledge the testator was 
        at the time 18 years of age or older, of sound mind, and under 
        no constraint or undue influence. 
                                      .............................
                                                           Testator
                                      .............................
                                                            Witness
                                      .............................
                                                            Witness
           Subscribed, sworn to, and acknowledged before me by 
        ............, the testator, and subscribed and sworn to before 
        me by ............, and ............, witnesses, this ... day of 
        .........., .... . 
        (Seal) 
                     (Signed)..........................             
                     ..................................             
                     (Official capacity of officer)                 
           (c) A signature affixed to a self-proving affidavit 
        attached to a will is considered a signature affixed to the 
        will, if necessary to prove the will's due execution. 
           Sec. 38.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-505, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-505 [WHO MAY WITNESS.] 
           (a) Any person An individual generally competent to be a 
        witness may act as a witness to a will.  
           (b) A will is not invalid because the will is signed The 
        signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate 
        the will or any provision of it. 
           Sec. 39.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-507, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-507 [REVOCATION BY WRITING OR BY ACT.] 
           (a) A will or any part thereof is revoked: 
           (1) by a subsequent will which revokes the prior will or 
        part expressly or by inconsistency; or 
           (2) by being burned, torn, canceled, obliterated, or 
        destroyed, with the intent and for the purpose of revoking it by 
        the testator or by another person in the testator's presence and 
        by the testator's direction. by executing a subsequent will that 
        revokes the previous will or part expressly or by inconsistency; 
        or 
           (2) by performing a revocatory act on the will, if the 
        testator performed the act with the intent and for the purpose 
        of revoking the will or part or if another individual performed 
        the act in the testator's conscious presence and by the 
        testator's direction.  For purposes of this clause, "revocatory 
        act on the will" includes burning, tearing, canceling, 
        obliterating, or destroying the will or any part of it.  A 
        burning, tearing, or canceling may be a "revocatory act on the 
        will," whether or not the burn, tear, or cancellation touched 
        any of the words on the will. 
           (b) If a subsequent will does not expressly revoke a 
        previous will, the execution of the subsequent will wholly 
        revokes the previous will by inconsistency if the testator 
        intended the subsequent will to replace rather than supplement 
        the previous will. 
           (c) The testator is presumed to have intended a subsequent 
        will to replace rather than supplement a previous will if the 
        subsequent will makes a complete disposition of the testator's 
        estate.  If this presumption arises and is not rebutted by clear 
        and convincing evidence, the previous will is revoked; only the 
        subsequent will is operative on the testator's death. 
           (d) The testator is presumed to have intended a subsequent 
        will to supplement rather than replace a previous will if the 
        subsequent will does not make a complete disposition of the 
        testator's estate.  If this presumption arises and is not 
        rebutted by clear and convincing evidence, the subsequent will 
        revokes the previous will only to the extent the subsequent will 
        is inconsistent with the previous will; each will is fully 
        operative on the testator's death to the extent they are not 
        inconsistent. 
           Sec. 40.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-508, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-508 [REVOCATION BY DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE; NO 
        REVOCATION BY OTHER CHANGES OF CIRCUMSTANCES.] 
           If after executing a will the testator's marriage is 
        dissolved or annulled, the dissolution or annulment revokes any 
        disposition or appointment of property made by the will to the 
        former spouse, any provision conferring a general or special 
        power of appointment on the former spouse, and any nomination of 
        the former spouse as executor, trustee, conservator, or 
        guardian, unless the will expressly provides otherwise.  
        Property prevented from passing to a former spouse because of 
        revocation by dissolution of marriage or annulment passes as if 
        the former spouse failed to survive the decedent, and other 
        provisions conferring some power or office on the former spouse 
        are interpreted as if the spouse failed to survive the decedent. 
        If provisions are revoked solely by this section, they are 
        revived by testator's remarriage to the former spouse.  For 
        purposes of this chapter and chapter 525, dissolution of 
        marriage includes divorce.  A decree of separation which does 
        not terminate the status of husband and wife is not a 
        dissolution of marriage for purposes of this section.  No change 
        of circumstances other than as described in this section revokes 
        a will. 
           Except as provided in sections 524.2-802 and 524.2-803, a 
        change of circumstances does not revoke a will or any part of it.
           Sec. 41.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-509, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-509 [REVIVAL OF REVOKED WILL.] 
           (a) If a second will which, had it remained effective at 
        death, would have revoked the first will in whole or in part, is 
        thereafter revoked by acts under section 524.2-507, the first 
        will is revoked in whole or in part unless it is evident from 
        the circumstances of the revocation of the second will or from 
        testator's contemporary or subsequent declarations that the 
        testator intended the first will to take effect as executed.  
           (b) If a second will which, had it remained effective at 
        death, would have revoked the first will in whole or in part, is 
        thereafter revoked by a third will, the first will is revoked in 
        whole or in part, except to the extent it appears from the terms 
        of the third will that the testator intended the first will to 
        take effect.  
           (a) If a subsequent will that wholly revoked a previous 
        will is thereafter revoked by a revocatory act under section 
        524.2-507, paragraph (a), clause (2), the previous will remains 
        revoked unless it is revived.  The previous will is revived if 
        it is evident from the circumstances of the revocation of the 
        subsequent will or from the testator's contemporary or 
        subsequent declarations that the testator intended the previous 
        will to take effect as executed. 
           (b) If a subsequent will that partly revoked a previous 
        will is thereafter revoked by a revocatory act under section 
        524.2-507, paragraph (a), clause (2), a revoked part of the 
        previous will is revived unless it is evident from the 
        circumstances of the revocation of the subsequent will or from 
        the testator's contemporary or subsequent declarations that the 
        testator did not intend the revoked part to take effect as 
        executed. 
           (c) If a subsequent will that revoked a previous will in 
        whole or in part is thereafter revoked by another later will, 
        the previous will remains revoked in whole or in part, unless it 
        or its revoked part is revived.  The previous will or its 
        revoked part is revived to the extent it appears from the terms 
        of the later will that the testator intended the previous will 
        to take effect. 
           Sec. 42.  [524.2-511] [TESTAMENTARY ADDITIONS TO TRUSTS.] 
           (a) A will may validly devise property to the trustee of a 
        trust established or to be established (i) during the testator's 
        lifetime by the testator, by the testator and some other person, 
        or by some other person, including a funded or unfunded life 
        insurance trust, although the settlor has reserved any or all 
        rights of ownership of the insurance contracts, or (ii) at the 
        testator's death by the testator's devise to the trustee, if, in 
        either case, the trust is identified in the testator's will and 
        its terms are set forth in a written instrument, other than a 
        will, executed before, concurrently with, or after the execution 
        of the testator's will or in another individual's will if that 
        other individual has predeceased the testator, regardless of the 
        existence, size, or character of the corpus of the trust.  The 
        devise is not invalid because the trust is amendable or 
        revocable, or because the trust was amended after the execution 
        of the will or the testator's death. 
           (b) Unless the testator's will provides otherwise, property 
        devised to a trust described in paragraph (a) is not held under 
        a testamentary trust of the testator, but it becomes a part of 
        the trust to which it is devised, and must be administered and 
        disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the governing 
        instrument setting forth the terms of the trust, including any 
        amendments thereto made before or after the testator's death. 
           (c) Unless the testator's will provides otherwise, a 
        revocation or termination of the trust before the testator's 
        death causes the devise to lapse. 
           (d) This section does not invalidate a devise made by a 
        will executed before February 21, 1963. 
           Sec. 43.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-512, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-512 [EVENTS OF INDEPENDENT SIGNIFICANCE.] 
           A will may dispose of property by reference to acts and 
        events which that have significance apart from their effect upon 
        the dispositions made by the will, whether they occur before or 
        after the execution of the will or before or after the 
        testator's death.  The execution or revocation of a another 
        individual's will of another person is such an event.  
           Sec. 44.  [524.2-514] [CONTRACTS CONCERNING SUCCESSION.] 
           A contract to make a will or devise, or not to revoke a 
        will or devise, or to die intestate, if executed after January 
        1, 1976, may be established only by (i) provisions of a will 
        stating material provisions of the contract, (ii) an express 
        reference in a will to a contract and extrinsic evidence proving 
        the terms of the contract, or (iii) a writing signed by the 
        decedent evidencing the contract.  The execution of a joint will 
        or mutual wills does not create a presumption of a contract not 
        to revoke the will or wills. 
           Sec. 45.  [524.2-515] [DEPOSIT OF WILL WITH COURT IN 
        TESTATOR'S LIFETIME.] 
           A will may be deposited by the testator or the testator's 
        agent with any court for safekeeping, under rules of the court. 
        The will must be sealed and kept confidential.  During the 
        testator's lifetime, a deposited will must be delivered only to 
        the testator or to a person authorized in writing signed by the 
        testator to receive the will.  A conservator or guardian may be 
        allowed to examine a deposited will of a protected testator 
        under procedures designed to maintain the confidential character 
        of the document to the extent possible, and to ensure that it 
        will be resealed and kept on deposit after the examination.  
        Upon being informed of the testator's death, the court may 
        deliver the will to the appropriate court. 
           Sec. 46.  [524.2-516] [DUTY OF CUSTODIAN OF WILL; 
        LIABILITY.] 
           After the death of a testator and on request of an 
        interested person, a person having custody of a will of the 
        testator shall deliver it with reasonable promptness to an 
        appropriate court.  A person who willfully fails to deliver a 
        will is liable to any person aggrieved for any damages that may 
        be sustained by the failure.  A person who willfully refuses or 
        fails to deliver a will after being ordered by the court in a 
        proceeding brought for the purpose of compelling delivery is 
        subject to penalty for contempt of court. 
           Sec. 47.  [524.2-517] [PENALTY CLAUSE FOR CONTEST.] 
           A provision in a will purporting to penalize an interested 
        person for contesting the will or instituting other proceedings 
        relating to the estate is unenforceable if probable cause exists 
        for instituting proceedings. 
                                     Part 6 
                RULES OF CONSTRUCTION APPLICABLE ONLY TO WILLS 
           Sec. 48.  [524.2-601] [SCOPE.] 
           In the absence of a finding of a contrary intention, the 
        rules of construction in this part control the construction of a 
        will. 
           Sec. 49.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-602, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-602 [CHOICE OF LAW AS TO MEANING AND EFFECT OF 
        WILLS WILL MAY PASS ALL PROPERTY AND AFTER-ACQUIRED PROPERTY.] 
           The meaning and legal effect of a disposition in a will 
        shall be determined by the local law of a particular state 
        selected by the testator in the testator's instrument unless the 
        application of that law is contrary to the public policy of this 
        state otherwise applicable to the disposition.  A will may 
        provide for the passage of all property the testator owns at 
        death and all property acquired by the estate after the 
        testator's death. 
           Sec. 50.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-603, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-603 [RULES OF CONSTRUCTION AND INTENTION ANTILAPSE; 
        DECEASED DEVISEE; CLASS GIFTS.] 
           The intention of a testator as expressed in the testator's 
        will controls the legal effect of the testator's dispositions.  
        The rules of construction expressed in the succeeding sections 
        of this part apply unless a contrary intention is indicated by 
        the will.  
           (a) [DEFINITIONS.] In this section: 
           (1) "Alternative devise" means a devise that is expressly 
        created by the will and, under the terms of the will, can take 
        effect instead of another devise on the happening of one or more 
        events, including survival of the testator or failure to survive 
        the testator, whether an event is expressed in 
        condition-precedent, condition-subsequent, or any other form.  A 
        residuary clause constitutes an alternative devise with respect 
        to a nonresiduary devise only if the will specifically provides 
        that, upon lapse or failure, the nonresiduary devise, or 
        nonresiduary devises in general, pass under the residuary clause.
           (2) "Class member" includes an individual who fails to 
        survive the testator but who would have taken under a devise in 
        the form of a class gift had he or she survived the testator. 
           (3) "Devise" includes an alternative devise, a devise in 
        the form of a class gift, and an exercise of a power of 
        appointment. 
           (4) "Devisee" includes (i) a class member if the devise is 
        in the form of a class gift, (ii) an individual or class member 
        who was deceased at the time the testator executed his or her 
        will as well as an individual or class member who was then 
        living but who failed to survive the testator, and (iii) an 
        appointee under a power of appointment exercised by the 
        testator's will. 
           (5) "Surviving devisee" or "surviving descendant" means a 
        devisee or a descendant who neither predeceased the testator nor 
        is deemed to have predeceased the testator under section 
        524.2-702. 
           (6) "Testator" includes the donee of a power of appointment 
        if the power is exercised in the testator's will. 
           (b) [SUBSTITUTE GIFT.] If a devisee fails to survive the 
        testator and is a grandparent or a descendant of a grandparent 
        of either the testator or the donor of a power of appointment 
        exercised by the testator's will, the following apply: 
           (1) Except as provided in paragraph (4), if the devise is 
        not in the form of a class gift and the deceased devisee leaves 
        surviving descendants, a substitute gift is created in the 
        devisee's surviving descendants.  They take by representation 
        the property to which the devisee would have been entitled had 
        the devisee survived the testator. 
           (2) Except as provided in paragraph (4), if the devise is 
        in the form of a class gift, other than a devise to "issue," 
        "descendants," "heirs of the body," "heirs," "next of kin," 
        "relatives," or "family," or a class described by language of 
        similar import, a substitute gift is created in the surviving 
        descendants of any deceased devisee.  The property to which the 
        devisees would have been entitled had all of them survived the 
        testator passes to the surviving devisees and the surviving 
        descendants of the deceased devisees.  Each surviving devisee 
        takes the share to which he or she would have been entitled had 
        the deceased devisees survived the testator.  Each deceased 
        devisee's surviving descendants who are substituted for the 
        deceased devisee take by representation the share to which the 
        deceased devisee would have been entitled had the deceased 
        devisee survived the testator.  For the purposes of this 
        paragraph, "deceased devisee" means a class member who failed to 
        survive the testator and left one or more surviving descendants. 
           (3) For the purpose of section 524.2-601, words of 
        survivorship, such as in a devise to an individual "if he 
        survives me," or in a devise to "my children who survive me," 
        are a sufficient indication of an intent contrary to the 
        application of this section. 
           (4) If the will creates an alternative devise with respect 
        to a devise for which a substitute gift is created by clause (1) 
        or (2), the substitute gift is superseded by the alternative 
        devise only if an expressly designated devisee of the 
        alternative devise is entitled to take under the will. 
           (c) [MORE THAN ONE SUBSTITUTE GIFT; WHICH ONE TAKES.] If, 
        under paragraph (b), substitute gifts are created and not 
        superseded with respect to more than one devise and the devises 
        are alternative devises, one to the other, the determination of 
        which of the substitute gifts takes effect is resolved as 
        follows: 
           (1) Except as provided in clause (2), the devised property 
        passes under the primary substitute gift. 
           (2) If there is a younger-generation devise, the devised 
        property passes under the younger-generation substitute gift and 
        not under the primary substitute gift. 
           (3) In this paragraph: 
           (i) "Primary devise" means the devise that would have taken 
        effect had all the deceased devisees of the alternative devises 
        who left surviving descendants survived the testator. 
           (ii) "Primary substitute gift" means the substitute gift 
        created with respect to the primary devise. 
           (iii) "Younger-generation devise" means a devise that (A) 
        is to a descendant of a devisee of the primary devise, (B) is an 
        alternative devise with respect to the primary devise, (C) is a 
        devise for which a substitute gift is created, and (D) would 
        have taken effect had all the deceased devisees who left 
        surviving descendants survived the testator except the deceased 
        devisee or devisees of the primary devise. 
           (iv) "Younger-generation substitute gift" means the 
        substitute gift created with respect to the younger-generation 
        devise. 
           Sec. 51.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-604, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-604 [CONSTRUCTION THAT WILL PASSES ALL PROPERTY; 
        AFTER ACQUIRED PROPERTY FAILURE OF TESTAMENTARY PROVISION.] 
           A will is construed to pass all property which the testator 
        owns at death including property acquired after the execution of 
        the will.  
           (a) Except as provided in section 524.2-603, a devise, 
        other than a residuary devise, that fails for any reason becomes 
        a part of the residue. 
           (b) Except as provided in section 524.2-603, if the residue 
        is devised to two or more persons, the share of a residuary 
        devisee that fails for any reason passes to the other residuary 
        devisee, or to other residuary devisees in proportion to the 
        interest of each in the remaining part of the residue. 
           Sec. 52.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-605, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-605 [ANTILAPSE; DECEASED DEVISEE; CLASS GIFTS 
        INCREASE IN SECURITIES; ACCESSIONS.] 
           If a devisee who is a grandparent or a lineal descendant of 
        a grandparent of the testator is dead at the time of execution 
        of the will, or fails to survive the testator, the issue of the 
        deceased devisee who survive the testator take in place of the 
        deceased devisee and if they are all of the same degree of 
        kinship to the devisee they take equally, but if of unequal 
        degree then those of more remote degree take by representation.  
        One who is a grandparent or a lineal descendant of a grandparent 
        of the testator and who would have been a devisee under a class 
        gift on surviving the testator is treated as a devisee for 
        purposes of this section whether death occurred before or after 
        the execution of the will.  
           (a) If a testator executes a will that devises securities 
        and the testator then owned securities that meet the description 
        in the will, the devise includes additional securities owned by 
        the testator at death to the extent the additional securities 
        were acquired by the testator after the will was executed as a 
        result of the testator's ownership of the described securities 
        and are securities of any of the following types: 
           (1) securities of the same organization acquired by reason 
        of action initiated by the organization or any successor, 
        related, or acquiring organization, excluding any acquired by 
        exercise of purchase options; 
           (2) securities of another organization acquired as a result 
        of a merger, consolidation, reorganization, or other 
        distribution by the organization or any successor, related, or 
        acquiring organization; or 
           (3) securities of the same organization acquired as a 
        result of a plan of reinvestment. 
           (b) Distributions in cash before death with respect to a 
        described security are not part of the devise. 
           Sec. 53.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-606, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-606 [FAILURE OF TESTAMENTARY PROVISION NONADEMPTION 
        OF SPECIFIC DEVISES; UNPAID PROCEEDS OF SALE, CONDEMNATION, OR 
        INSURANCE; SALE BY CONSERVATOR OR GUARDIAN.] 
           (a) Except as provided in section 524.2-605 if a devise 
        other than a residuary devise fails for any reason, it becomes a 
        part of the residue.  
           (b) Except as provided in section 524.2-605 if the residue 
        is devised to two or more persons and the share of one of the 
        residuary devisees fails for any reason, that share passes to 
        the other residuary devisee, or to other residuary devisees in 
        proportion to their interests in the residue.  A specific 
        devisee has a right to the specifically devised property in the 
        testator's estate at death and: 
           (1) any balance of the purchase price, together with any 
        security agreement, owing from a purchaser to the testator at 
        death by reason of sale of the property; 
           (2) any amount of a condemnation award for the taking of 
        the property unpaid at death; 
           (3) any proceeds unpaid at death on fire or casualty 
        insurance on or other recovery for injury to the property; and 
           (4) property owned by the testator at death and acquired as 
        a result of foreclosure, or obtained in lieu of foreclosure, of 
        the security interest for a specifically devised obligation. 
           (b) If specifically devised property is sold or mortgaged 
        by a conservator or guardian, or if a condemnation award, 
        insurance proceeds, or recovery for injury to the property are 
        paid to a conservator or guardian, the specific devisee has the 
        right to a general pecuniary devise equal to the net sale price, 
        the amount of the unpaid loan, the condemnation award, the 
        insurance proceeds, or the recovery. 
           (c) The right of a specific devisee under paragraph (b) is 
        reduced by any right the devisee has under paragraph (a). 
           (d) For the purposes of the references in paragraph (b) to 
        a conservator or guardian, paragraph (b) does not apply if after 
        the sale, mortgage, condemnation, casualty, or recovery, it was 
        adjudicated that the testator's incapacity ceased and the 
        testator survived the adjudication by one year. 
           Sec. 54.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-607, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-607 [CHANGE IN SECURITIES; ACCESSIONS; NONADEMPTION 
        NONEXONERATION.] 
           (a) If the testator intended a specific devise of certain 
        securities rather than the equivalent value thereof, the 
        specific devisee is entitled only to: 
           (1) as much of the devised securities as is a part of the 
        estate at time of the testator's death; 
           (2) any additional or other securities of the same entity 
        owned by the testator by reason of action initiated by the 
        entity excluding any acquired by exercise of purchase options; 
           (3) securities of another entity owned by the testator as a 
        result of a merger, consolidation, reorganization or other 
        similar action initiated by the entity; and 
           (4) any additional securities of the entity owned by the 
        testator as a result of a plan of reinvestment if it is a 
        regulated investment company.  
           (b) Distributions prior to death with respect to a 
        specifically devised security not provided for in subsection (a) 
        are not part of the specific devise.  
           A specific devise passes subject to any mortgage or 
        security interest existing at the date of death, without right 
        of exoneration, regardless of a general directive in the will to 
        pay debts. 
           Sec. 55.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-608, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-608 [NONADEMPTION OF SPECIFIC DEVISES IN CERTAIN 
        CASES; SALE BY CONSERVATOR OR GUARDIAN; UNPAID PROCEEDS OF SALE, 
        CONDEMNATION OR INSURANCE EXERCISE OF POWER OF APPOINTMENT.] 
           (a) If specifically devised property is sold by a 
        conservator or guardian, or if a condemnation award or insurance 
        proceeds are paid to a conservator or guardian as a result of 
        condemnation, fire, or casualty, the specific devisee has the 
        right to a general pecuniary devise equal to the net sale price, 
        the condemnation award, or the insurance proceeds.  This 
        subsection does not apply if subsequent to the sale, 
        condemnation, or casualty, it is adjudicated that the disability 
        of the testator has ceased and the testator survives the 
        adjudication by one year.  The right of the specific devisee 
        under this subsection is reduced by any right possessed under 
        subsection (b).  
           (b) Any specific devisee has the right to the remaining 
        specifically devised property and: 
           (1) any balance of the purchase price together with any 
        security interest owing from a purchaser to the testator at 
        death by reason of sale of the property; 
           (2) any amount of a condemnation award for the taking of 
        the property unpaid at death; 
           (3) any proceeds unpaid at death on fire or casualty 
        insurance on the property; and 
           (4) property owned by testator at death as a result of 
        foreclosure, or obtained in lieu of foreclosure, of the security 
        for a specifically devised obligation.  
           A general residuary clause in a will, or a will making 
        general disposition of all of the testator's property, does not 
        exercise a power of appointment held by the testator unless the 
        testator's will manifests an intention to include property 
        subject to the power. 
           Sec. 56.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-609, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-609 [NONEXONERATION ADEMPTION BY SATISFACTION.] 
           A specific devise passes subject to any security interest 
        existing at the date of death, without right of exoneration, 
        regardless of a general directive in the will to pay debts.  
           (a) Property a testator gave in his or her lifetime to a 
        person is treated as a satisfaction of a devise in whole or in 
        part, only if (i) the will provides for deduction of the gift, 
        (ii) the testator declared in a contemporaneous writing that the 
        gift is in satisfaction of the devise or that its value is to be 
        deducted from the value of the devise, or (iii) the devisee 
        acknowledged in writing that the gift is in satisfaction of the 
        devise or that its value is to be deducted from the value of the 
        devise. 
           (b) For purposes of partial satisfaction, property given 
        during lifetime is valued as of the time the devisee came into 
        possession or enjoyment of the property or at the testator's 
        death, whichever occurs first. 
           (c) If the devisee fails to survive the testator, the gift 
        is treated as a full or partial satisfaction of the devise, as 
        appropriate, in applying sections 524.2-603 and 524.2-604, 
        unless the testator's contemporaneous writing provides otherwise.
                                     Part 7 
                  CONTRACTUAL ARRANGEMENTS RELATING TO DEATH
                  RULES OF CONSTRUCTION APPLICABLE TO WILLS 
                       AND OTHER GOVERNING INSTRUMENTS
           Sec. 57.  Minnesota Statutes 1992, section 524.2-701, is 
        amended to read: 
           524.2-701 [CONTRACTS CONCERNING SUCCESSION SCOPE.] 
           A contract to make a will or devise, or not to revoke a 
        will or devise, or to die intestate, if executed after January 
        1, 1976, can be established only by (1) provisions of a will 
        stating material provisions of the contract; (2) an express 
        reference in a will to a contract and extrinsic evidence proving 
        the terms of the contract; or (3) a writing signed by the 
        decedent evidencing the contract.  The execution of a joint will 
        or mutual wills does not create a presumption of a contract not 
        to revoke the will or wills.  
           In the absence of a finding of a contrary intention, the 
        rules of construction in this part control the construction of a 
        governing instrument.  The rules of construction in this part 
        apply to a governing instrument of any type, except as the 
        application of a particular section is limited by its terms to a 
        specific type or types of provision or governing instrument. 
           Sec. 58.  [524.2-703] [CHOICE OF LAW AS TO MEANING AND 
        EFFECT OF GOVERNING INSTRUMENT.] 
           The meaning and legal effect of a governing instrument is 
        determined by the local law of the state selected in the 
        governing instrument, unless the application of that law is 
        contrary to the provisions relating to the elective share 
        described in part 2, the provisions relating to exempt property 
        and allowances described in part 4, or any other public policy 
        of this state otherwise applicable to the disposition. 
           Sec. 59.  [524.2-704] [POWER OF APPOINTMENT; MEANING OF 
        SPECIFIC REFERENCE REQUIREMENT.] 
           If a governing instrument creating a power of appointment 
        expressly requires that the power be exercised by a reference, 
        an express reference, or a specific reference, to the power or 
        its source, it is presumed that the donor's intention, in 
        requiring that the donee exercise the power by making reference 
        to the particular power or to the creating instrument, was to 
        prevent an inadvertent exercise of the power and an attempt to 
        exercise the power by a donee who had knowledge of and intended 
        to exercise the power is effective. 
           Sec. 60.  [524.2-705] [CLASS GIFTS CONSTRUED TO ACCORD WITH 
        INTESTATE SUCCESSION.] 
           Adopted individuals and individuals born out of wedlock, 
        and their respective descendants if appropriate to the class, 
        are included in class gifts and other terms of relationship in 
        accordance with the rules for intestate succession.  Terms of 
        relationship that do not differentiate relationships by blood 
        from those by affinity, such as "uncles," "aunts," "nieces," or 
        "nephews," are presumed to exclude relatives by affinity.  Terms 
        of relationship that do not differentiate relationships by the 
        half blood from those by the whole blood, such as "brothers," 
        "sisters," "nieces," or "nephews," are presumed to include both 
        types of relationships. 
           Sec. 61.  [524.2-708] [CLASS GIFTS TO "DESCENDANTS," 
        "ISSUE," OR "HEIRS OF THE BODY"; FORM OF DISTRIBUTION IF NONE 
        SPECIFIED.] 
           If a class gift in favor of "descendants," "issue," or 
        "heirs of the body" does not specify the manner in which the 
        property is to be distributed among the class members, the 
        property is distributed among the class members who are living 
        when the interest is to take effect in possession or enjoyment, 
        in such shares as they would receive, under the applicable law 
        of intestate succession, if the designated ancestor had then 
        died intestate owning the subject matter of the class gift. 
           Sec. 62.  [524.2-709] [REPRESENTATION; PER STIRPES; PER 
        CAPITA AT EACH GENERATION.] 
           (a) [DEFINITIONS.] In this section: 
           (1) "Deceased child" or "deceased descendant" means a child 
        or a descendant who either predeceased the distribution date or 
        is deemed to have predeceased the distribution date under 
        section 524.2-702. 
           (2) "Distribution date," with respect to an interest, means 
        the time when the interest is to take effect in possession or 
        enjoyment.  The distribution date need not occur at the 
        beginning or end of a calendar day, but can occur at a time 
        during the course of a day. 
           (3) "Surviving ancestor," "surviving child," or "surviving 
        descendant" means an ancestor, a child, or a descendant who 
        neither predeceased the distribution date nor is deemed to have 
        predeceased the distribution date under section 524.2-702. 
           (b) [REPRESENTATION; PER STIRPES.] If an applicable statute 
        or governing instrument calls for property to be distributed by 
        "representation" or "per stirpes," the property is divided into 
        as many equal shares as there are (i) surviving children of the 
        designated ancestor and (ii) deceased children who left 
        surviving descendants.  Each surviving child, if any, is 
        allocated one share.  The share of each deceased child with 
        surviving descendants is divided in the same manner, with 
        subdivision repeating at each succeeding generation until the 
        property is fully allocated among surviving descendants. 
           (c) [PER CAPITA AT EACH GENERATION.] If a governing 
        instrument calls for property to be distributed "per capita at 
        each generation," the property is divided into as many equal 
        shares as there are (i) surviving descendants in the generation 
        nearest to the designated ancestor which contains one or more 
        surviving descendants and (ii) deceased descendants in the same 
        generation who left surviving descendants, if any.  Each 
        surviving descendant in the nearest generation is allocated one 
        share.  The remaining shares, if any, are combined and then 
        divided in the same manner among the surviving descendants of 
        the deceased descendants as if the surviving descendants who 
        were allocated a share and their surviving descendants had 
        predeceased the distribution date. 
           (d) [DECEASED DESCENDANT WITH NO SURVIVING DESCENDANT 
        DISREGARDED.] For the purposes of paragraphs (b) and (c), an 
        individual who is deceased and left no surviving descendant is 
        disregarded, and an individual who leaves a surviving ancestor 
        who is a descendant of the designated ancestor is not entitled 
        to a share. 
           Sec. 63.  [INSTRUCTION TO REVISOR.] 
           In the next and subsequent editions of Minnesota Statutes, 
        the revisor shall renumber each section in column A with the 
        corresponding number in column B and correct all 
        cross-references to affected sections. 
                    Column A         Column B  
                    525.90           524.2-702  
                    528.01           524.6-214  
                    528.02           524.6-201  
                    528.03           524.6-202  
                    528.04           524.6-203  
                    528.05           524.6-204  
                    528.06           524.6-205  
                    528.07           524.6-206  
                    528.08           524.6-207  
                    528.09           524.6-208  
                    528.10           524.6-209  
                    528.11           524.6-210  
                    528.13           524.6-211  
                    528.14           524.6-212  
                    528.15           524.6-213  
           Sec. 64.  [REPEALER.] 
           Minnesota Statutes 1992, sections 524.2-112; 524.2-201; 
        524.2-202; 524.2-203; 524.2-204; 524.2-205; 524.2-206; 
        524.2-207; 524.2-503; 524.2-610; 524.2-612; 524.3-905; 525.15; 
        525.151; 525.22; 525.221; and 525.223, are repealed. 
           Sec. 65.  [EFFECTIVE DATE; PROVISIONS FOR TRANSITION.] 
           (a) This act takes effect on January 1, 1996. 
           (b) Except as provided elsewhere in this act: 
           (1) this act applies to the rights of successors of 
        decedents dying on or after its effective date and to any wills 
        of decedents dying on or after its effective date; 
           (2) if, before the effective date of this act, a right is 
        either acquired, extinguished, waived, or barred upon the 
        expiration of a prescribed period of time which commenced to run 
        by the provisions of any statute before the effective date, the 
        provisions of this act neither revoke, revive, restore, nor 
        remove the bar of such right; and 
           (3) any rule of construction or presumption provided in 
        this act applies to instruments executed and multiple party 
        accounts opened before the effective date of this act unless 
        there is a clear indication of contrary intent. 
           Presented to the governor April 18, 1994 
           Signed by the governor April 20, 1994, 1:40 p.m.

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes