§ 15-3-401 — FORMAL TESTACY PROCEEDINGS — NATURE — WHEN COMMENCED

A formal testacy proceeding is litigation to determine whether a decedent left a valid will. A formal testacy proceeding may be commenced by an interested person filing a petition as described in subsection (a) of section 15-3-402 of this Part in which he requests that the court, after notice and hearing, enter an order probating a will, or a petition to set aside an informal probate of a will or to prevent informal probate of a will which is the subject of a pending application, or to set aside a determination that the entire estate is community and there is a surviving spouse, or a petition in accordance with subsection (c) of section 15-3-402 of this Part for an order that the decedent died intestate.
A petition may seek formal probate of a will without regard to whether the same or a conflicting will has been informally probated. A formal testacy proceeding may, but need not, involve a request for appointment of a personal representative.
During the pendency of a formal testacy proceeding, the registrar shall not act upon any application for informal probate of any will of the decedent or any application for informal appointment of a personal representative of the decedent.
Unless a petition in a formal testacy proceeding also requests confirmation of the previous informal appointment, a previously appointed personal representative, after receipt of notice of the commencement of a formal probate proceeding, must refrain from exercising his power to make any further distribution of the estate during the pendency of the formal proceeding. A petitioner who seeks the appointment of a different personal representative in a formal proceeding also may request an order restraining the acting personal representative from exercising any of the powers of his office and requesting the appointment of a special administrator. In the absence of a request, or if the request is denied, the commencement of a formal proceeding has no effect on the powers and duties of a previously appointed personal representative other than those relating to distribution.
By submitting a petition for formal probate the petitioner subjects himself to jurisdiction of the court in which such instrument is filed. Any action by a person damaged by him, including a creditor of the estate, shall be limited in amount to the assets of the estate less the obligations of the estate paid by him. Notice of any proceedings sought to be maintained against the petitioner pursuant to his submission to jurisdiction shall be delivered to him or mailed to him by ordinary first class mail at his address as it is known to the petitioner, or is listed on any application or petition in probate proceedings previously instituted in the court where the proceeding is brought.

Legislative History

[I.C., sec. 15-3-401, as added by 1971, ch. 111, sec. 1, p. 233; am. 1972, ch. 201, sec. 11, p. 510.]