§ 29-1-7-23 — Real and personal property; devolution; prima facie evidence

Indiana § 29-1-7-23

• Jurisdiction: Indiana
• Art. 1: PROBATE CODE
• Ch. 7: Probate and Grant of Administration

Text

(a) When a person dies, the person's real and
personal property passes to persons to whom it is devised by the
person's last will or, in the absence of such disposition, to the persons
who succeed to the person's estate as the person's heirs; but it shall be
subject to the possession of the personal representative and to the
election of the surviving spouse and shall be chargeable with the
expenses of administering the estate, the payment of other claims and
the allowances under IC 29-1-4-1, except as otherwise provided in IC 29-1.
(b) A person may sign and record an affidavit to establish prima
facie evidence of the passage of real estate title to distributees under
this section. An affidavit under this section may contain the following
information:
(1) The decedent's name and date of death.
(2) A statement of the affiant's relationship to the decedent.
(3) A description of how the following deeds or other instruments
vested in the decedent an ownership or leasehold interest in real
property, with a cross-reference if applicable, under IC 36-2-7-10(m) to each deed or other instrument:
(A) Deeds or other instruments recorded in the office of the
recorder where the real property is located.
(B) Deeds or other instruments that disclose a title transaction
(as defined in IC 32-20-2-7).
(4) The legal description of the conveyed real property as it
appears in instruments described in subdivision (3).
(5) The names of all distributees known to the affiant.
(6) An explanation of how each interest in the real property
passed upon the decedent's death to each distributee by:
(A) intestate succession under IC 29-1-2-1; or
(B) the decedent's last will and testament that has been admitted
to probate under section 13 of this chapter, with references to:
(i) the name and location of the court that issued the order
admitting the will to probate; and
(ii) the date when the court admitted the decedent's will to
probate.
(7) An explanation of how any fractional interests in the real
property that may have passed to multiple distributees were
calculated and apportioned.
(c) Upon presentation of an affidavit described in subsection (b), the
auditor of the county where the real property described in the affidavit
is located must endorse the affidavit as an instrument that is exempt
from the requirements to file a sales disclosure form and must enter the
names of the distributees shown on the affidavit on the tax duplicate on
which the real property is transferred, assessed, and taxed under IC 6-1.1-5-7. After December 31, 2023, an auditor may not refuse to
endorse an affidavit because the affidavit is an electronic document.
(d) Upon presentation of an affidavit described in subsection (b), the
recorder of the county where the real property described in the affidavit
is located must:
(1) record the affidavit; and
(2) index the affidavit as the most recent instrument responsible
for the transfer of the real property described in subsection (b)(4).
(e) Any person may rely upon an affidavit recorded with the county
recorder:
(1) made in good faith; and
(2) under this section;
as prima facie evidence of an effective transfer of the decedent's title
to the real property interest under subsection (a) to the distributee
described in the affidavit.
(f) If:
(1) at least seven (7) months have elapsed since the decedent's
death;
(2) the clerk of the court described in subsection (b)(6)(B) has not
issued letters testamentary or letters of administration to the court
appointed personal representative for the decedent within the time
limits specified under section 15.1(d) of this chapter; and
(3) the court described in subsection (b)(6)(B) has not issued
findings and an accompanying order preventing the limitations in
section 15.1(b) of this chapter from applying to the decedent's real
property;
any person may rely upon the affidavit described in subsection (e) as
evidence that the real property may not be sold by an executor or
administrator of the decedent's estate to pay a debt or obligation of the
decedent, which is not a lien of record in the county in which the real
property is located, or to pay any costs of administration of the
decedent's estate.
Formerly: Acts 1953, c.112, s.723. As amended by Acts 1976,
P.L.125, SEC.2; Acts 1979, P.L.268, SEC.3; P.L.231-2019, SEC.10;
P.L.56-2020, SEC.2; P.L.26-2022, SEC.4; P.L.181-2025,
SEC.9.