§ 62-3-108 — Probate, testacy, and appointment proceedings; ultimate time limit.

(A)(1) No informal probate or appointment proceeding or formal testacy or appointment proceeding, other than a proceeding to probate a will previously probated at the testator's domicile and appointment proceedings relating to an estate in which there has been a prior appointment, may be commenced more than ten years after the decedent's death. (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section: (a) if a previous proceeding was dismissed because of doubt about the fact of the decedent's death, appropriate probate, appointment, or testacy proceedings may be maintained at any time upon a finding that the decedent's death occurred prior to the initiation of the previous proceeding and the applicant or petitioner has not delayed unduly in initiating the subsequent proceeding and if that previous proceeding was commenced within the time limits of this section; (b) appropriate probate, appointment, or testacy proceedings may be maintained in relation to the estate of an absent, disappeared, or missing person for whose estate a conservator has been appointed, at any time within three years after the conservator becomes able to establish the death of the protected person; (c) a proceeding to contest an informally probated will and to secure appointment of the person with legal priority for appointment in the event the contest is successful may be commenced within eight months from informal probate or one year from the decedent's death, whichever is later; and (d) appropriate appointment proceedings may be maintained in relation to the estate of an individual for the sole purpose of allowing a claim to be made pursuant to Section 804 of the "Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022". United States Public Law 117-168, as amended, regardless of the date of that individual's death. (B) If no informal probate and no formal testacy proceedings are commenced within ten years after the decedent's death, and no proceedings under subsection (A)(2) are commenced within the applicable period of time, it is incontestable that the decedent left no will and that the decedent's estate passes by intestate succession. These limitations do not apply to proceedings to construe probated wills or determine heirs of an intestate. In proceedings commenced under subsection (A)(2)(a) or (A)(2)(b), the date on which a testacy or appointment proceeding is properly commenced is deemed to be the date of the decedent's death for purposes of other limitations provisions of this code which relate to the date of death.

Legislative History

HISTORY: 1986 Act No. 539, SECTION 1; 1987 Act No. 171, SECTION 17; 1990 Act No. 521, SECTION 31; 2013 Act No. 100, SECTION 1, eff January 1, 2014; 2024 Act No. 122 (S.845), SECTION 1, eff May 13, 2024. Effect of Amendment The 2013 amendment rewrote the section. 2024 Act No. 122, SECTION 1, in (A)(2), inserted (d) and made nonsubstantive changes; and in (B), in the first sentence, substituted "subsection (A)(2)" for "subsection (A)(2)(b)" and "applicable period of time" for "applicable period of three years", and made a nonsubstantive change.