Senate Bill No. 546
(By Senators Hunter and Kessler)
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[Introduced February 12, 2007; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §44-1-14a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to limiting the duplication of
publication costs in the administration of certain estates.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §44-1-14a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES.
§44-1-14a. Notice of administration of estate; time limits for
filing of objections; liability of personal
representative.
(a) Within thirty days of the filing of the appraisement of
any estate as required in section fourteen of this article, the
clerk of the county commission shall publish, once a week for two
successive weeks, in a newspaper of general circulation within the
county of the administration of the estate, a notice, which is to include:
(1) The name of the decedent;
(2) The name and address of the county commission before whom
the proceedings are pending;
(3) The name and address of the personal representative;
(4) The name and address of any attorney representing the
personal representative;
(5) The name and address of the fiduciary commissioner, if
any;
(6) The date of first publication;
(7) A statement that claims against the estate must be filed
in accordance with the provisions of article two or article three-a
of this chapter;
(8) A statement that any person seeking to impeach or
establish a will must make a complaint in accordance with the
provisions of section eleven, twelve or thirteen, article five,
chapter forty-one of this code;
(9) A statement that an interested person objecting to the
qualifications of the personal representative or the venue or
jurisdiction of the court must be filed with the county commission
within three months after the date of first publication or thirty
days of service of the notice, whichever is later; and
(10) If the appraisement of the assets of the estate shows the
value to be one hundred thousand dollars or less, exclusive of real estate specifically devised and nonprobate assets, or, if it
appears to the clerk that there is only one beneficiary of the
probate estate and that the beneficiary is competent at law, a
statement substantially as follows: "Settlement of the estate of
the following named decedents will proceed without reference to a
fiduciary commissioner unless within ninety days from the first
publication of this notice a reference is requested by a party in
interest or an unpaid creditor files a claim and good cause is
shown to support reference to a fiduciary commissioner."
If a
party in interest requests the fiduciary commissioner to conclude
the administration of the estate or an unpaid creditor files a
claim, no further notice to creditors shall be published in the
newspaper, and the personal representative shall be required to pay
no further fees, except to the fiduciary commissioner for
conducting any hearings, or performing any other duty as a
fiduciary commissioner. The time period for filing claims against
the estate shall expire upon the time period set out in the notice
to creditors published by the clerk of the county commission as
required in this subsection (a). The fiduciary commissioner shall
only conduct a hearing on the claim filed by a creditor, or the
fiduciary commissioner shall conclude the administration of the
estate, as requested by the interested party.
(b) If no appraisement is filed within the time period
established pursuant to section fourteen of this article, the county clerk shall send a notice to the personal representative by
first class mail, postage prepaid, indicating that the appraisement
has not been filed. Notwithstanding any other provision of this
code to the contrary, the county clerk shall publish the notice
required in subsection (a) of this section within six months of the
qualification of the personal representative.
(c) The personal representative shall promptly make a diligent
search to determine the names and addresses of creditors of the
decedent who are reasonably ascertainable.
(d) The personal representative shall, within ninety days
after the date of first publication, serve a copy of the notice,
published pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, by first
class mail, postage prepaid, or by personal service on the
following persons:
(1) If the personal representative is not the decedent's
surviving spouse and not the sole beneficiary or sole heir, the
decedent's surviving spouse, if any;
(2) If there is a will and the personal representative is not
the sole beneficiary, any beneficiaries;
(3) If there is not a will and the personal representative is
not the sole heir, any heirs;
(4) The trustee of any trust in which the decedent was a
grantor, if any; and
(5) All creditors identified under subsection (c) of this section, other than a creditor who filed a claim as provided in
article two of this chapter or a creditor whose claim has been paid
in full.
(e) Any person interested in the estate who objects to the
qualifications of the personal representative or the venue or
jurisdiction of the court, shall file notice of an objection with
the county commission within ninety days after the date of the
first publication as required in subsection (a) of this section or
within thirty days after service of the notice as required by
subsection (d) of this section, whichever is later. If an
objection is not timely filed, the objection is forever barred.
(f) A personal representative acting in good faith is not
personally liable for serving notice under this section,
notwithstanding a determination that notice was not required by
this section. A personal representative acting in good faith who
fails to serve the notice required by this section is not
personally liable. The service of the notice in accordance with
this subsection may not be construed to admit the validity or
enforceability of a claim.
(g) The clerk of the county commission shall collect a fee of
twenty dollars for the publication of the notice required in this
section.
(h) For purposes of this section, the term beneficiary means
a person designated in a will to receive real or personal property.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to limit the duplication of
publication costs in the administration of small estates.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.