Section 45-3-704 - Personal representative to proceed without court order; exception.

NM Stat § 45-3-704 (2019) (N/A)
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A personal representative shall proceed expeditiously with the settlement and distribution of a decedent's estate and, except as otherwise specified or ordered in regard to a supervised personal representative, do so without adjudication, order or direction of the district court. However, the personal representative may invoke the jurisdiction of the district court, in proceedings authorized by the [Uniform] Probate Code, to resolve questions concerning the estate or its administration.

History: 1953 Comp., § 32A-3-704, enacted by Laws 1975, ch. 257, § 3-704.

Bracketed material. — The bracketed material was inserted by the compiler and is not part of the law.

Breach of fiduciary duties. — Where the personal representative failed to distribute the decedent's estate in accordance with the decedent's will and New Mexico law, wrongfully distributed the estate's assets, failed to give a copy of the will to the decedent's devisees, misrepresented the terms of the will, failed to give the devisees timely notices of the probate proceedings, and failed to report all assets, the personal representative breached the personal representative's fiduciary duties. In re Estate of Gardner, 1992-NMCA-122, 114 N.M. 793, 845 P.2d 1247.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 33 C.J.S. Executors and Administrators § 147.