2-2-310. Appointment of attorney for minors or nonresidents; compensation; failure to appoint of no effect.
At or before the hearing of petitions and contests for the probate of wills, for letters testamentary or of administration, for sales of real estate and confirmation thereof, settlements, partitions, and distribution of estates, setting apart homesteads, and all other proceedings where all the parties interested in the estate are required to be notified, the court may appoint an attorney-at-law to represent the devisees, legatees, heirs or creditors of the decedent who are minors and have no general guardian in the county, or who are nonresidents of the state, and those interested who, though they are neither minors or nonresidents, are unrepresented. The order shall specify the names of the parties, so far as known, for whom the attorney is appointed. The attorney may receive a fee, to be fixed by the court, for his services, which shall be paid out of the funds of the estate as necessary expenses of administration, and upon distribution may be charged to the party represented by the attorney. If, for any cause, it becomes necessary, the court may substitute another attorney for the one first appointed, in which case the fee shall be proportionately divided. The failure to appoint an attorney will not affect the validity of any of the proceedings.