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TEMPORARY ADMINISTRATION--ABSENTEES AND INTERNEES
Section 901. When temporary administration may be granted. 902. Procedure for appointment of temporary administrator. 903. General powers of temporary administrator. 905. Actions and proceedings maintainable by or against a temporary administrator. 906. Payment of claims by temporary administrator. 907. Special powers of temporary administrator in estates of absentees and internees. 908. Settlement of temporary administrator`s account of a decedent`s estate. 910. Annual account of internee`s estate. 911. Final determination and distribution of an absentee`s estate. S 901. When temporary administration may be granted Temporary administration may be granted if the court finds it is in the best interests of the estate in the following cases: 1. When for any cause delay occurs in the grant of letters on the estate of a decedent or a person alleged to be deceased or in the probate of his or her will. 2. When a person having an interest in property in this state has disappeared and is absent from his or her place of abode without being heard of after diligent inquiry. Such person shall be referred to as an absentee. 3. When a person having an interest in property in this state has been made a prisoner of war or has been detained or interned by an enemy country or in an enemy-occupied country or by force, or imprisoned in this country, a foreign country, whether legal or illegal, and who is thereby unable to safeguard and care for his property in this state. Such person shall be referred to as an internee. S 902. Procedure for appointment of temporary administrator 1. If a proceeding is pending for probate of a will or for letters of administration, process shall issue to such persons and in such manner as directed by the court. 2. If no proceeding is pending and the alleged delay is in a proceeding for (a) letters of administration on the estate of a decedent or a person alleged to be deceased, process shall issue to the persons who would be entitled to receive process on an application for such letters; (b) probate of a will, process shall issue to the executor named in the last will on file in the court of a decedent or a person alleged to be deceased and to such beneficiaries named in such will and to such other persons as directed by the court. 3. In the case of an absentee, process shall issue to the absentee and to the persons who would be his or her distributees if he or she had died on the date of filing the petition. Upon return of process the court after hearing shall fix and determine the date when the absentee was last seen or heard of. 4. In the case of an internee, process shall issue to the persons who would be his or her distributees if he or she had died on the date of filing the petition. 5. In all cases under subdivisions 1, 2 and 4, the court may dispense with process if it finds that the best interests of the estate so require. 6. After a citation has been issued by the court in a case under subdivision 3 and it is established to the satisfaction of the court that the best interests of the estate of an absentee require immediate supervision or action by a fiduciary, the court may forthwith appoint the temporary administrator to serve during the pendency of the proceeding or for such shorter period of time as the court directs. In no event shall such appointment be for a longer period than six months from the date of issuance of the citation. During the pendency of the proceeding, the court may at any time revoke such letters of temporary administration. The temporary administrator shall not be entitled to commissions under 2307 for services rendered prior to the date of the decree finally appointing the temporary administrator and containing the finding required by subdivision 3, but the court may award such compensation for such services as shall be just, reasonable and proper, not to exceed a full commission for all services rendered by such person as fiduciary during the entire administration of the estate. 7. A petition for letters of temporary administration may be presented by any person interested in the estate of a decedent or a person alleged to be deceased, any beneficiary or nominated executor under the last will of a decedent or a person alleged to be deceased on file in the court, any person who would have an interest in the property of an absentee or internee if he or she were dead, a public administrator, county treasurer, creditor or by a person interested in an action brought or about to be brought in which the decedent, absentee or internee would be a proper party. S 903. General powers of temporary administrator 1. Letters of temporary administration shall confer upon the person named therein, subject to any limitation contained in an instrument offered for probate, all the powers and authority with respect to all real and personal property of a decedent, absentee or internee, and subject him or her to all the duties and liabilities of an administrator with respect thereto except that they do not confer any authority to pay or to satisfy any testamentary disposition or intestate share. 2. Where a temporary administrator is appointed upon the estate of an absentee or internee and the estate includes an interest as a tenant in common, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety of real property in the same or another county, the court may by order authorize the temporary administrator to join with the other tenants or tenant in a sale, mortgage or lease of the real property or in a conveyance to the other tenants or tenant upon such terms as may be approved by the court and assented to by the other tenants or tenant. The sale, mortgage or lease may be authorized without limitation by the purposes, conditions and restrictions stated in article 19. The proceeds of a sale and the rents received upon any lease made pursuant to this subdivision shall be apportioned according to the interest of the parties. 3. A temporary administrator appointed upon the estate of an absentee or internee has all the powers and authority enumerated in the preceding subdivisions of this section with respect to the real and personal property of the absentee or internee. The temporary administrator`s acts done in pursuance of that authority are binding upon the absentee or
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internee, if living, or his or her distributees or devisees, if he or she be dead. 4. (a) The court may, in the order directing the issuance of temporary letters of administration or in one or more subsequent orders, limit such letters to the receipt of assets specified in such order or orders and may prohibit the collection of any other assets of the decedent, or may limit, restrict or authorize the person named in such letters in any manner that the court deems advisable for the effective protection of the rights of all persons who may have an interest in the estate of the decedent, absentee or internee. (b) In such order or orders, the court may make such directions as it deems proper and necessary with respect to the custody and preservation of all papers and records of the decedent, absentee or internee. Discovery and production of such papers and records shall be governed by article 31 of the civil practice law and rules. S 905. Actions and proceedings maintainable by or against a temporary administrator 1. A temporary administrator may maintain any action or proceeding for the purpose of taking into his possession, securing and preserving all property of a decedent, absentee or internee or for determining the ownership of property. 2. Any action or proceeding may be maintained against a temporary administrator upon a debt of the decedent, absentee or internee or upon any cause of action to which the decedent, absentee or internee would have been a party in like manner and with like effect as if he were an administrator. S 906. Payment of claims by temporary administrator At any time after the issuance of letters of temporary administration, process may issue to a temporary administrator requiring him to show cause why he should not pay the petitioner`s claim. The court may dismiss the petition or direct payment or satisfaction of the claim in whole or in part and may require a refunding bond. S 907. Special powers of temporary administrator in estates of absentees or internees 1. Where it appears to the satisfaction of the court that the spouse, a child or a dependent presumptive distributee of an absentee or internee or the internee himself or herself requires provision out of the estate for his or her benefit, health, maintenance, clothing or education, the court may make such orders from time to time empowering the temporary administrator to make such provision therefor out of all property in his or her hands not needed for the payment of claims as the court deems proper. 2. The court may by order empower the temporary administrator from time to time to conduct any inquiry and to expend funds of the estate therefor to ascertain the whereabouts or condition of an absentee or internee. The expenditures so made shall be deemed administration expenses. S 908. Settlement of temporary administrator`s account of a decedent`s estate 1. When the time for presentation of claims as fixed by notice duly published has expired or when 7 months have elapsed since the issuance of letters of temporary administration on the estate of a decedent the court may direct a temporary administrator to account upon the application of the temporary administrator. The court upon its own initiative or upon the petition of a person interested, a public administrator, county treasurer or creditor, may direct a temporary administrator to account at any time. 2. Upon the settlement of his account the court may direct the temporary administrator of a decedent`s estate to pay the decedent`s funeral and administration expenses and direct the ratable distribution of the remaining assets in payment of the claims allowed or established as valid claims against the decedent. The court may direct the payment into court or the retention by the temporary administrator of whatever may remain of the assets of the personal estate of such decedent. S 910. Annual account of internee`s estate 1. Except as provided in subdivision 2 a temporary administrator of an internee`s property must annually within 30 days after the anniversary of his or her appointment, as long as any of the internee`s property or of the proceeds thereof remains under his or her control, file in the court an account in similar manner and form as provided in 1719 and the same shall be verified and examined as provided in 1720 and 1721. 2. Where the temporary administrator omits to file an account as required under subdivision 1 or where it appears that the account is defective, proceedings may be taken as prescribed in 1722. 3. When an internee or another duly appointed representative appears and claims his or her property the temporary administrator shall account for, deliver and pay over the remainder thereof, after making such deductions as are allowable by law. S 911. Final determination and distribution of an absentee`s estate 1. If it appears at any time during the administration of the estate that the absentee is in fact dead the temporary administrator or a person interested may petition for the probate of his or her will or the grant of full letters of administration and for a judicial determination of the fact of death and if the court finds that it is in the best interests of the estate an accounting and distribution may be directed without the issuance of permanent letters. 2. If before any decree of distribution has been made, an absentee or his duly appointed fiduciary appears and claims his or her property the temporary administrator shall account for, deliver and pay over to the absentee or such fiduciary the remainder thereof after making such deductions as are allowable by law. 3. If the absentee has not appeared or been heard of after the lapse of 5 years from the date of the finding required by 902, subdivision 3 or in case the temporary administrator is not appointed within 4 years after said date, upon the expiration of 1 year after the date of the appointment of the temporary administrator and if the remainder of the property has not been accounted for, delivered or paid over to the absentee or his or her fiduciary under the preceding subdivision of this section the court shall direct an accounting, require the absentee to show cause why his or her assets should not be distributed according to law and thereafter make a decree determining that all interest of the absentee in his or her property has ceased and terminated and directing that all his or her property be distributed to such persons as would be entitled thereto, by will or as in an intestacy, as if such absentee died at the expiration of such 5 year period. Such decree may include a determination of the rights of the absentee or any other person in any contractual or property rights contingent upon the death of the absentee in the same manner as section 2-1.7 of the estates, powers and trusts law. No action shall be brought by an absentee to recover any portion of his or her property after the determination and decree.