Montana code annotated

988 Pages·1991·81.2 MB·English

by  Montana

MONTANA CODE ANNOTATED
Adopted by Chapter 1, Laws of 1979
Gregory J. PABATE LAW LIBRARY
Code Commissionef,F P 21 1991
&
Director of Legal Srnie MONT AN A
Staff Attorneys
Bart Campbell, Legal Researcher Lee Heiman
Valencia Lane Eddye McClure
John MacMaster David Niss
Doug Sternberg, Paralegal |
Indexers
Nadine E. Wallace Tracy Wortman
Director Legislative Services
Hank Trenk
Support Services
Operations Bureau Chief Distribution
Marilynn Novak Kathy Thompson
Copy Editors Programmer
Sally Bush-Arrigo Connie Dixon
Carol Ann Jacobsen 3 Tom Mulvaney
Mary Ellen Randall
| Proofreaders
Data Entry Martin Baumann
Ellen Garrity Phyllis Cote
Donna Grace JoAnn Meredith
Kevin Hayes
Ann Patten Typesetting
Patricia Sternberg Kevin Hayes
Lee Heiman
Ann Patten
IN Published by
( Montana Legislative Council
Room 138, State Capitol
Helena, MT 59620
Telephone [phone]
Printed and Bound by
Eastwood Printing and Publishing Co.
2901 Blake St. ,
Denver, CO 80205
Telephone [phone]
Copyright
© 1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991
b
y
The State of Montana
MONTANA CODE ANNOTATED
1991 STATE LAW LIBRARY
CONTENTS SEP 21. 199]
Volume 1 OF MY 4
Preface Titles
CONSTITUTION 37. Professions and Occupations
Titles 38. Reserved
1. General Laws and Definitions 39. Labor
2. Government Structure and Administration 40. Family Law
3. Judiciary, Courts 41. Minors
4. Reserved 42 and 43. Reserved
5. Legislative Branch
6. Reserved Volume 8
Titl
okie 2 44, ray Enforcement
Titles 45. Crimes
7. Local Government 46. Criminal Procedure
8 and 9. Reserved 47 and 48. Reserved
49. Human Rights
Volume 3 50. Health and Safety
51. Reserved
Titles 52. Family Services
10. Military Affairs and Disaster and 53. Social Services and Institutions
Emergency Services 54-59. Reserved
11 and 12. Reserved
13. Elections Volume 9
14. Reserved
15. Taxation Titles
16. Alcohol and Tobacco 60. Highways and Transportation
17. State Finance 61. Motor Vehicles
18. Public Contracts 62-66. Reserved
67. Aeronautics
Volume 4 68. Reserved
69. Public Utilities and Carriers
Titles 70. Property
19. Public Retirement Systems
71. Mortgages, Pledges, and Liens
20. Education
21. Reserved
22. Libraries, Arts, and Antiquities Volume 10
23. Parks, Recreation, Sports, and Gambling
Titles
24. Reserved 72. Estates, Trusts, and Fiduciary Relationships
25. Civil Procedure 73 and 74. Reserved
26. Evidence 75. Environmental Protection
76. Land Resources and Use
Volume 5 77. State Lands
78 and 79. Reserved
Titles
27. Civil Liability, Remedies, and Limitations
28. Contracts and Other Obligations Volume 11
29. Reserved
Titles
30. Trade and Commerce
80. Agriculture
31. Credit Transactions and Relationships
81. Livestock
32. Financial Institutions
82. Minerals, Oil, and Gas
83 and 84. Reserved
Volume 6
85. Water Use
Titles 86. Reserved
33. Insurance and Insurance Companies 87. Fish and Wildlife
34. Reserved 88 and 89. Reserved
35. Corporations, Partnerships, and Associations 90. Planning, Research, and Development
36. Reserved 91-99. Reserved
INDEX
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TITLE 72
ESTATES, TRUSTS,
AND FIDUCIARY RELATIONSHIPS
Ch.
1. Uniform Probate Code — General Provisions.
2. UPC — Intestate Succession and Wills.
3. UPC — Probate and Administration.
4. UPC — Foreign Personal Representatives and Ancillary Administration.
5. UPC — Persons Under Disability — Guardianship and Conservatorship.
6. Disposition of Community Property at Death.
Chapters 7 through 9 reserved.
10. Supplementary General Provisions on Probate and Succession.
11. Intestate Succession and Wills — Supplementary Provisions.
12. Probate and Administration — Supplementary Provisions.
13. Persons Under Disability — Supplementary Provisions.
14. Escheated Estates.
15. Public Administrator.
16. Inheritance and Estate Taxes.
17. Anatomical Gift Act.
Chapters 18 and 19 reserved. |
20. Trusts in General. Repealed. Sec. 220, Ch. 685, L. 1989.
21. Trustees’ Powers Act. Repealed. Sec. 220, Ch. 685, L. 1989.
22. Conveyance of Trust Property by Court Order. Repealed. Sec. 220, Ch. 685, L. 1989.
23. Trusts for Benefit of Third Persons. Repealed. Sec. 220, Ch. 685, L. 1989.
24. Trusts in Relation to Real Property. Repealed. Sec. 220, Ch. 685, L. 1989.
25. Revised Uniform Principal and Income Act. Repealed. Sec. 220, Ch. 685, L. 1989.
26. Uniform Transfers to Minors Act.
27. Miscellaneous Provisions Relating to Trusts. Repealed and Renumbered. Sec. 220, Ch. 685,
L. 1989.
Chapters 28 and 29 reserved.
30. Management of Institutional Funds.
31. Miscellaneous Provisions Relating to Fiduciaries.
Chapter 32 reserved.
33. Trust Code — General Provisions.
34. Trust Administration.
35. Judicial Proceedings Concerning Trusts.
36. Rights of Third Persons.
37. Funeral Plan Trusts.
CHAPTER 1
UNIFORM PROBATE CODE
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Part 1— Short Title, Definitions,
Construction, and General Provisions
72-1-101. Short title.
72-1-102. Purposes — liberal construction.
72-1-103. General definitions.
72-1-104. Supplementary general principles of law applicable.
1
72-1-101 ESTATES, TRUSTS, 2
AND FIDUCIARY RELATIONSHIPS
72-1-105. Construction against implied repeal.
72-1-106. Uniform Probate Code to take precedence.
72-1-107. Effective date — applicability.
72-1-108. Evidential rules applicable — evidence as to death or status.
72-1-109. Acts by holder of general power.
72-1-110. Instruments not invalidated by code.
72-1-111. Remedies for fraud — statute of limitations.
Part 2— Scope, Jurisdiction, and Courts
72-1-201. Territorial application.
72-1-202. Subject matter jurisdiction.
72-1-203. Venue — multiple proceedings — transfer.
72-1-204. Records and certified copies.
72-1-205. Powers of clerk — performable by clerk or court.
72-1-206. Oath or affirmation on filed documents.
72-1-207. Rules of civil procedure to apply.
72-1-208. Jury trial.
72-1-209. Appeals.
Part 3— Notices, Parties, and Representation Generally
72-1-301. Notice — method and time of giving.
72-1-302. Waiver of notice.
72-1-303. Pleadings — when orders or notice binding one binds another — representation.
Uniform statutory rule against per-
Chapter Cross-References
petuities, Title 70, ch. 1, part 8.
Gifts and devises to estates, Title 70, ch. 1,
part 7.
Part 1
Short Title, Definitions,
Construction, and General Provisions
72-1-101. Short title. Chapters 1 through 5 and chapter 16, part 6, shall
be known and may be cited as the “Uniform Probate Code”.
History: En. 91A-1-101 by Sec. 1, Ch. 365, L. 1974; R.C.M. 1947, 91A-1-101.
72-1-102. Purposes — liberal construction. (1) This code shall be
liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and
policies.
(2) The underlying purposes and policies of this code are to:
(a) simplify and clarify the law concerning the affairs of decedents,
missing persons, protected persons, minors, and incapacitated persons;
(b) discover and make effective the intent of a decedent in distribution of
his property;
(c) promote a speedy and efficient system for liquidating the estate of the
decedent and making distribution to its successors;
(d) make uniform the law among the various jurisdictions.
History: En. 91A-1-102 by Sec. 1, Ch. 365, L. 1974; R.C.M. 1947, 91A-1-102.
3 UNIFORM PROBATE CODE 72-1-103
GENERAL PROVISIONS
72-1-103. General definitions. Subject to additional definitions con-
tained in the subsequent chapters which are applicable to specific chapters
or parts and unless the context otherwise requires, in this code the following
definitions apply:
(1) “Application” means a written request to the clerk for an order of
informal probate or appointment under chapter 38, part 2.
(2) “Beneficiary”, as it relates to trust beneficiaries, includes a person who
has any present or future interest, vested or contingent, and also includes the
owner of an interest by assignment or other transfer and, as it relates to a
charitable trust, includes any person entitled to enforce the trust.
(3) “Child” includes any individual entitled to take as a child under this
code by intestate succession from the parent whose relationship is involved.
(4) “Claims”, in respect to estates of decedents and protected persons,
includes liabilities of the decedent or protected person, whether arising in
contract, in tort, or otherwise, and liabilities of the estate which arise at or
after the death of the decedent or after the appointment of a conservator,
including funeral expenses and expenses of administration. The term does
not include estate or inheritance taxes, demands or disputes regarding title
of a decedent or protected person to specific assets alleged to be included in
the estate. .
(5) “Clerk” or “clerk of court” means the clerk of the district court.
(6) “Conservator” means a person who is appointed by a court to manage
the estate of a protected person.
(7) “Court” means the court having jurisdiction in matters relating to the
affairs of decedents. This court in this state is known as district court.
(8) “Devise” when used as a noun means a testamentary disposition of
real or personal property and when used as a verb means to dispose of real or
personal property by will.
(9) “Devisee” means any person designated in a will to receive a devise.
In the case of a devise to an existing trust or trustee or to a trustee on trust
described by will, the trust or trustee is the devisee and the beneficiaries are
not devisees.
(10) “Disability” means cause for a protective order as described by
72-5-409. |
(11) “Distributee” means any person who has received property of a
decedent from his personal representative other than as-a creditor or pur-
chaser. A testamentary trustee is a distributee only to the extent of distributed
assets or increment thereto remaining in his hands. A beneficiary of a
testamentary trust to whom the trustee has distributed property received
from a personal representative is a distributee of the personal representative.
For purposes of this provision, “testamentary trustee” includes a trustee to
whom assets are transferred by will, to the extent of the devised assets.
(12) “Estate” includes the property of the decedent, trust, or other person
whose affairs are subject to this code as originally constituted and as it exists
from time to time during administration.
(13) “Exempt property” means that property of a decedent’s estate which
is described in 72-2-802.
72-1-103 ESTATES, TRUSTS, 4
AND FIDUCIARY RELATIONSHIPS
(14) “Fiduciary” includes personal representative, guardian, conservator,
and trustee.
(15) “Foreign personal representative” means a personal representative
of another jurisdiction.
(16) “Formal proceedings” means those conducted before a judge with
notice to interested persons.
(17) “Guardian” means a person who has qualified as a guardian of a
minor or incapacitated person pursuant to testamentary or court appointment
but excludes one who is merely a guardian ad litem.
(18) “Heirs” means those persons, including the surviving spouse, who are
entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of a
decedent.
(19) “Incapacitated person” is as defined in 72-5-101.
(20) “Informal proceedings” means those conducted without notice to
interested persons by the clerk of court for probate of a will or appointment
of a personal representative.
(21) “Interested person” includes heirs, devisees, children, spouses,
creditors, beneficiaries, and any others having a property right in or claim
against a trust estate or the estate of a decedent, ward, or protected person
which may be affected by the proceeding. It also includes persons having
priority for appointment as personal representative and other fiduciaries
representing interested persons. The meaning as it relates to particular
persons may vary from time to time and must be determined according to the
particular purposes of and matter involved in any proceeding.
(22) “Issue” of a person means all his lineal descendants of all generations,
with the relationship of parent and child at each generation being determined
by the definitions of child and parent contained in this code.
(23) “Lease” includes an oil, gas, coal, or other mineral lease.
(24) “Letters” includes letters testamentary, letters of guardianship, let-
ters of administration, and letters of conservatorship.
(25) “Minor” means a person who is under 18 years of age.
(26) “Mortgage” means any conveyance, agreement, or arrangement in
which property is used as security.
(27) “Nonresident decedent” means a decedent who was domiciled in
another jurisdiction at the time of his death.
(28) “Organization” includes a corporation, government or governmental
subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or associa-
tion, two or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal
entity.
(29) “Parent” includes any person entitled to take, or who would be
entitled to take if the child died without a will, as a parent under this code by
intestate succession from the child whose relationship is in question.
(30) “Person” means an individual, a corporation, an organization, or
other legal entity.
(31) “Personal representative” includes executor, administrator, succes-
sor personal representative, special administrator, and persons who perform
substantially the same function under the law governing their status.
“General personal representative” excludes special administrator.