72-3-611. No surcharge for authorized acts generally -- limitation. - Montana Statutes

     72-3-611. No surcharge for authorized acts generally -- limitation. (1) A personal representative may not be surcharged for acts of administration or distribution if the conduct in question was authorized at the time. Subject to other obligations of administration and of this code, an informally probated will is authority to administer and distribute the estate according to its terms. Subject to the provisions of this code, an order of appointment of a personal representative, whether issued in informal or formal proceedings, is authority to distribute apparently intestate assets to the heirs of the decedent if, at the time of distribution, the personal representative is not aware of a pending testacy proceeding, a proceeding to vacate an order entered in an earlier testacy proceeding, a formal proceeding questioning the personal representative's appointment or fitness to continue, or a supervised administration proceeding.
     (2) This section does not affect the duty of the personal representative to administer and distribute the estate in accordance with the rights of claimants, the surviving spouse, any minor and dependent children, and any pretermitted child of the decedent as described elsewhere in this code.

     History: En. 91A-3-703 by Sec. 1, Ch. 365, L. 1974; R.C.M. 1947, 91A-3-703(2); amd. Sec. 2354, Ch. 56, L. 2009.