Debts and charges of estate: Priority of payment. The debts and charges of the estate must be paid in the following order:
1. Expenses of administration.
2. Funeral expenses.
3. The expenses of the last illness.
4. Family allowance.
5. Debts having preference by laws of the United States.
6. Money owed to the Department of Human Resources as a result of the payment of benefits for Medicaid.
7. Wages to the extent of $600, of each employee of the decedent, for work done or personal services rendered within 3 months before the death of the employer. If there is not sufficient money with which to pay all such labor claims in full, the money available must be distributed among the claimants in accordance with the amounts of their respective claims.
8. Judgments rendered against the decedent in his lifetime, and mortgages in order of their date. The preference given to a mortgage extends only to the proceeds of the property mortgaged. If the proceeds of that property are insufficient to pay the mortgage, the part remaining unsatisfied must be classed with other demands against the estate.
9. All other demands against the estate.
Last modified: February 25, 2006