Petitions; hearing
Sec. 4. (a) Any interested person or a personal representative
named in the will may petition the court having jurisdiction of the
administration of the decedent's estate:
(1) to have the will of such decedent, whether the same is
written or is unwritten, is in his possession or not, is lost,
destroyed, or without the state, probated;
(2) for the issuance of letters testamentary to the executor
named in said will for the administration of said estate;
(3) for the appointment of an administrator with the will
annexed if no executor is designated in said will or if the person
so designated is not qualified, dead, or refuses to serve; or
(4) for the appointment of an administrator for the estate of any
person dying intestate.
(b) A petition for probate may be combined with a petition for the
issuance of letters testamentary, or as administrator with the will
annexed, and a person interested in the probate of a will and in the
administration of the estate may petition for both.
(c) No notice that a will is to be offered for probate or that it has
been probated shall be required.
(d) No notice of the filing of, and hearing on, the petition
described in this section shall be given to or served upon any person.
If the petition described herein is filed in term time, it shall be heard
forthwith by the court, and if filed in vacation, it shall be heard by
the judge of said court if present, or in his absence by the clerk of the
said court.
(e) If:
(1) an interested person petitions for the appointment of an
administrator for the estate of a person dying intestate; and
(2) a petition to dissolve the marriage of the decedent and the
decedent's spouse is pending in an Indiana court or the court of
another state at the time of the decedent's death;
the court may not appoint the decedent's spouse to be the
administrator of the decedent's estate.
(f) Subsection (e) does not apply to a petition for appointment of
an administrator for the estate of a person dying intestate if the
application of subsection (e) is waived in an agreement signed by
each person, except a person who is incapacitated or a minor, who is
eligible for a distribution from the decedent's net estate under
IC 29-1-2-1. A waiver may be submitted to the court at any time
before the appointment of an administrator.
(Formerly: Acts 1953, c.112, s.704.) As amended by P.L.182-1999,
SEC.1.
Last modified: May 27, 2006