Opinion ID: 566219
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: As used in the Probate Code and unless the context otherwise requires:

Text: 38 (1) application means a written request to the probate court for an order of informal probate or appointment under Sections 45-3-301 through 45-3-311 NMSA 1978; 39 (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; 40 (3) child includes any individual entitled to take as a child under the Probate Code by intestate succession from the parent whose relationship is involved and excludes any person who is only a stepchild, a foster child, a grandchild or any more remote descendant; 41 (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 incapacitated person or minor ward to specific assets alleged to be included in the estate; 42 (5) conservator means a person who is appointed by a court to manage the property or financial affairs or both of an incapacitated person or a minor ward; 43 (6) 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; 44 (7) 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; 45 (8) distributee means any person who has received property of a decedent from his personal representative other than as a creditor or purchaser. 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 subsection, testamentary trustee includes a trustee to whom assets are transferred by will, to the extent of the devised assets; 46 (9) estate means the property of the decedent, trust or other person whose affairs are subject to the Probate Code as originally constituted and as it exists from time to time during administration; 47 (10) general letters means letters issued to a general personal representative; 48 (11) fiduciary includes personal representative, guardian, conservator or trustee; 49 (12) foreign personal representative means a personal representative of another jurisdiction; 50 (13) formal proceeding means one conducted before the district court with notice to interested persons; 51 (14) general personal representative includes an executor, administrator, successor personal representative and persons who perform substantially the same function under the law governing their status. The term does not include a special administrator; 52 (15) guardian means a person who has qualified to have the care, custody or control of the person of a minor or incapacitated person pursuant to testamentary or court appointment, but excludes one who is merely a guardian ad litem; 53 (16) heirs means those persons, including the surviving spouse, who are entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of a decedent; 54 (17) incapacitated person is as defined in Section 45-5-101 NMSA 1978; 55 (18) informal proceedings means those conducted without notice to interested persons, except as provided for in Section 45-3-306 NMSA 1978, before the probate court for probate of a will or appointment of a personal representative;(19) 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, minor ward or incapacitated person which may be affected by the proceeding. It also includes personal representatives or, if not yet appointed, persons having priority for appointment as a personal representative and other fiduciaries representing interested persons. This definition does not apply to Sections 45-5-101 through 45-5-502 NMSA 1978; 56 (20) issue means all of a person's 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 the Probate Code; 57 (21) letters includes letters testamentary, letters of administration, letters of guardianship and letters of conservatorship; 58 (22) limited guardian is as defined in Section 45-5-101; 59 (23) minor means a person who has not reached the age of majority; 60 (24) mortgage means any conveyance, agreement or arrangement in which property is used as security; 61 (25) nonresident decedent means a decedent who was domiciled in another jurisdiction at the time of his death; 62 (26) organization includes a corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, two or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal entity; 63 (27) 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 the Probate Code by intestate succession from the child whose relationship is in question, and excludes any person who is only a stepparent, foster parent or grandparent; 64 (28) person includes an individual, a corporation, an organization or any other legal entity; 65 (29) personal representative includes an executor, administrator, successor personal representative, special administrator and persons who perform substantially the same function under the law governing their status; 66 (30) petition means a written request to the district court for an order after notice; 67 (31) property includes both real and personal property or any interest therein and means anything that may be the subject of ownership; 68 (32) protected person is as defined in Section 45-5-101 NMSA 1978; 69 (33) protective proceeding is as defined in Section 45-5-101 NMSA 1978; 70 (34) security includes any note, stock, treasury stock, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, collateral trust certificate, transferable share, voting trust certificate or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a security, or any certificate of interest, or participation, any temporary or interim certificate, receipt or certificate of deposit for or any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase any of the foregoing; 71 (35) settlement, in reference to decedent's estate, includes the full process of administration, distribution and closing; 72 (36) special administrator means a personal representative as described by Sections 45-3-614 through 45-3-618 NMSA 1978; 73 (37) state includes any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any territory or possession subject to the legislative authority of the United States; 74 (38) successor personal representative means a personal representative, other than a special administrator, who is appointed to succeed a previously appointed personal representative; 75 (39) successors means those persons, other than creditors, who are entitled to property of a decedent under his will or the Probate Code; 76 (40) supervised administration refers to the proceedings described in Sections 45-3-501 through 45-3-505 NMSA 1978; 77 (41) testacy proceeding means a proceeding to establish a will or determine intestacy; 78 (42) trust includes any express trust, private or charitable, with additions thereto, wherever and however created. It also includes a trust created or determined by judgment or decree under which the trust is to be administered in the manner of an express trust. Trust excludes other constructive trusts, and it excludes resulting trusts, conservatorships, personal representatives, trust accounts, custodial arrangements including those created under the Uniform Gifts to Minors Act, business trusts providing for certificates to be issued to beneficiaries, common trust funds, voting trusts, security arrangements, liquidation trusts and trusts for the primary purpose of paying debts, dividends, interest, salaries, wages, profits, pensions or employee benefits of any kind, and any arrangement under which a person is nominee or escrowee for another; 79 (43) trustee includes an original, additional or successor trustee, whether or not appointed or confirmed by court; 80 (44) ward is as defined in Section 45-5-101 NMSA 1978; 81 (45) will includes codicil and a testamentary instrument which merely appoints an executor or revokes or revises another will, and excludes holographic wills; and 82 (46) guardian ad litem means a person appointed by the district court before litigation to represent and protect the interests of the minor or incapacitated person. 83 B. The definitions found in Subsection A of this section are made subject to additional definitions contained in subsequent articles which are applicable to specific articles. 84 45-3-104. Claims against decedent; necessity of administration. 85 A. No proceeding to enforce a claim against the estate of a decedent or his successors may be revived or commenced before the appointment of a personal representative. After the appointment and until distribution, all proceedings and actions to enforce a claim against the estate are governed by the procedure prescribed by Sections 3-101 through 3-1204 [45-3-101 to 45-3-1204 NMSA 1978]. After distribution a creditor whose claim has not been barred may recover from the distributees as provided in Section 3-1004 [45-3-1004 NMSA 1978] or from a personal representative individually liable as provided in Section 3-1005 [45-3-1005 NMSA 1978]. 86 B. Subsection A of this section shall have no application to a proceeding by a secured creditor of the decedent to enforce his right to his security except as to any deficiency judgment which might be sought therein. 87 45-3-203. Priority among persons seeking appointment as personal representative. 88 A. Whether the proceedings are formal or informal, persons who are not disqualified have priority for appointment in the following order: 89 (1) the person with priority as determined by a probated will including a person nominated by a power conferred in a will; 90 (2) the surviving spouse of the decedent who is a devisee of the decedent; 91 (3) other devisees of the decedent; 92 (4) the surviving spouse of the decedent; 93 (5) other heirs of the decedent; and 94 (6) on application or petition of an interested person other than a spouse, devisee or heir, any qualified person. 95 B. An objection to an appointment can be made only in formal proceedings. In case of objection the priorities stated in Subsection A of this section apply except that: 96 (1) if the estate appears to be more than adequate to meet exemptions and costs of administration but inadequate to discharge anticipated unsecured claims, the court, on petition of creditors, may appoint any qualified person; 97 (2) in case of objection to appointment of a person other than one whose priority is determined by will by an heir or devisee appearing to have a substantial interest in the estate, the court may appoint a person who is acceptable to heirs and devisees whose interests in the estate appear to be worth in total more than half of the probable distributable value of the estate, or, in default of this accord, any suitable person. 98 C. A person entitled to letters under Paragraphs (2) through (5) of Subsection A of this section, or a person who has not reached his age of majority and who might be entitled to letters but for his age, may nominate a qualified person to act as personal representative and thereby confer his relative priority for appointment on his nominee. Any person who has reached his age of majority may renounce his right to nominate or to an appointment by appropriate writing filed with the court. When two or more persons share a priority, those of them who do not renounce must concur in nominating another to act for them, or in applying for appointment. 99 D. Conservators of the estates of protected persons, or if there is no conservator, any guardian except a guardian ad litem of a minor or incapacitated person, may exercise the same right to nominate, to object to another's appointment, or to participate in determining the preference of a majority in interest of the heirs and devisees that the protected person or ward would have if qualified for appointment. 100 E. Appointment of one who does not have highest priority, including highest priority resulting from renunciation or nomination determined pursuant to this section, may be made only in formal proceedings. Before appointing one without highest priority, the court must determine that those having highest priority, although given notice of the proceedings, have failed to request appointment or to nominate another for appointment, and that administration is necessary. 101 F. No person is qualified to serve as a personal representative who is: 102 (1) under the age of majority; 103 (2) a person whom the court finds unsuitable in formal proceedings; or 104 (3) a creditor of the decedent, unless the appointment is to be made after forty-five days have elapsed from the death of the decedent. 105 G. A personal representative appointed by a court of the decedent's domicile has priority over all other persons except where the decedent's will nominates different persons to be personal representatives in New Mexico and in the state of domicile. The domiciliary personal representative may nominate another, who shall have the same priority as the domiciliary personal representative. 106 H. This section governs priority for appointment of a successor personal representative but does not apply to the selection of a special administrator. 107 45-3-703. General duties; relation and liability to persons interested in estate; standing to sue. 108 A. A personal representative is under a duty to settle and distribute the estate of a decedent in accordance with the terms of any probated and effective will and the Probate Code, and as expeditiously and efficiently as is consistent with the best interests of the estate. He shall use the authority conferred upon him by the Probate Code, the terms of the will, if any, and any order in proceedings to which he is party for the best interests of successors to the estate. 109 B. A personal representative shall 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, an informally probated will is authority to administer and distribute the estate according to its terms. 110 C. 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: 111 (1) a pending testacy proceeding; 112 (2) a proceeding to vacate an order entered in an earlier testacy proceeding; 113 (3) a formal proceeding questioning his appointment or fitness to continue; or 114 (4) a supervised administration proceeding. 115 D. Nothing in this section affects 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. 116 E. Except as to proceedings which do not survive the death of the decedent, a personal representative of a decedent domiciled in New Mexico at his death has the same standing to sue and be sued in the courts of New Mexico and the courts of any other jurisdiction as his decedent had immediately prior to death.