Monday, April 20, 2015

SECTION 3-106. Uniform Probate Code PROCEEDINGS WITHIN THE EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION OF COURT; SERVICE; JURISDICTION OVER PERSONS

SECTION 3-106. Uniform Probate Code
PROCEEDINGS WITHIN THE EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION OF COURT; SERVICE; JURISDICTION OVER PERSONS. In proceedings within the exclusive jurisdiction of the court where notice is required by this [code] or by rule, and in proceedings to construe probated wills or determine heirs which concern estates that have not been and cannot now be opened for administration, interested persons may be bound by the orders of the court in respect to property in or subject to the laws of this state by notice in conformity with Section 1-401. An order is binding as to all who are given notice of the proceeding though less than all interested persons are notified.
Comment
The language in this and the preceding section which divides matters coming before the probate court between those within the court’s “exclusive” jurisdiction and those within its “concurrent” jurisdiction would be inappropriate if probate matters were assigned to a branch of a single court of general jurisdiction. The Code could be adjusted to an assumption of a single court in various ways. Any adjusted version should contain a provision permitting the court to hear and settle certain kinds of matters after notice as provided in Section 1-401. It might be suitable to combine the second sentence of Section 3-105 and Section 3-106 into a single section as follows:
“The court may hear and determine formal proceedings involving administration and distribution of decedents’ estates after notice to interested persons in conformity with Section 1- 401. Persons notified are bound though less than all interested persons may have been given notice.”
An adjusted version also might provide:
“Subject to general rules concerning the proper location of civil litigation and jurisdiction of persons, the court (meaning the probate division) may hear and determine any other controversy concerning a succession or to which an estate, through a personal representative, may be a party.”
The propriety of this sort of statement would depend upon whether questions of docketing and assignment, including the division of matters between coordinate branches of the court, should be dealt with by legislation.
The Joint Editorial Board, in 1975, recommended the addition after “rule”, of the language “and in proceedings to construe probated wills or determine heirs which concern estates that have not been and cannot now be opened for administration.” This addition, coupled with the exceptions to the limitations provisions in Section 3-108 that permit proceedings to construe wills and to determine heirs of intestates to be commenced more than three years after death, clarifies the purpose of the draftsmen to offer a probate proceeding to aid the determination of rights of inheritance of estates that were not opened for administration within the time permitted by Section 3-108. 

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