Wills Trusts and Estates Flashcards

In Indiana, an unsupervised administration of a decedent's estate is available when:

Answer: The will authorizes it or all interested persons consent and the estate is solvent

Indiana permits unsupervised administration when authorized by the will or consented to by the distributees and the estate appears solvent.

Under Indiana law, a claim against a decedent's estate is generally barred unless filed within:

Answer: Nine months after the decedent's death, or three months after published notice to creditors, whichever applies

Indiana requires creditor claims within three months of published notice, with an outside nonclaim bar of nine months after death.

An Indiana estate's assets are insufficient to satisfy all devises. Absent contrary intent in the will, which gifts abate first?

Answer: Property passing by intestacy, then residuary devises, then general devises, then specific devises

The default abatement order sacrifices intestate and residuary property first, protecting specific devises to the greatest extent.

A pour-over will in Indiana leaves the residue to the trustee of the testator's revocable living trust. This devise is valid:

Answer: If the trust is identified in the will and its terms are set forth in a written instrument executed before or concurrently with the will

Under the Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trusts Act as adopted in Indiana, a pour-over to an identified written trust executed before or with the will is valid even if unfunded.

Under Indiana's simultaneous death rules, when a devisee fails to survive the testator by the statutory period (absent contrary will language), the devisee is:

Answer: Treated as having predeceased the testator, so the gift passes as if the devisee died first

A beneficiary who does not meet the survivorship requirement is deemed to have predeceased the decedent, preventing double administration of the same property.

An Indiana testator's will gives 'my house at 12 Oak Street' to her niece, but the testator later sells that house and buys one at 45 Elm Street. Which doctrine could the niece invoke to argue she should receive the Elm Street house, and how would it likely fare?

Answer: Ademption analysis; she likely loses because the specific devise adeemed and no replacement-property exception clearly applies

The sale of specifically devised realty generally causes ademption, and courts applying the identity theory will not substitute after-acquired property absent statutory exceptions.

In Indiana, a small estate may be settled without administration by affidavit when the gross probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed:

Answer: $100,000 (for decedents dying after June 30, 2022) and 45 days have passed since death

Indiana's small estate affidavit procedure applies when the estate does not exceed $100,000 (raised from $50,000 in 2022) and at least 45 days have elapsed since death.