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death certificate

Unlike informal probates in Hennepin County, proof of death documentation (e.g. a death certificate, an obituary, etc.) is not required to be submitted when filing for a formal probate. The reason is that the petitioner proves up the petition in court, testifying under oath the facts of the decedent’s death.

As a result, the proof of death requirement only applies to informals in Hennepin County. As far as I know, no other county in Minnesota has this requirement.

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One of the unique requirements to open an informal probate in Hennepin County is that proof of death of the decedent must be presented at the appointment with the registrar.

Examples of acceptable “proof of death” documents include:

  • Death certificate
  • Obituary notice from a newspaper
  • Funeral receipt

Evidently, other forms of proof of death are also permissible. For example, I’ve opened a probate in Hennepin with a obituary notice printed from the StarTribune’s website.

When submitting a death certificate, I submit a photocopy with the social security number blacked out. Yesterday, I was told by one of the registrars that blacking out the SSN is not necessary since the Court seals the document “on its own motion.” However, I still think it is a good idea to black it out given the spirit of Rule 11.02 of the General Rules of Practice.

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Found dead

February 26, 2009

Initial probate documents require the petitioner to state the decedent’s date of death. But what happens if a person dies and it isn’t discovered for some time afterwards and it cannot be determined when the person died?
In this situation, the death certificate will typically list the date of death as the date the decedent [...]

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