The Blog of Attorney Boyd K. Johnson
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Every probate seems like it has a thousand moving parts to keep track of and it can be easy to overlook things. But here’s one thing you definitely don’t want to overlook in a formal, supervised probate:
Never make a distribution of the probate assets to heir or devisees without a court order. See Minn. Stat. 524.3-504.
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Always serve the Notice to the Commissioner of Human Services as soon as practicable during the commencement of the estate. One of the reasons to do so is that “no property” subject to the administration of the estate may be distributed until 70 days after the notice is served on the commissioner if the decedent received assistance for which a claim could be filed. [See 524.3-801(d)(2) and note below*]
“No property” includes all property, not just real property. It is common to forget this since we are typically most concerned with this statute when real property is being distributed or sold and the proceeds distributed.
*The 70-day restriction only applies if the decedent received assistance. However, even if your personal representative or the decedent’s relatives are certain that the decedent never received assistance, you should serve the notice anyway. The cost is high if they are wrong and you’ll feel better having a letter from the commissioner’s office indicating that there were in fact no claims.
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