Formal testacy proceeding

Also called: Formal probate proceeding.

Where the statute uses it: Minn. Stat. § 524.3-401

What it means

The formal side of Minnesota probate is defined by two features, and neither is complexity. It happens before a court, and interested persons get notice.

A formal testacy proceeding is one conducted with notice to interested persons before a court to establish a will or determine intestacy. A formal testacy proceeding may be commenced by an interested person or a personal representative named in the will filing a petition as described in section 524.3-402(a) in which it is requested that the court, after notice and hearing, enter an order probating a will, or a petition to set aside an informal probate of a will or to prevent informal probate of a will which is the subject of a pending application, or a petition in accordance with section 524.3-402(b) for an order that the decedent died intestate.

Section 524.1-201(21) supplies the contrast in one clause: formal proceedings are those conducted before a judge with notice to interested persons.

Formal is not a step that follows informal, and it is not blocked by one. A petition may seek formal probate of a will whether or not the same or a conflicting will has been informally probated. It runs the other way too — while a formal testacy proceeding is pending, the registrar shall not act on any application for informal probate of any will of the decedent, or on any application for informal appointment.

Where the word shows up

Where somebody disagrees, and in one place where nobody does. Under § 524.3-1203, subd. 5, an estate closed summarily under a will gets no decree until a formal probate hearing has been held under §§ 524.3-401 to 524.3-413 — so a summary closing can still require the formal route.

A previously appointed personal representative does not lose office when a formal proceeding starts. After receiving notice, that person must refrain from making any further distribution while the formal proceeding is pending, unless the petition in the formal testacy proceeding also requests confirmation of the previous informal appointment. Absent a request to restrain the acting representative, or where the request is denied, commencement changes nothing else about that person’s powers.