Probate

Where the statute uses it: Minn. Stat. § 524.3-102

What it means

Article 3 of Minnesota’s probate code opens with what happens without anyone’s involvement. Section 524.3-101 says a decedent’s real and personal property devolves at death — to the devisees under the will, or in the absence of testamentary disposition to the heirs — subject to allowances, the rights of creditors, the surviving spouse’s elective share, and administration.

Section 524.3-102 says what has to happen before a will is effective to prove a transfer of property, to nominate an executor, or to exercise a power of appointment. Except as provided in § 524.3-1201, the will must be declared valid by an order of informal probate by the registrar, or by an adjudication of probate by the court in a formal proceeding or in proceedings to determine descent. The same sentence carves out an unprobated will, which may be admitted as evidence of a devise on two stated conditions.

The informal route is defined in § 524.1-201(32) as proceedings conducted by the judge, the registrar, or a person the judge designates, for probate of a will or appointment of a personal representative under §§ 524.3-301 to 524.3-311. Applications go to the registrar and are verified by the applicant. The registrar, under § 524.1-201(47), is the judge or a person the court designates to perform the registrar’s functions.

The formal route is a court proceeding.

A formal testacy proceeding is one conducted with notice to interested persons before a court to establish a will or determine intestacy.

The two are not sealed off from each other. A petition may seek formal probate of a will whether or not the same or a conflicting will has been informally probated, and while a formal testacy proceeding is pending, the registrar may not act on an application for informal probate of any will of the decedent.

Where the word shows up

In the phrase “avoid probate,” which carries a great deal of trust marketing. Article 3 is the thing being avoided: an application to a registrar or a petition to a court, a personal representative, and an administration. Which parts of a given estate run through it is a question about how each asset is titled, and a trust document sitting in a drawer does not answer it.