Also known as: fully administered
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A defensive plea by which an executor or administrator asserts that the estate has been fully administered with no assets remaining to satisfy the plaintiff's demand. The plea requires a showing that all presented claims, administration expenses, and taxes have been paid or otherwise disposed of and that assets have been distributed to entitled persons, with any undischarged claims expressly addressed by distribution subject to liability or other arrangements.
Patricia Patel, personal representative of a decedent's rental property estate, paid all recorded liens and taxes then deeded the buildings to the adult heirs. A tenant's pending habitability lawsuit remained unresolved. Patricia filed the verified closing statement without mentioning the suit or any arrangement for it. The statement fails to close the estate because the undischarged claim was not addressed as required.
Paul Peterson, personal representative of an internet service provider estate, paid administration expenses and known claims then distributed remaining assets. He knew of a customer's outage claim and a landlord's lease claim but neither paid them nor described any accommodation in the verified statement. The statement cannot close the estate because the undischarged claims were ignored.
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The statement must either indicate that the estate was distributed subject to possible liability with the agreement of the distributees or describe in detail other arrangements made to accommodate the outstanding liabilities.
No. The personal representative must also address all presented claims by payment, settlement, or explicit accommodation and must send the statement and an accounting to known unpaid claimants.
The representative may close the estate no earlier than six months after appointment if the claims period has expired, the estate has been fully administered, assets have been distributed, and copies of the statement plus an accounting have been sent to distributees and known unpaid claimants.
The statement does not satisfy statutory prerequisites. The personal representative must send the statement to every claimant of whom the representative is aware whose claim is unpaid or unbarred.
…accrue within one year after the date of death of the deceased" to present his or her claims "at any time before the estate is fully administered." See Flannery v. Flannery , 429 Mass. 55 (1999). Those who take by intestate succession are not "creditors." Rather, they are the heirs who receive what remains of the estate after all…