(a) A personal representative is a fiduciary who shall observe the standards of care applicable to trustees as described by sections 554D-804, 554D-806, and 554D-808(c). A personal representative shall be under a duty to settle and distribute the estate of the decedent in accordance with the terms of any probated and effective will and this chapter, and as expeditiously and efficiently as is consistent with the best interests of the estate. The personal representative shall use the authority conferred upon the personal representative by this chapter, the terms of the will, if any, and any order in proceedings to which the personal representative is party for the best interests of successors to the estate.
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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 560:3-703

  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
(b) A personal representative shall not be surcharged for acts of administration or distribution if the conduct in question was authorized at the time. Subject to other obligations of administration, an informally probated will shall be authority to administer and distribute the estate according to its terms. An order of appointment of a personal representative, whether issued in informal or formal proceedings, shall be authority to distribute apparently intestate assets to the heirs of the decedent if, at the time of distribution, the personal representative is not aware of a pending testacy proceeding, a proceeding to vacate an order entered in an earlier testacy proceeding, a formal proceeding questioning the personal representative’s appointment or fitness to continue, or a supervised administration proceeding. This section shall not affect the duty of the personal representative to administer and distribute the estate in accordance with the rights of claimants whose claims have been allowed, the surviving spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, any minor and dependent children, and any pretermitted child of the decedent as described elsewhere in this chapter.
(c) Except as to proceedings that do not survive the death of the decedent, a personal representative of a decedent domiciled in this State at the decedent’s death shall have the same standing to sue and be sued in the courts of this State and the courts of any other jurisdiction as the decedent had immediately before death.
(d) A personal representative shall not be surcharged for a distribution that does not take into consideration the possibility of posthumous pregnancy unless the personal representative, no later than six months after the decedent’s death, received notice or had actual knowledge of an intent to use genetic material in assisted reproduction.

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