72-3-618. Persons dealing with personal representative — protection. (1) A person who in good faith and without notice either assists a personal representative or deals with a personal representative for value is protected as if the personal representative properly exercised the personal representative’s power. The fact that a person knowingly deals with a personal representative does not alone require the person to inquire into the existence of a power or the propriety of its exercise. Except for restrictions on powers of supervised personal representatives that are endorsed on letters as provided in 72-3-404, a provision in any will or order of court purporting to limit the power of a personal representative is not effective except as to persons with actual knowledge of the provision.

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Terms Used In Montana Code 72-3-618

  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Knowingly: means only a knowledge that the facts exist which bring the act or omission within the provisions of this code. See Montana Code 1-1-204
  • Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201

(2)A person is not bound to see to the proper application of estate assets paid or delivered to a personal representative.

(3)The protection expressed in this section extends to instances in which some procedural irregularity or jurisdictional defect occurred in proceedings leading to the issuance of letters, including a case in which the alleged decedent is found to be alive. The protection expressed in this section is not a substitution for that provided by comparable provisions of the laws relating to commercial transactions and laws simplifying transfers of securities by fiduciaries.