New Mexico Statutes 45-3-703. General duties; relation and liability to persons interested in estate; standing to sue
A. A personal representative is a fiduciary who shall observe the same standards of care applicable to trustees. A personal representative is under a duty to settle and distribute the estate of a decedent in accordance with the terms of any probated and effective will and the Uniform Probate Code 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 the Uniform Probate Code, 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.
Terms Used In New Mexico Statutes 45-3-703
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- 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.
- Probate: Proving a will
B. A personal representative may 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 authorizes a personal representative to administer and distribute the estate according to its terms.
C. An order of appointment of a personal representative, whether issued in informal or formal proceedings, authorizes a personal representative to distribute apparently intestate assets to the heirs of the decedent if, at the time of distribution, the personal representative is not aware of:
(1) a pending testacy proceeding;
(2) a proceeding to vacate an order entered in an earlier testacy proceeding; (3) a formal proceeding questioning the personal representative’s appointment or fitness to continue; or
(4) a supervised administration proceeding.
D. This section does 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, any minor and dependent children and any pretermitted child of the decedent.
E. Except as to proceedings that do not survive the death of the decedent, a personal representative of a decedent domiciled in New Mexico at the decedent’s death has the same standing to sue and be sued in the courts of New Mexico and the courts of any other jurisdiction as the decedent had immediately prior to death.
F. The personal representative must not delay distribution of an estate pending the possible birth of a posthumously conceived child unless the personal representative:
(1) has received written notice or has actual knowledge that there is an intention to use a decedent’s genetic material to create a child; and
(2) the birth of the child pursuant to the provisions of Section 45-2-120 N.M. Stat. Ann. or other law could have an effect on the personal representative’s distribution of the estate. As used in this subsection, “genetic material” means eggs, sperm or embryos.