Executor Duties in North Dakota

The personal representative is a fiduciary held to the standards of care that apply to trustees and must settle and distribute the estate as quickly and efficiently as is consistent with the best interests of the estate. Main duties and deadlines: within 30 days after appointment, send information about the appointment to the heirs and devisees; within six months after appointment or nine months after death, whichever is later, prepare an inventory listing the decedent's property at fair market value as of the date of death and either file it with the court or mail it to the heirs or devisees; optionally publish a notice to creditors once a week for three weeks and mail it to known creditors, which bars most claims not presented within three months; pay allowed claims, expenses and taxes; distribute the property; and close the estate, for example by a verified closing statement filed no earlier than three months after the first publication and mailing of the creditor notice.

Letters are issued by the district court. In informal probate, any time after five days from death, the applicant files an Application for Informal Probate/Appointment of Personal Representative (with the original will, if any) and receives a Statement of Informal Probate and Letters; formal probate is used when the will is disputed or in other cases requiring a court order. Before receiving letters, the personal representative must qualify by filing any required bond and a statement accepting the duties of the office. Bond is generally not required in informal proceedings unless the will requires it or an interested person demands it. The North Dakota courts publish a guidebook with forms, including Letters Testamentary.

If the personal representative publishes notice once a week for three successive weeks and mails notice to known or reasonably ascertainable creditors, claims arising before death are barred unless presented within three months after the first publication and mailing. If notice is not published and mailed, claims are barred three years after death. Claims arising after death must generally be presented within three months after they arise (four months after performance is due for contracts with the personal representative).