Executor Duties in Wyoming

Main duties and deadlines for a Wyoming personal representative: take the oath, post any required bond and receive letters; publish a notice of probate and notice to creditors once a week for three consecutive weeks, mail it to the spouse, heirs and beneficiaries within one week of first publication, and mail it to reasonably ascertainable creditors; creditors must file claims with the clerk of the district court within three months after first publication (or 30 days after mailing, if later); within 120 days after appointment, make and return to the court a true inventory under oath of all the estate, including any homestead; pay or reject claims; then file a final report, accounting and petition for distribution, after which the court enters a final decree of distribution following notice and hearing.

Letters are issued by the district court of the county where the decedent lived. With a will, a petition for probate is filed and the court or clerk may admit the will without notice upon proof of due execution; letters testamentary go first to the person named in the will, then to a beneficiary (or the beneficiaries' nominee), a creditor, or another qualified person. Without a will, a petition for letters of administration is filed, with priority to the surviving spouse (or nominee), then children, parents, siblings, grandchildren, next of kin and creditors. The personal representative takes the oath and posts bond unless it is waived by the will, by statute, or in writing by the distributees. A nonresident executor must designate a Wyoming agent for service, and a nonresident administrator may serve only with a Wyoming-resident co-administrator.

Creditors must file claims (in duplicate, with supporting documents) with the clerk of the district court within three months after the first publication of the notice to creditors. A creditor who was mailed notice has until the later of three months after first publication or 30 days after the mailing. Claims not filed in time are barred, with limited exceptions for creditors entitled to equitable relief or reasonably ascertainable creditors who were not mailed notice.