PUBLICATION TO CLOSE AN ESTATE: A STATUTE-RULES CONFLICT
January 25, 2011 § 2 Comments
MCA § 91-7-295 addresses summons or publication for a final account in an estate, conservatorship or guardianship. The entire statute reads as follows:
The final account so presented with the statement as to parties, shall remain on file, subject to the inspection of any person interested. Summons shall be issued or publication made for all parties interested, as in other suits in chancery court, to appear at a term of court, or before the chancellor in vacation, not less than thirty (30) days from the service of the summons or the completion of the publication, and show cause, if any they can, why the final account of the executor, administrator, or guardian should not be allowed and approved. [Emphasis added]
MRCP 4 (c) (4) (B), which governs procedure in “suits in chancery court,” states: “The defendant shall have thirty (30) days from the date of first publication to appear and defend.”
So which is it? Thirty days from completion of publication as the statute says? Or thirty days from first publication as the rule says?
The Order Adopting the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure issued by the Supreme Court on May 29, 1981, expressly states that ” … in the event of a conflict between these rules and any statute or court rule previously adopted these rules shall control.”
That language would seem to dispose of the matter, but for MRCP 81 (a) (8), which limits the applicability of the rules to matters under MCA Title 91. There is also the fact that the law of executors and administrators is entirely a creature of statute, which requires strict application.
What should you do? I would follow the statute. Doing so does not run afoul of MRCP 4, and actually allows more time for interested parties to act. I would also publish returnable to a day certain more than thirty days after the completion of publication, so there is no doubt on the part of those summoned as to the date by which they are required to act. If you do not follow the statute, you run the risk that a disgruntled party may file suit at a later point attacking your accounting on the ground that the court lacked jurisdiction to proceed.
Thanks to Chancellor Gene Fair for pointing this out.
The Better Chancery Practice Blog 
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