Also known as: legal personal representative · legal-personal representative · personal representative
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
3 senses
An executor or administrator appointed under a will to administer a decedent's personal property.
An executor or administrator appointed under a will to administer a decedent's personal property.
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The person to whom real estate passes immediately upon the testator's death.
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The public administrator, executor, or appointed administrator handling the estate of a mariner who dies at sea.
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The person to whom real estate passes immediately upon the testator's death.
The public administrator, executor, or appointed administrator handling the estate of a mariner who dies at sea.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Lola Langley devises a house subject to a mortgage to Lily Lopez in her will. The will contains no direction for payment of the debt from estate assets. The legal-personal representative must decide whether to satisfy the lien from other estate funds so that Lily receives the property free of the mortgage or allow Lily to take the property subject to the lien under the jurisdiction's current statute.
After Camila's death in State S, Sara is appointed legal-personal representative of the estate by a probate court in State R. Sara files a wrongful-death suit in federal court in State R against a defendant incorporated in State S. The court must determine whether Sara is deemed a citizen of State S under the governing statute, destroying complete diversity.
Luke Latham dies in a maritime accident. His legal-personal representative brings a wrongful-death action against the vessel owner. The court must decide whether the representative may maintain the suit and what law governs the capacity to sue.
Latoya Lane, legal-personal representative of an estate, sues an insurer in federal court. The court must determine which state's law governs the representative's authority and whether that law affects the availability of punitive damages.
The governing statute deems the legal representative of a decedent's estate a citizen only of the same state as the decedent. This conclusive rule prevents manufactured diversity and controls the analysis regardless of the representative's actual residence or the probate court's location.
Supporting sources
Every properly joined and served defendant must affirmatively join or consent to removal. An ambiguous email or silence does not satisfy the requirement, so the district court must remand when consent is lacking.
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Under the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, membership status devolves by operation of law to the personal representative upon appointment, allowing the representative to maintain a derivative action without additional admission by other members.
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No. An executor's or administrator's personal promise to answer for the decedent's debts falls within the Statute of Frauds and requires a signed writing to be enforceable against the representative individually.
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Yes. The privilege continues indefinitely after death. The estate's legal-personal representative may assert it to prevent disclosure of the decedent's confidential communications.
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Leah Lamb's will devises her farm to Lamar Lewis. Upon Leah's death the farm passes immediately to Lamar as the legal-personal representative under the will's reference to real property, bypassing any probate delay for that asset.
A seaman dies at sea leaving no will. The legal-personal representative appointed under maritime rules must distribute the estate and decide whether state or federal law controls the handling of the decedent's wages and personal effects.
…on account of personal injury or death by accident, shall exclude all other rights and remedies of such employee, his personal representative, parents, dependents or next of kin as against his employer, at common law or otherwise, on account of such injury, loss of service or death." " 72-123. Only one remedy available. Either…