Also known as:plene administravit · fully administered · executor plea
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
An adverb meaning fully, completely, or sufficiently. In probate administration it describes the personal representative's certification that every presented claim, expense, and tax has been paid, settled, or otherwise disposed of and that remaining assets have been distributed to those entitled.
See Our Sources
How its tested
Common Examples
2
Closing Statement Omits Pending Claim
Leo sold Marina's vessels and paid every secured lienholder. Oceanic Cargo filed a timely cargo-loss claim that Leo never paid or reserved. When Leo filed the sworn closing statement he asserted full administration without mentioning the claim or any arrangement with the distributees. The statement fails because the personal representative must certify that every presented claim has been fully administered or must detail how any undischarged liability is accommodated.
Posthumous Child Inheritance Claim
After the insured's death his widow conceived a child through assisted reproduction. The personal representative distributed the estate without addressing whether the child would qualify as an heir. Because the claim remained unresolved the representative could not truthfully certify that the estate had been fully administered under the required standard.
Woodward v. Commissioner of Social Security760 N.E.2d 257, 270 (Mass.2002)
In January 1993, Lauren Woodward and her husband Warren Woodward, who had been married for approximately three and one-half years and remained childless, learned that Warren had leukemia. The couple arranged for a quantity of Warren's semen to be medically withdrawn and preserved through a process known as sperm banking before he began treatment. Warren underwent an unsuccessful bone marrow transplant and died in October 1993, after which Lauren was appointed administratrix of his estate.
In October 1995, Lauren gave birth to twin girls who had been conceived through artificial insemination using Warren's preserved semen. In January 1996, she applied to the Social Security Administration for child's insurance benefits under 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(1) and mother's benefits under 42 U.S.C. § 402(g)(1). The SSA denied the claims on the ground that the twins were not the husband's children within the meaning of the Act.
In February 1996, while pursuing appeals from the SSA denial, Lauren filed a complaint for correction of birth record in the Probate and Family Court against the clerk of the city of Beverly, seeking to add Warren as the father on the twins' birth certificates. In October 1996, a Probate Court judge entered a judgment of paternity based on stipulations of voluntary acknowledgment of parentage and ordered the birth certificates amended to declare Warren the children's father.
An administrative law judge conducted a de novo hearing. The judge concluded that the children did not qualify for benefits because they were not entitled to inherit from Warren under Massachusetts intestacy and paternity laws. The SSA appeals council affirmed that decision. Lauren appealed to the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The court certified the question regarding the inheritance rights of posthumously conceived children under Massachusetts intestacy law to the Supreme Judicial Court because the parties agreed that a determination under state law was dispositive and no directly applicable precedent existed.
What must a closing statement affirm about presented claims?
The statement must affirm that the personal representative has fully administered the estate by paying, settling, or otherwise disposing of all presented claims, administration expenses, and death taxes. If any claims remain undischarged the statement must explain whether the estate was distributed subject to possible liability with distributee agreement or must describe other arrangements made for those liabilities.
Supporting sources
Does distribution of assets alone satisfy the full-administration requirement?
No. Distribution of assets does not extinguish an unpaid presented claim or relieve the personal representative of the duty to address that claim in the closing statement. The representative must either pay or settle the claim or expressly state how any remaining liability is accommodated.
Supporting sources
When may a personal representative file a verified closing statement?
The representative may file no earlier than six months after appointment in an unsupervised administration that is not prohibited by court order, provided the claims period has expired, all presented claims have been fully administered, assets have been distributed, and required copies and an accounting have been sent to distributees and known unpaid claimants.
Supporting sources
760 N.E.2d 257, 270 (Mass.2002)
…accrue within one year after the date of death of the deceased" to present his or her claims "at any time before the estate is fully administered." See Flannery v. Flannery , 429 Mass. 55 (1999). Those who take by intestate succession are not "creditors." Rather, they are the heirs who receive what remains of the estate after all…
Trusts and Estates Decedents EstatesWills · Powers and duties of personal representativeUBEFoundational