The Probate Code Study Commission endorsed the language in PD 3206 (pdf) for recommendation to the General Assembly. It would specify that a “distributee” (defined elsewhere as “those persons who are entitled to the real and personal property of a decedent under a will, under the statutes of intestate succession, or under IC 29-1-4-1”) as opposed to persons generally claiming an interest in the estate are entitled to take certain actions in small estate matters (e.g. open the estate with an affidavit; gather assets from debtors of the decedent; . Small estates are those with a value under $50,000.
The concern appears to be to distinguish heirs and the like from, say, creditors of the decedent who might have a claim against the estate but who (at least in the mind of the probate study commission) would be problematic as administrators of the estate.
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