CHAPTER 192 - SETTLEMENT OF PERSONAL ESTATES
AN ACT TO AMEND 3867, SECTION 69, CHAPTER 98, REVISED CODE OF DELAWARE (1935), BEING A PART OF CHAPTER 184, VOLUME 38, LAWS OF DELAWARE, RELATING TO DECREES OF DISTRIBUTIONS OF DECEDENTS' ESTATES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. That 3867, Section 69, Chapter 98, of the Revised Code of Delaware (1935), being a part of Chapter 184, Volume 38, Laws of Delaware, be, and the same is hereby amended so as to read as follows, viz.:
3867. Sec. 69. Decree of Distribution; Publication of Notice and Effect Thereof:--An executor or administrator or any person claiming to have an interest in the estate to be distributed may, at any time after any account has been filed by an executor or administrator, apply for a decree of distribution to the Register of Wills, who shall, if it appear to the Register that the estate or any part thereof may then be distributed, make such a decree determining the distribution of the estate then available for distribution to the person or persons who are by law entitled to the same. If it appear that a portion of the estate may then be distributed and the balance of the estate is reserved for contingent liabilities against the estate, such decree may, if the Register deem proper, determine the distribution of such balance if and to the extent that the same may thereafter become available for distribution. Upon the making of any decree of distribution, the Register shall order notice of the making of such decree to be posted in the County Court House in the County where the decedent resided at the time of his death and published in such newspaper or newspapers, at such intervals, not less frequently than once a week, and for such period, not less than three weeks, as he may designate in such order, and if the provisions of such order be complied with such decree of distribution shall become final and conclusive upon the executor or administrator, legatees, distributees and all persons, other than creditors of the deceased, claiming to have an interest in the distribution of the estate with respect to all matters contained therein, unless within two months after the first notice shall have been published, as aforesaid, an appeal from such decree be taken to the Superior Court, by filing with the Prothonotary of the Superior Court for the County in which such decree was entered a written notice of appeal directed to said Prothonotary, signed by the Appellant or his Attorney, naming therein as Appellees the said executor or administrator and all persons whose interests as determined by said decree are sought to be adversely affected by the appeal and setting forth all grounds of the appeal. When the appeal has been taken in manner aforesaid, the said Superior Court shall have jurisdiction and take cognizance thereof, and the proceedings thereafter shall be as in causes commenced in the said Court. Notice of the appeal shall be given to the Appellees in such manner as shall be prescribed by rule of the said Court. The said Court is authorized and shall have power to make rules prescribing the manner of notice to the Appellees, prescribing the character of the pleadings, and governing the framing of issues of fact and law and the trial and determination thereof. In cases where the Register is personally interested in the estate or portion thereof to be distributed under such decree, the word "Register" wherever used in this section shall be interpreted as meaning "Orphans' Court."
Approved April 8, 1937.