Discharge of debtor, transfer agent, safe deposit company, bank, trust company or other person The delivery by a voluntary administrator ... · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 1305. Discharge of debtor, transfer agent, safe deposit company, bank,
trust company or other person
The delivery by a voluntary administrator to a debtor, transfer agent, safe deposit company, bank, trust company or other person holding or having custody or possession or control of any personal property of the decedent, of the short form certificate of the court, the receipt of the administrator, and the surrender of any evidentiary document, shall constitute a complete release and discharge for any payment of money or delivery of personal property made pursuant to the certificate, without such person being required to see to the application thereof and with the same effect as if made to any duly appointed fiduciary.
When a voluntary administrator of a small estate gives a bank, debtor, transfer agent, safe deposit company or anyone else holding the decedent's personal property the court's short-form certificate, a receipt, and any evidentiary document (such as a passbook), that holder is fully released for paying the money or handing over the property. ★ The holder does not have to check how the money is used; it is treated as if paid to a court-appointed fiduciary.
Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.
This provision appears in Volume 1 — The Surrogate's Court in Plain English; Volume 2 — The Surrogate's Court Procedure Act; Volume 5 — Your Career: Surrogate's Court in Plain English.