Rights of alleged decedent upon return If letters shall issue upon the estate of an alleged decedent and if thereafter the person alleged... · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 2226. Rights of alleged decedent upon return
If letters shall issue upon the estate of an alleged decedent and if thereafter the person alleged to be dead shall return he or she shall on demand receive the property then in the hands of the fiduciary after reserve for any unpaid administration charges and shall have only the further rights to compel an accounting on the part of his or her fiduciary and to enforce the decree made thereon. His or her fiduciary shall not be liable for moneys or assets disbursed or delivered by him or her in good faith and the person alleged to be dead may not, upon his or her return, review any matter or recover any property embraced in any account of his or her fiduciary which may have been finally settled by decree entered prior to the date when his or her fiduciary shall have had actual notice that he or she is still living.
If letters issue on the estate of someone believed dead who then returns, they get back, on demand, whatever property the fiduciary still holds, after a reserve for unpaid administration costs. Their only further rights are to compel an accounting by the fiduciary and enforce the decree on it. ★ The fiduciary is not liable for money or property paid out in good faith, and the returning person cannot reopen any matter or recover any property in an account finally settled by decree before the fiduciary had actual notice that they were alive.
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.