2-6-120 making other provisions for the disposition of the will.

2-6-120 making other provisions for the disposition of the will.

2-6-122. Petition and procedure for filing and probate of will without administration.

(a) Concurrently with the filing with the clerk of a will of a deceased person, or at any time thereafter prior to the filing of a petition pursuant to W.S. 2-6-201 and prior to the entry of any order by the court pursuant to W.S. 2-6-120 making other provisions for the disposition of the will, any party who would be entitled to letters testamentary under the provisions of W.S. 2-6-208 may file with the clerk a sworn petition for probate of will without administration. The petition shall show:  (i) The date and place of death of the decedent, and county and state of last residence of the decedent;

(ii) The names, ages and residences of the heirs and devisees of the decedent;

(iii) That a true copy of the will and a true copy of the petition have been mailed to each of the heirs and devisees; and

(iv) That the petition prays for probate of the will, without administration.

(b) A filing fee for the petition shall be charged, equal to the minimum fee applicable to proceedings under W.S. 2-6-203.

(c) Upon the filing of the petition, proceedings shall be had as provided in W.S. 2-6-203 through 2-6-206, and order shall issue and notices be given as provided in W.S. 2-6-209 if the will is found entitled to probate, except that the order shall not include the appointment of an executor, but recite that the will is admitted to probate without administration.

(d) After the entry of the order admitting the will to probate, the petitioner shall, at his own expense, cause to be published once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a daily or weekly newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the probate was granted a notice in substantially the following form:

State of Wyoming )

) In the District Court

) ....Judicial District

County of.... ) Probate No. ....

In the Matter of the) Notice of Proof of

Estate of ) Will Without

) Administration

......., Deceased. )

TO ALL PERSONS INTERESTED IN SAID ESTATE:  You are hereby notified that on the .... day of ...., (year), the Last Will and Testament of Decedent was admitted to probate by the above named court and there will be no present administration of the estate. Any action to set aside the Will shall be filed in the Court within three (3) months from the date of the first publication of this notice, or thereafter be forever barred.

Dated ...., (year).

Proponent .............

PUBLISH: (once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks)

(e) The provisions of W.S. 2-6-301 through 2-6-306 apply to proceedings under this section.

(f) In the event administration of the estate is desired at any later date, any party designated in W.S. 2-6-208, in the order of preference set forth therein, may petition the court for the issuance of letters testamentary.

2-6-123. Filing of will, with or without probate not to bar collection by affidavit.

No proceedings pursuant to W.S. 2-6-120 through 2-6-122 shall bar any proceedings pursuant to W.S. 2-1-201 through 2-1-203.

2-6-124. Written statement referred to in will disposing of certain personal property.

(a) A will may refer to a written statement or list to dispose of items of tangible personal property not otherwise specifically disposed of by the will, other than money, evidences of indebtedness, documents of title, securities and property used in trade or business. To be admissible under this section as evidence of the intended disposition, the writing shall:

(i) Be dated;

(ii) Be in the handwriting of the testator or signed by him; and

(iii) Include a description of the items and devisees with reasonable certainty.  (b) The written statement or list may be prepared before or after execution of the will, and may be altered by the testator after its preparation which alteration shall be signed and dated by the testator.

(c) The written statement or list may be a writing which has no significance apart from the effect upon the disposition made by the will.

2-6-125. Revocation of probate and nonprobate transfers by divorce or annulment; effect; revival; other changes excluded.

(a) As used in this section:

(i) "Divorce" or "annulment" means any dissolution of marriage through a divorce or annulment that results in the exclusion of the spouse as a surviving spouse for purposes of probate and nonprobate transfers upon death of the spouse. A decree of separation that does not terminate the status of spouses is not a divorce or annulment for purposes of this section;

(ii) "Divorced person" means a person who has divorced from the person's spouse or whose marriage has been annulled;

(iii) "Governing instrument" means an instrument executed by a divorced person before the divorce or annulment of the marriage to the person's former spouse that the divorced person could have revoked or amended;

(iv) "Relative of the divorced person's former spouse" or "former spouse's relative" means any person who is related to the divorced person's former spouse by blood, adoption or affinity and who, after the divorce or annulment, is not related to the divorced person by blood, adoption or affinity;

(v) "Revocable" means a disposition, appointment, provision or nomination under which the divorced person, at the time of the divorce or annulment, was alone empowered by law or under the terms of a governing instrument to cancel the designation in favor of the divorced person's former spouse or former spouse's relative regardless of whether the divorced person was then empowered to designate himself in place of his former spouse or former spouse's relative and regardless of whether the divorced person then had the capacity to exercise the power of designation.

(b) Unless the express terms of a governing instrument provide for the disposition to a former spouse after divorce or unless a governing law, court order or contract relating to the division of the marital estate made between two (2) divorced persons before or after the marriage, divorce or annulment states otherwise, the divorce or annulment of a marriage shall immediately:

(i) Revoke any revocable:

(A) Disposition or appointment of property made by a divorced person to the former spouse in a governing instrument;

(B) Disposition or appointment created by law or in a governing instrument to a relative of the divorced person's former spouse;

(C) Provision in a governing instrument that confers a general or special power of appointment on the divorced person's former spouse or on a relative of the divorced person's former spouse;

(D) Nomination in a governing instrument that nominates the divorced person's former spouse or a relative of the divorced person's former spouse to serve in any fiduciary or representative capacity including a personal representative, executor, trustee, conservator, agent or guardian.

(ii) Sever the interests of the former spouse in property held by the divorced person and the former spouse at the time of the divorce or annulment as joint tenants with the right of survivorship and property held as tenants by the entirety. Property interests of the divorced person and former spouse severed under this paragraph shall become tenancies in common.

(c) A severance of interests under paragraph (b)(ii) of this section shall not affect any third-party interest in property acquired for value and in good faith reliance on an apparent title by survivorship in the survivor or in the name of the survivor of the former spouse of the divorced person unless a writing declaring the severance has been noted, registered, filed or recorded prior to the third party gaining an interest in the property in records appropriate to the kind and location of the property that are relied upon in the ordinary course of transactions involving property that are evidence of ownership.

(d) Upon entry of an order of a divorce or annulment, provisions of a governing instrument shall be given effect as if the former spouse and relatives of the former spouse disclaimed all interests revoked by this section. For nominations in a fiduciary or representative capacity revoked by this section, provisions of a governing instrument shall be given effect as if the former spouse and relatives of the former spouse died immediately before the divorce or annulment.

(e) Provisions that are revoked solely by operation of this section shall be revived upon the divorced person's remarriage to the former spouse unless revival is specifically prohibited by a prenuptial or other written agreement signed by both parties.

(f) No change of circumstances other than as described in this section revokes a will.

(g) A payor or other third party is not liable for having made a payment or transferred an item of property or any other benefit to a beneficiary designated in a governing instrument affected by a divorce, annulment or remarriage, or for having taken any other action in good faith reliance on the validity of the governing instrument, unless the payor or other third party received reasonable written notice of the divorce, annulment or remarriage. A payor or other third party shall not have a duty or obligation to inquire as to the continued marital relationship between a divorced person and a beneficiary or to seek any evidence with respect to a marital relationship. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to deprive the rightful owner of any funds, item of property or other benefit from seeking to recover the payment, item of property or other benefit from the wrongful recipient of that payment, item of property or other benefit.

ARTICLE 2 - PROCEDURE FOR PROBATE

2-6-201. Contents of petition; defect in jurisdictional statement inconsequential.

(a) A petition for the probate of a will shall show:

(i) The jurisdictional facts;  (ii) Whether the person named as executor consents to act, or renounces his right to letters testamentary;

(iii) The names, ages and residences of the heirs and devisees of the decedent, so far as known to the petitioner;

(iv) The probable value and character of the property of the estate;

(v) The name of the person for whom letters testamentary are prayed.

(b) No defect of form or in the statement of jurisdictional facts actually existing shall make void the probate of a will.

2-6-202. Failure of executor to petition; appointment of administrator.

If the person named in a will as executor, for thirty (30) days after he has knowledge of the death of the testator and that he is named as executor, fails to petition the proper court for probate of the will and that letters testamentary be issued to him, he may be held to have renounced his right to letters and the court may appoint any other competent person administrator unless good cause for delay is shown.

2-6-203. Hearing upon petition; notice not required.

(a) Upon the filing of a petition for probate of a will, the court or the clerk may hear it forthwith or at such time and place as the court or clerk may direct, with or without requiring notice, and upon proof of due execution of the will, admit the same to probate.

(b) Notice is not required and there shall be no delay in the hearing, unless good cause appears.

2-6-204. Proof; self-proving will.

A will executed in compliance with W.S. 2-6-114 shall be probated without further proof.

2-6-205. Proof; wills not self-proving.  (a) If the will is not self-proving, proof of a will may be made by the oral or written testimony of one or more of the subscribing witnesses to the will. If the testimony is in writing, it shall be substantially in the following form, executed and sworn to contemporaneously with the execution of the will or at any time thereafter, whether before or after the date of death of the testator:

In the District Court of Wyoming

In and for .................... County

In the Matter of the Estate of) Probate No. ....

.... Deceased ) Testimony of Subscribing

State of )ss Witness on Probate of Will

.... County )

I, ...., being first duly sworn, state:

I reside in the County of ...., State of ....; I knew the testator on the ... day of ..., (year), the date of the instrument, the original or exact reproduction of which is attached hereto, now shown to me, and purporting to be the last will and testament of the said ....; I am one of the subscribing witnesses to said instrument; and on the said date of said instrument, I knew ...., the other subscribing witness; and said instrument was exhibited to me and to the other subscribing witness by the testator, who declared the same to be his last will and testament, and was signed by the testator at ...., in the County of ...., State of ...., on the date shown in said instrument, in the presence of myself and the other subscribing witness; and the other subscribing witness and I then and there, at the request of the testator, in the presence of said testator and in the presence of each other, subscribed our names thereto as witnesses.

Name of witness ....

Address ....

Subscribed and sworn to before me this .... day of...., (year).

Notary Public in and for .... County of ....

State of ....

(SEAL)

(b) If it is desired to prove the execution of the will by deposition rather than by use of the affidavit form provided in subsection (a) of this section, upon application the clerk shall issue a commission to some officer authorized by the law of this state to take depositions, with the will annexed, and the officer taking the deposition shall exhibit it to the witness for identification, and, when identified by him, shall mark it as "Exhibit ...." and cause the witness to connect his identification with it as such exhibit. Before sending out the commission the clerk shall make and retain in his office a true copy of the will.

(c) If all of the witnesses are deceased or otherwise not available, it is permissible to prove the will by the sworn testimony of two (2) credible disinterested witnesses that the signature to the will is in the handwriting of the person whose will it purports to be, and that the signatures of the witnesses are in the handwriting of the witnesses, or it may be proved by other sufficient evidence of the execution of the will.

2-6-206. Proof; holographic wills.

An holographic will may be proved the same as any other private writing.

2-6-207. Proof; lost or destroyed will; court may restrain personal representatives pending disposition.

(a) Whenever any will is lost or destroyed, the district court shall take proof of the execution and validity thereof to establish the same. All the testimony shall be reduced to writing and signed by the witnesses.

(b) No will shall be proved as a lost or destroyed will unless it is proved to have been in existence at the time of death of the testator, or is shown to have been fraudulently destroyed in the lifetime of the testator, nor unless its provisions are clearly and distinctly proved by at least two (2) credible witnesses.  (c) When a lost will is established, the provisions thereof shall be distinctly stated and certified by the judge, under his hand and the seal of the court, and the certificate shall be filed and recorded as other wills are filed and recorded, and letters testamentary or of administration with the will annexed, shall be issued thereon in the same manner as upon wills produced and duly proved.

(d) If before or during the pendency of an application to prove a lost or destroyed will, letters of administration are granted on the estate of the testator or letters testamentary of any previous will of the testator are granted, the court may restrain the personal representatives so appointed from any acts or proceedings which would be injurious to the legatees or devisees claiming under the lost or destroyed will.

2-6-208. Order of preference for appointment of executor.

(a) Letters testamentary may be granted to one or more persons found to be qualified. Preference for appointment shall be in the following order:

(i) The person designated in the will;

(ii) Any beneficiary named in the will, or a person nominated by the beneficiaries;

(iii) Any creditor of the decedent, or a person nominated by such creditor;

(iv) Such other person as the court may find to be qualified.

2-6-209. Order admitting or disallowing probate; mailing of copies.

The court or the clerk shall enter an order either admitting the will to probate or disallowing probate because of insufficient proof. An order admitting a will to probate shall include the appointment of an executor. The clerk, personal representative or attorney shall transmit by certified mail a copy of the order admitting the will to probate, together with a copy of the will, to each named beneficiary and to each heir of the decedent.

2-6-210. Form of letters testamentary. Letters testamentary must be substantially in the following form:

State of Wyoming )

)ss

County of .... )

The last will of A. B., deceased, a copy of which is hereto attached, having been proved and recorded in the district court within and for the county of ...., C. D. is hereby appointed executor. Witness, G. H., clerk of the district court of the .... district within and for the county of .... with the seal of the court affixed, the .... day of .... A.D. ....

.............................Clerk.

2-6-211. Authority of executor not designated in will.

Executors who are not designated in the will have the same authority over the estates which executors named in the will have.

ARTICLE 3 - ACTIONS TO SET ASIDE OR CONTEST

2-6-301. Filing and contents of petition to revoke.

After a will has been admitted to probate, any person interested may, within the time designated in the notice provided for in W.S. 2-6-122 or 2-7-201, contest the will or the validity of the will. For that purpose he shall file in the court in which the will was proved a petition in writing containing his allegations against the validity of the will or against the sufficiency of the proof, and praying that the probate be revoked.

2-6-302. Summons and notification; proceedings governed by civil rules.

Upon filing the petition, a summons shall be served upon the executors of the will and the clerk shall send notice by certified mail, with copy of petition attached, to all the legatees and devisees mentioned in the will and all the heirs, so far as known to the petitioner, or to their guardians if any of them are minors, or to their personal representatives if any of them are dead. The summons, service and proceedings shall be governed by the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure.  2-6-303. Annulment and revocation.

If upon trial, the jury, or if no jury, the court decides the will is invalid or that it is not sufficiently proved to be the last will of the testator, the probate shall be annulled and revoked.

2-6-304. Cessation of executor's powers; immunity.

Upon the revocation being made, the powers of the executor cease, but the executor is not liable for any act done in good faith previous to the revocation.

2-6-305. Liability for payment of contest costs.

The fees and expenses shall be paid by the party contesting the validity or probate of the will if the will in probate is affirmed. If the probate is revoked, the costs shall be paid by the party who resisted the revocation, or out of the property of the decedent, as the court directs.

2-6-306. When probate deemed conclusive.

If no person within the time designated in the notice provided for in W.S. 2-6-122 or 2-7-201 files a petition to contest the will or its validity, the probate of the will is conclusive.

CHAPTER 7 - ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES

ARTICLE 1 - IN GENERAL

2-7-101. Presumption of death; how estate handled.

When any person leaves his usual place of abode and is not seen or heard from by his relatives or other persons reasonably expected to hear from him for a period of seven (7) years, the person is presumed to be dead. If the person owned real or personal property in Wyoming, administration of the estate of the person may be had in the manner provided by law.

2-7-102. Penalty for administering without proving will or taking letters of administration.

Any person, except one acting under the provisions of W.S.