The Senate Judiciary Committee heard HB 1088 on various probate matters, sponsored by Sen. Brown and authored by Rep. Jeter. The bill:
- Requires the personal representative of an estate to serve a written or electronic copy of the notice of estate administration to a creditor of the decedent within one month of the notice being published and would require the personal representative to file a new proposed notice with the clerk of court for any creditor served more than one month after publication of the notice. A creditor receiving notice more than one month after the publication of the notice then has two months from the date of service of the notice to file a claim in the estate;
- Allows a personal representative of an unsupervised estate or a trustee of a trust to distribute all or part of a decedent’s interest in a retirement plan or retirement account without a court order;
- Defines “direct postmortem transfer” and establishes that a direct postmortem transfer is a transfer of an asset or property to a trust established by a will for all purposes of the Social Security Act; and
- Provides that a power of attorney authority to take certain actions concerning tax matters of the principal does not terminate upon the principal’s death but instead terminates upon the appointment of the personal representative.
The Indiana State Bar Association Probate, Trust, and Real Property Section testified in support of the bill. An attorney testified in support but expressed concerns about possible fraudulent creditor claims. The bill passed 8-0.
Read the bill at https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2025/bills/house/1088