Senate Bill No. 442
(By Senators Bailey and Helmick)
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[Introduced March 22, 1993; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-one, article two,
chapter forty-four of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
administration of estates; proof and allowance of claims;
order in which debts of decedent to be paid; and increasing
amount of claim for the payment of funeral expenses.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-one, article two, chapter forty-four of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. PROOF AND ALLOWANCE OF CLAIMS AGAINST ESTATES OF
DECEDENTS.
§44-2-21. Order in which debts of decedent to be paid.
When the assets of the decedent in the hands of his personal
representative, after the payment of charges of administration,
are not sufficient for the satisfaction of all demands against
him they shall be applied in the following order:
(a) To the payment of funeral expenses, to an amount not
exceeding
six hundred four thousand dollars:
Provided, That the
reasonable and necessary funeral and burial expenses, including
expenses for monuments and all other expenses of like nature,
incident to a deceased wife shall be payable by the personal
representative out of the assets of her estate irrespective of
any other provision of this code or of other rule of law and all
such expenses shall be allowed as a charge of administration
pursuant to the provisions of sections five and six of this
article, and shall likewise be allowed as deductions against the
assets of such estate pursuant to the provisions of article
eleven, chapter eleven of this code;
(b) To the claims of physicians, not exceeding one hundred
dollars, for services rendered during the last illness of the
decedent; and accounts of druggists, not exceeding the same
amount, for articles furnished during the same period; and claims
of professional nurses or other person rendering service as nurse
to the decedent, at his request or the request of some member of
his immediate family, not exceeding the same amount, for services
rendered during the same period; and accounts of hospitals and
sanitariums, not exceeding the same amount, for articles
furnished and services rendered during the same period;
(c) To debts due the United States;
(d) To debts due this state;
(e) To taxes and levies assessed upon the decedent previous
to his death;
(f) To debts due as trustee for persons under disabilities,
as receiver or commissioner under decree of court of this state,
as personal representative, guardian, committee, or other
fiduciary, where the qualification was in this state;
(g) To the balances on any items listed in subdivisions (a)
and (b) hereof and to all other demands except those in the next
class;
(h) To voluntary obligations.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase from $600.00
to $4,000.00 the amount of funeral expenses which have priority
in the payment of claims against an estate.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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