Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 79.djvu/764

 724

PUBLIC LAW 89-183-SEPT. 14, 1965

[79 STAT.

§ 20-1320. Notice to creditors to file claims An executor or administrator who, after six months from the date of his letters, pays away assets to the discharge of just claims is not answerable for any claim of which he had no knowledge or notice by an exhibition of the claim legally authenticated, if, at least three months before he makes distribution he causes to be inserted in as many newspapers as the Probate Court directs, a notice to the following effect: "This is to give notice that the subscriber, of, has obtained from the Probate Court of the District of Columbia letters testamentary (or of administration) on the personal estate of , late of , deceased. All persons having claims against the deceased are hereby warned to exhibit the same, with the vouchers thereof legally authenticated, to the subscriber on or before the day of next; they may otherwise by law be excluded from all benefit of the estate. "Given under my hand this day of .". § 20-1321. Report and proof of notice The executor or administrator may report to the court, with an affidavit of the proof thereof annexed, the fact of having given the notice specified by section 20-1320, and the court, on being satisfied that its order has been complied with and the notice has been given, shall indorse on the report its certificate that it has been proven to its satisfaction that the notice has been given as therein reported, and shall order the report and certificate to be recorded among the records of the court. § 20-1322. Report of notice as prima facie evidence; copy as legal evidence The report and certificates specified by section 20-1321 are prima facie evidence of the giving of the notice as therein stated; and a copy of the report, certificate, and order, under the seal of the Register of Wills, is legal and competent evidence. § 20-1323. Docket of claims The Register of Wills shall enter in a suitable book, to be provided by him for that purpose, all claims against a decedent as they are regularly passed by the Probate Court, giving the date of the passage, the name of the creditor, the character of the claim, whether on note or open account, bond, bill, obligation, judgment, or other evidence of debt, and the amount thereof; and the entry of a claim upon the docket constitutes notice to the executor or administrator of its existence. §20-1324. Filed claim no evidence of correctness if disputed; filing as tolling limitations A claim entered on the docket as provided by section 20-1323 does not afford evidence as to the justice or correctness of a debt therein entered when it is controverted by an executor or administrator in a suit instituted for the recovery of the debt; and it does not take a debt out of the operation of a defense of limitations. §20-1325. Priorities (a) The debts of the decedent shall be paid according to the following priority: (1) funeral expenses, according to the condition and circumstances of the deceased, not exceeding $600; (2) claims for rent in arrears for which an attachment might be levied by law; (3) judgments and decrees of courts in the District of Columbia;

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