Section 23.3 Personal Representatives

• Library: Estate Administration 2014 Supp

1. (§23.3) Personal Representatives

The Missouri Probate Code, Chapters 472–475, RSMo, does not focus in great detail on the general fiduciary duties of a personal representative but instead is long on detailed procedures and specific obligations and short on the overarching fiduciary standards for this office. See generally Chapter 473, RSMo. Section 473.810, RSMo 2000, begins by reciting that “[e]xcept as restricted or otherwise provided by the will, an independent personal representative, acting reasonably for the benefit of the interested persons, may properly: [undertake actions in 20 listed categories].” Section 473.810 (emphasis added). Likewise, the conditions for a personal representative’s bond mandate that the personal representative “shall faithfully administer” the estate at issue. Section 473.157.2, RSMo 2000.

Section 473.820, RSMo 2000, delineates a personal representative’s liability to third parties. Under § 473.820.1, the personal representative is not “liable on a contract properly entered into in his fiduciary capacity . . . unless he fails to reveal his representative capacity and identify the estate in the contract.” Likewise, a personal representative is “individually liable for obligations arising from ownership or control of the estate or for...