Section 5.3 Real Property

• Library: Estate Administration 2014 Supp

C. (§5.3) Real Property

A supervised personal representative may obtain an order of the court to take charge of a decedent’s real property “when necessary for the payment of claims or for the preservation” of real property, § 473.263.2, RSMo 2000, and may take such action as is “prudently required to avoid [imminent] loss, destruction, or loss in value until [the personal representative] can obtain consideration of the matter by the court.” Section 473.297, RSMo 2000. An independent personal representative has much broader control of the decedent’s real property under §§ 473.803 and 473.810, RSMo 2000. Those powers are discussed in §5.7 below.

The supervised personal representative should be aware of the decision in Myers v. Scott, 789 S.W.2d 802 (Mo. App. W.D. 1990), disallowing expenditures relating to real estate made by a personal representative absent an order to take charge. The personal representative in Myers filed a petition for reimbursement in the amount of $77,818.95 for expenses he paid from his own funds for the upkeep and preservation of real estate owned by the decedent. The supervised personal representative had not sought or obtained any order of the probate court to take possession of the real estate for over eight years after his appointment as personal representative, and the reimbursement...