Section 3-104
No proceeding to enforce a claim against the estate of a decedent or a decedent's successors may be revived or commenced before the appointment of a personal representative. After the appointment and until distribution, all proceedings and actions to enforce a claim against the estate are governed by the procedure prescribed by this article. After distribution a creditor whose claim has not been barred may recover from the distributees as provided in section 3–1004 or from a former personal representative individually liable as provided in section 3–1005. This section has no application to a proceeding by a secured creditor of the decedent to enforce a right to the security except as to any deficiency judgment which might be sought therein.
Comment
This and sections of Part 8, Article III, are designed to force creditors of decedents to assert their claims against duly appointed personal representatives. Creditors of a decedent are interested persons who may seek the appointment of a personal representative (Section 3-301). If a personal representative has been appointed and has closed the estate under circumstances which leave a creditor's claim unbarred, the creditor is permitted to enforce the claims against distributees, as well as against the personal representative if any duty owed to creditors under 3-807 or 3-1003 has been breached. The methods for closing estates are outlined in Sections 3-1001 through 3-1003. Termination of appointment under Sections 3-608 et seq. may occur though the estate is not closed and so may be irrelevant to the question of whether creditors may pursue distributees.
Massachusetts comment
Part 8 of this Article follows substantially the procedure of present G.L. c. 197 as last modified in 1990. However, this Section does broaden creditors rights to recover from distributees. See G.L. c. 197, § 28 et seq.