No Obligation to Exonerate Jointly Held Property

In In re Estate of Afrank, 291 P.3d 576 (Mont. 2012), the Supreme Court of Montana in a matter of first impression held that the statutory non-exoneration provision applies to the decedent’s jointly held property.  According, the decedent’s surviving spouse cannot require the estate to contribute to paying off debt on jointly held property passing to the spouse by right of survivorship.

Special thanks to William LaPiana (Professor of Law, New York Law School) for bringing this case to my attention.