Sec. 4. (a) Any interested person or a personal representative named in the will may petition the court having jurisdiction of the administration of the decedent's estate:

(1) to have the will of such decedent, whether the same is written or is unwritten, is in his possession or not, is lost, destroyed, or without the state, probated;

(2) for the issuance of letters testamentary to the executor named in said will for the administration of said estate;

(3) for the appointment of an administrator with the will annexed if no executor is designated in said will or if the person so designated is not qualified, dead, or refuses to serve; or

(4) for the appointment of an administrator for the estate of any person dying intestate.

(b) A petition for probate may be combined with a petition for the issuance of letters testamentary, or as administrator with the will annexed, and a person interested in the probate of a will and in the administration of the estate may petition for both.

(c) No notice that a will is to be offered for probate or that it has been probated shall be required.

(d) No notice of the filing of, and hearing on, the petition described in this section shall be given to or served upon any person. If the petition described herein is filed in term time, it shall be heard forthwith by the court, and if filed in vacation, it shall be heard by the judge of said court if present, or in his absence by the clerk of the said court.

(e) If:

(1) an interested person petitions for the appointment of an administrator for the estate of a person dying intestate; and

(2) a petition to dissolve the marriage of the decedent and the decedent's spouse is pending in an Indiana court or the court of another state at the time of the decedent's death;

the court may not appoint the decedent's spouse to be the administrator of the decedent's estate.

(f) Subsection (e) does not apply to a petition for appointment of an administrator for the estate of a person dying intestate if the application of subsection (e) is waived in an agreement signed by each person, except a person who is incapacitated or a minor, who is eligible for a distribution from the decedent's net estate under IC 29-1-2-1. A waiver may be submitted to the court at any time before the appointment of an administrator.

Formerly: Acts 1953, c.112, s.704. As amended by P.L.182-1999, SEC.1.