Mississippi Heirship Suit | Petition to Establish Heirs

Heirship Suits in a Nutshell

Testate or Intestate? Used as an alternative to Mississippi probate in intestate estates.

Assets Covered: Typically used for real estate.

Dollar Limitations: None.

Who Can Benefit? Heirs at law of the decedent.

Explanation of Mississippi Heirship Suits

In some circumstances, a Mississippi probate attorney might recommend an Heirship Suit in lieu of a full intestate probate proceeding. An Heirship Suit provides title insurance companies with a judicial determination of the decedent’s heirs at law. However, unlike a full intestate proceeding, creditors are not notified of the need to present their claims. As a result, all claims against the decedent’s estate will follow the real estate to the hands of the heirs. Because claims against the estate are not resolved, title companies can’t be sure that there are no claims against the title. For this reason, an heirship suit will not usually provide insurable title unless it is coupled with a probate proceeding.

For title purposes, Mississippi probate attorneys will usually only use a stand-alone heirship proceeding if real estate is going to be held for several years, since that allows the statute of limitations to run on any claims. Most title insurance companies require the owners to wait at least 10 years, although 5-8 years may be acceptable in some circumstances. For many estates, the costs of bringing a suit to determine heirs will not be significantly less than the costs of bringing an intestate probate proceeding. For this reason, many Mississippi estate attorneys will not recommend an heirship suit as an alternative to an intestate probate proceeding unless there are other favorable circumstances.

Probate Note: Heirship suits appear in different contexts. They are always brought in connection with intestate probate proceedings, and some judges require them even when there is a valid Last Will and Testament. So heirship suits are part of the ordinary judicial process. But as an alternative to probate (i.e., as a stand-alone proceeding), the petition to establish heirs would apply to intestate estates only. In a testate estate, the decedent’s will usually determines who shares in the estate, regardless of the identity of the decedent’s heirs at law.