Rhode Island § 8-9-9 - Probate Courts

§ 8-9-9. General probate jurisdiction.

Every probate court shall have jurisdiction in the town or city in which it is established of the probate of wills; the granting of administration, the appointment of custodians, of administrators, of guardians of persons and estates, or of persons only or of estates only, and of conservators; the accepting and allowing of bonds, inventories, and accounts of executors, administrators, and guardians; the granting of leave to sell at public or private sale, or to mortgage property, as hereinafter provided; of the making of partition of the real estate of deceased persons; of the adoption of persons eighteen (18) years of age or older; of change of names of persons; of the removal or filling of a vacancy of a trustee of any trust established under a will, or the termination of such trust; of setting off and allowing real estate and personal property to widows and surviving husbands; and of all other matters now within the jurisdiction of probate courts. The court shall have power to accept the resignation of, or to remove, any custodian, executor, administrator, or guardian, or any other person appointed by the court, and also power to do and transact all matters and things incidental to the jurisdiction and powers vested in probate courts by law. Every probate court shall have the power to follow the course of equity insofar as necessary to fulfill the mandates of title 33 of the General Laws, specifically: the replacement, removal, or filling of any vacancy of any trustee under a trust established under a will; or tax minimization or estate planning under § 33-15-37.1. The jurisdiction assumed in any case by the court, so far as it depends on the place of residence of a person, shall not be contested in any suit or proceedings except in the original case or on appeal therein or when the want of jurisdiction appears on the record.