Rule 195. Inventory and appraisal

(a) As promptly as possible, after the issuance of letters testamentary or of administration, the executor or administrator shall file a petition and submit an order for the appointment of two appraisers as required by law. Upon the entry of such an order, the clerk shall notify the appraisers of their appointment. The executor or administrator shall promptly make an inventory, verified by his oath, of all the real and personal property of the deceased, which comes into his possession, and shall deliver it or a copy of it to the appraisers.

(b) The appraisers shall be sworn, honestly and impartially, to appraise the property which is exhibited to them, or appears on the inventory, at its true cash value according to the best of their knowledge and ability. The appraisers shall thereupon appraise each item of property therein requiring appraisal and shall cause the appraised value thereof to be set down opposite the entry of the item in the inventory. In the case of real estate, they shall also set out the assessed value thereof for tax purposes.

(c) When appraisement is completed and the appraised value has been set down in the inventory, the inventory and appraisement shall be signed by the appraisers and delivered to the executor or administrator who shall, within one month after his appointment, unless the time be extended by the court, file the inventory and appraisement with the clerk of the court. With the inventory and appraisement, he shall submit the application of the appraisers for their fees which to the extent allowed by the court shall be paid by him out of the estate.

(d) If the inventory contains no items of property requiring appraisement, no appraisers shall be appointed, nor any appraised values included in the inventory filed.--Added Dec. 17, 1976.

Inventory and appraisal, see 15 V.I.C. ' 311 et seq.

Failure to file inventory

Administrator of estate was required to be removed where he failed to file inventory of estate assets, acted improperly as controlling person of funeral home business which was estate's major asset, and violated the trust of his office with conflicts of interest, utilizing estate's assets for personal use, and commingling