2011 Connecticut Code
Title 45a Probate Courts and Procedure
Chapter 802b Decedents' Estates
Sec. 45a-426. (Formerly Sec. 45-271b). Protection of legacies.

      Sec. 45a-426. (Formerly Sec. 45-271b). Protection of legacies. (a) All pecuniary legacies given in any will shall, if the personal property of the testator is insufficient for the payment thereof, be a charge on his real property not specifically described and devised, unless otherwise directed in such will.

      (b) Specific legacies shall not be taken or sold for the payment of debts and charges against the estate of the testator when there is other property, real or personal, sufficient and available therefor and not specifically devised or bequeathed; but real property may be sold in lieu thereof, when it is necessary for such purpose, unless such will otherwise directs.

      (1949 Rev., S. 6953; P.A. 80-476, S. 313.)

      History: P.A. 80-476 divided section into Subsecs. and substituted "property" for "estate"; Sec. 45-175 transferred to Sec. 45-271b in 1981; Sec. 45-271b transferred to Sec. 45a-426 in 1991.

      Annotations to former section 45-175:

      What legacies not specific. 42 C. 346. Right of devisee of mortgaged land to receive it free of mortgage. 68 C. 198; 74 C. 96; Id., 459; 78 C. 481; 79 C. 364. Statute construed. 71 C. 529; 103 C. 371. Debts are to be paid primarily out of personal estate 74 C. 99. Gift of real estate "after payment of above legacies" charges them on land. 72 C. 253. Marshaling legacies where some are charged on land and others are not. 76 C. 267. Subrogation where personal property specifically given is used to pay legacies charged on real estate. Id., 268. General and specific legacies distinguished. 85 C. 494. Application to debts incurred by executors in running a farm. 103 C. 369 Ff. Lands specifically devised not subject to payment of debts until other assets exhausted. 106 C. 611. Cited. 141 C. 102. Devise of proceeds of sale of real property to be held in trust for plaintiff under terms of wife's will required mortgage on property sold to be satisfied from estate, not proceeds of sale, where other estate property existed from which mortgage could be paid. 157 C. 181. Cited. 158 C. 232; Id., 292.

      Conditions under which acceptance of devised property will satisfy claim of the donee against decedent's estate. 17 CS 26. The only restrictions on specifically devised property are those imposed by this section. Id., 501.