PROBATE PROCEEDINGS-ADMINISTRATION OF DECEDENTS' ESTATES- THE MULLANE CASE AND DUE PROCESS OF LAW

In a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court, a new chapter has been added to the law on the requisites of notice under the due process clause of the Constitution. This case held that publication of notice prior to a judicial settlement of accounts by the corporate trustee of a common trust fund does not afford due process of law to those beneficiaries with present interests whose addresses are known to the trustee. The court refused to classify the action as in rem or in personam but held that whatever its technical definition, the published notice was not reasonably calculated to reach known beneficiaries. Because of the apparent likeness between this trust accounting procedure and procedures employed by many of the states for the administration of decedents' estates, practitioners and writers are speculative as to whether the methods of notice now authorized by the various probate codes will be sufficient under the due process test applied in this case.