Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 8-9-9 (2026)

General probate jurisdiction

✓ current as of July 2026
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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.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9 cases, 1979–2008 · leading case: Traugott v. Petit, 404 A.2d 77 (R.I. 1979).
Traugott v. Petit, 404 A.2d 77 (R.I. 1979). · cites it 10× “The registry also interprets the requirement of notification in §§31-3-35 and 31-10-32 as necessitating that a divorcee present to the registry a divorce decree pursuant to §15-5-17, or a probate court decree pursuant to §8-9-9. Section 8-9-9 reads in part as follows: “Every…”
Tyre v. Swain, 946 A.2d 1189 (R.I. 2008). · cites it 2× “1956 § 8-9-9, whereas the Superior Court “may exercise general probate jurisdiction in all cases brought before it on appeal from probate courts, or when such jurisdiction is properly involved in suits in equity.” G.L. 1956 § 8-2-17. Notwithstanding these statutory provisions,…”
Umsted v. Umsted, 446 F.3d 17 (1st Cir. 2006). “See R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 8-9-9 (providing for the limited jurisdiction of the probate courts); 8-2-13 (providing that the superior court has “exclusive original jurisdiction of suits and proceedings of an equitable character and of statutory proceedings following the course of…”
Hyszko v. Barbour, 448 A.2d 723 (R.I. 1982). “1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 8-9-9 empowers the Probate Court of each municipality to partition real estate of deceased persons, this power is by the terms of § 33-3-1 limited to instances in which the deceased has died intestate, the “debts, charges, and expenses of settling the…”
George v. Infantolino, 446 A.2d 757 (R.I. 1982). “The desire for finality of judgments and a minimizing of forum shopping from Probate Court to Probate Court has been expressed by the Legislature when, after detailing in § 8-9-9 the various facets of jurisdiction to be exercised by Probate Courts, it stated in part: “The…”
DeLisi v. Caito, 463 A.2d 167 (R.I. 1983). · cites it 2× “1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 8-9-9 gives the Probate Court the authority to partition the real estate of a deceased person 3 , we find no statutory authority that gives the Probate Court the power to partition by sale a ward’s life tenancy and an heir’s remainder interest.”
In Re Jeramie N., 688 A.2d 825 (R.I. 1997). · cites it 2× “Pursuant to G.L.1956 § 8-9-9, the Probate Court has jurisdiction of persons aged eighteen years or older.”
Burford v. Est. of Skelly, 699 A.2d 854 (R.I. 1997). · cites it 3× “Section 8-9-9, “General probate jurisdiction,” provides in pertinent part that “[ejvery probate court shall have jurisdiction * * * and also power to do and transact all matters and things incidental to the jurisdiction and powers vested in the probate courts by law.”
Gersuny v. Armstrong, 581 A.2d 718 (R.I. 1990). “1956 (1985 Reenactment) § 8-9-9. Nevertheless, plaintiff concedes that the Family Court is given specific authority pursuant to G.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.