(a) Except as provided in Section 11421, the personal representative is not required to pay a debt until payment has been ordered by the court.
(b) On the settlement of any account of the personal representative after the expiration of four months after the date letters are first issued to a general personal representative, the court shall order payment of debts, as the circumstances of the estate permit. If property in the estate is insufficient to pay all of the debts, the order shall specify the amount to be paid to each creditor.
(c) If the estate will be exhausted by the payment ordered, the account of the personal representative constitutes a final account, and notice of hearing shall be the notice given for the hearing of a final account. The personal representative is entitled to a discharge when the personal representative has complied with the terms of the order.
(d) Nothing in this section precludes settlement of an account of a personal representative for payment of a debt made without prior court authorization.
(Enacted by Stats. 1990, Ch. 79.)