(a) When a decedent had contracted to convey real estate and the party contracted with has performed or is ready to perform the conditions of the contract, on motion for that purpose, the Probate Division of the Superior Court may grant license to the executor or administrator of the estate to convey the lands according to the contract, including any modifications to it. If the executor or administrator is the transferee under the contract, the judge of the court shall execute the deed. The deed executed by the executor, administrator, judge, or special administrator or master appointed by the court shall be valid to convey the real estate authorized to be conveyed under the contract.

(b) The Probate Division of the Superior Court shall not grant a license to convey the real estate of a deceased person under contract if it appears to the court after hearing that the assets in the hands of the executor or administrator will be reduced by the conveyance in an amount that prevents a creditor from receiving the whole debt and the value of the real estate to be sold is materially greater than the contract price. (Amended 2009, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 238a, eff. Feb. 1, 2011; 2017, No. 195 (Adj. Sess.), § 9.)