Maine Revised Statutes, Title 18-C, § 3-910: Purchasers from distributees protected, 2017

If property distributed in kind or a security interest in the property is acquired for value by a purchaser from or lender to a distributee who has received an instrument or deed of distribution from the personal representative, or is acquired by a purchaser from or lender to a transferee from a distributee, the purchaser or lender takes title free of rights of any interested person in the estate and incurs no personal liability to the estate, or to any interested person, whether or not the distribution was proper or supported by court order or the authority of the personal representative was terminated before execution of the instrument or deed. This section protects a purchaser from or lender to a distributee who, as personal representative, has executed a deed of distribution to the personal representative, as well as a purchaser from or lender to any other distributee or transferee. To be protected under this provision, a purchaser or lender need not inquire whether a personal representative acted properly in making the distribution in kind, even if the personal representative and the distributee are the same person, or whether the authority of the personal representative had terminated before the distribution. Any recorded instrument described in this section on which the register of deeds notes by an appropriate stamp "Maine Real Estate Transfer Tax Paid" is prima facie evidence that the transfer was made for value. [PL 2017, c. 402, Pt. A, §2 (NEW); PL 2019, c. 417, Pt. B, §14 (AFF).]