TCA § 45-3-514 — Payment when no executor or administrator qualifies

Notwithstanding § 30-2-317, where no executor or administrator of a deceased depositor has qualified and given notice of the person's qualification to the association, it may in its discretion and at any time after thirty (30) days from the death of the depositor pay out of all accounts or contents of safe deposit boxes maintained with it by the depositor in an individual capacity all sums that do not exceed fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) in the aggregate: To the executor named in any will known to the association; or In the absence of knowledge of any purported will naming a surviving executor to: A creditor for expenses of the funeral; A creditor for the expenses of the last illness; The surviving spouse; and To the next of kin.(2) In the case of conflicting claims, the order of priority shall be that set out in subdivision (a)(1)(B). The receipt of any guardian, administrator or executor, duly appointed and qualified by the courts of this state or any other state, acknowledging the payment or transfer of funds, standing in the name of the person whose estate the fiduciary represents, in the form of deposits in associations shall be good and sufficient acquittance for the payment or transfer and shall constitute a valid defense in favor of the associations against the demands or claims of all parties. No association shall be liable for damages, penalty or tax by reason of any payment made pursuant to this section.