§ 6-1439.Time for increase in bonds; bond review.

A bond protects an estate against loss caused by the person managing it, but a bond fixed on outdated information doesn’t protect much. Section 6-1439 addresses that directly: when a personal representative’s, guardian’s, or conservator’s bond was set based on known or anticipated assets, and the value of those assets later increases materially — or an increase is anticipated — the judge has to be informed promptly, and an adequate bond covering the fiduciary’s increased responsibility has to be furnished if the judge requires it.

The rule doesn’t wait for someone to notice a problem on their own; it builds review into the process at multiple points. Every initial inventory gets reviewed by the judge before letters are even issued, specifically to decide whether a bond needs to be set or whether a previously set bond is adequate — with a hearing required if the judge thinks the bond should change, unless the interested persons present at the appointment waive that hearing.

After appointment, the checking continues. Every updated inventory filed with an accounting, and every notice of a newly discovered asset, gets reviewed by a clerk magistrate, probate supervisor, court staff, guardian ad litem if one is appointed, or an approved independent third party, specifically to check bond adequacy under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2640 and § 6-1441. If that review turns up a concern, the matter goes to a hearing with notice to all interested persons — using the same layered definition of “interested persons” that § 6-1433(B)(2) sets out for guardianship and conservatorship cases.