813.026.Remedy against heirs and legatees; temporary injunction; receivership; judgment.

Section 813.026 addresses a specific collection problem: a defendant who owes money on a contract or a judgment but whose own property likely will not satisfy the debt, while that same defendant stands to inherit or receive a bequest from a decedent’s estate. If the action is for damages founded on contract or on a judgment, and it appears the defendant is interested as heir, legatee, or devisee in a decedent’s estate, and the defendant’s property liable to execution is probably insufficient to satisfy the plaintiff’s claim, the court may enjoin the defendant, while the action is pending, from assigning or otherwise disposing of that estate interest, and may appoint a receiver for it.

The eventual judgment can go further than just declaring a debt owed. It may compel the defendant to transfer enough of the estate interest to satisfy the judgment, or it may adjudge the transfer directly. Section 813.026 makes clear that this remedy supplements, rather than replaces, the proceedings supplementary to execution available under chapter 816. If a receiver is appointed, that receiver must promptly notify the estate’s personal representative of the appointment.