Short answer. Once the answer is filed, or the time to file it expires, the clerk of court sets the claim for trial with notice to both sides, and the court may also refer the claim to a commissioner instead of hearing and deciding it directly itself. This keeps the dispute moving without requiring either party to separately request a hearing date.
What the law says
Upon the filing of an answer to a claim, or upon the expiration of the time for such filing, the clerk of court shall set the claim for trial with notice to both parties. The court may refer the claim to a commissioner.
Rule 86, Section 12 — Trial of contested claim. Read the full provision →
Trial is set automatically
A denied claim does not simply sit unresolved after the answer is filed. As soon as the answer comes in, or the time allowed for filing it runs out without one being filed, the clerk of court sets the claim for trial and gives notice to both the claimant and the administrator, moving the dispute toward resolution without requiring either side to separately ask for a trial date. Neither the claimant nor the administrator has to file a motion to set the case for trial; the clerk's duty to calendar the claim arises directly from the answer being filed, or from the answer period simply running out.
Notice to both parties
The clerk's obligation is not just to set the claim for trial, but to give notice of that setting to both parties. Notice to the claimant and the administrator alike ensures each side actually knows when the trial will happen and has a fair opportunity to prepare and present evidence supporting its position, rather than one side finding out about the hearing after the fact. This clerk's duty binds regardless of how many claims the estate has pending; each contested claim that survives the answer stage is entitled to the same automatic setting and the same notice to the claimant and the administrator, not just the largest or earliest-filed claim against the estate.
The commissioner option
Rather than always hearing the contested claim itself, the court has the option of referring it to a commissioner, an alternative route for taking evidence and evaluating the dispute that can be used in place of the court personally conducting and presiding over the entire trial from start to finish. This option is particularly useful where an estate has multiple contested claims pending, or where a claim involves detailed accounting or factual issues that a commissioner can sift through and report on, freeing the court itself from having to preside over every stage of the fact-finding process directly.
Related provisions
- Rule 86, Section 12 — Trial of contested claim
- Rule 86, Section 11 — Disposition of admitted claim
- Rule 86, Section 13 — Judgment appealable