(a) If a person required to be named as a defendant is dead and the plaintiff knows of a personal representative, the plaintiff shall join the personal representative as a defendant.
(b) (1) If a person required to be named as a defendant is dead, or is believed by the plaintiff to be dead, and the plaintiff knows of no personal representative, the plaintiff shall state those facts in an affidavit filed with the complaint.
(2) If the plaintiff states in an affidavit under paragraph (1) of this subsection that a person is dead, the plaintiff may join as defendants “the testate and intestate successors of __________ (naming the deceased person), deceased, and all persons claiming by, through, or under the decedent”.
(3) If the plaintiff states in an affidavit under paragraph (1) of this subsection that a person is believed to be dead, the plaintiff may join the person as a defendant, and may also join “the testate and intestate successors of __________ (naming the person), believed to be deceased, and all persons claiming by, through, or under the person believed to be deceased”.