MD Executor Guide
Maryland Probate Process: How Probate Works in MD, Step by Step
Maryland calls the executor a personal representative. Its probate process runs through the Register of Wills, on clocks that start at the appointment rather than at the death.
- Estates of $50,000 or less ($100,000 if the surviving spouse is the sole heir) use the simpler small estate process.
- Larger estates get Letters of Administration and run on three deadlines from the appointment date: notice to interested persons, an inventory at 3 months, and an account at 9 months.
- Creditors’ claims are barred at the earlier of 6 months after death or 2 months after the personal representative gives the creditor notice.
What is probate in Maryland?
Probate is the process that proves the will, if there is one, and appoints a personal representative with authority to collect the assets, pay the debts and taxes, and distribute what is left. In Maryland it is opened with the county Register of Wills, which issues Letters of Administration whether or not there is a will. Contested matters go to the Orphans’ Court. The law is in the Estates and Trusts Article of the Maryland Code. What goes through probate is property the person owned alone. Joint accounts and assets with a named beneficiary pass outside it. Without a will, the shares follow Maryland’s intestacy law.
First: which track are you on?
Maryland sorts estates by the gross value of probate assets — what the decedent owned alone, not joint accounts or assets with named beneficiaries:
| Track | When it applies | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Small estate | Probate assets $50,000 or less — or $100,000 or less when the surviving spouse is the sole heir or legatee | Fewer filings, no Register's fee, rarely any court involvement |
| Regular estate | Above those thresholds | Full administration: Letters, notice, inventory, account |
The thresholds apply to deaths on or after October 1, 2012; older estates use lower cutoffs, so confirm with the Register if the death was earlier.
Opening the estate
Everything files with the Register of Wills for the county where the decedent was domiciled. Bring the original will if there is one, a certified death certificate, and the petition for administration — the Register’s office handles this daily and publishes its own forms. When the appointment issues, you receive Letters of Administration: the document banks and institutions will ask to see. Open the estate’s own bank account early — it needs its own EIN, and every dollar should flow through it.
The three clocks that start at your appointment
This is the part that surprises people who read about other states: Maryland’s core deadlines run from the date you are appointed, not the date of death.
- ~20 days: mail the notice of appointment to all interested persons (the newspaper publication the Register arranges also runs).
- 3 months: file the Inventory and Information Report — every probate asset at date-of-death value.
- 9 months: file the account showing what came in, what was paid, and what remains. Further accounts, if needed, follow at set intervals until the estate closes.
One clock does run from the death: creditor claims are generally barred 6 months after the date of death — or 2 months after you deliver formal notice to a known creditor, whichever comes first. You are expected to make a reasonably diligent effort to identify creditors and send that notice.
Modified administration: the shortcut worth asking about
Many regular estates qualify for modified administration — a streamlined track available when the residuary beneficiaries are limited to a close group and all consent. It trades the formal account for a final report at 10 months, with distribution within 12. If the family is simple and cooperative, ask the Register whether it fits; it removes a large share of the paperwork.
Taxes, briefly
Two Maryland-specific points, both covered in depth on the Maryland inheritance tax page: the 10% inheritance tax applies only to collateral heirs — close family including siblings are exempt — and for probate assets it is paid when you file the account, not on a fixed calendar date. Non-probate assets passing to taxable heirs generate an invoice from the Register with a short fuse. Separately, the estate may owe federal and Maryland income tax on what it earns while open (the Form 1041 territory), and large estates may meet Maryland’s separate estate tax — different systems, different forms.
Getting paid for the work
Maryland pays its personal representatives by statute — the commission formula and how to claim it are here. Short version: up to 9% of the first $20,000 plus 3.6% of the rest, allowed by the court on petition.
Closing
Once the creditor period has run, the account (or final report) is approved, taxes are resolved, and distributions are made and receipted, the estate closes. Many straightforward Maryland estates close within about a year of the death; contested or asset-heavy ones take longer. Keep every receipt and statement to the end — the account has to reconcile, and the documentation habit that started with the funeral bill is what makes it painless.
Every Maryland deadline, dated to your estate
The Maryland Executor Compliance Kit maps this whole process — the appointment-date clocks, the creditor bar, the tax steps — with editable letters and trackers. $149, 30-day money-back guarantee. A debt also has its own limitation period, separate from the estate’s claim deadline — see the statute of limitations on debt.
See the Maryland Compliance Kit → See real pages from inside the kitFree: the Executor's First 30 Days checklist
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Frequently asked questions
How does the probate process work in Maryland?
The personal representative opens the estate with the Register of Wills and is appointed. Small estates ($50,000 or less, or $100,000 if the surviving spouse is the sole heir) follow a shorter process. A regular estate then runs on deadlines from the appointment date: notice to interested persons, the inventory at 3 months and the first account at 9 months. After that, debts, taxes and final distribution are handled, and the estate is closed.
What is probate in Maryland?
Probate is the process that proves a will, if there is one, and appoints a personal representative to settle the estate. In Maryland it runs through the county Register of Wills, which issues Letters of Administration; contested matters go to the Orphans’ Court. Only property the person owned alone goes through it.
Do I need probate in Maryland?
If the person owned assets in their name alone, generally yes — the estate opens with the Register of Wills in the county where they lived. Assets with joint owners or named beneficiaries pass outside probate. Estates of $50,000 or less in probate assets (or $100,000 or less when the surviving spouse is the sole heir or legatee) use the simpler small estate process, which has fewer filings and no Register's fee.
What is the difference between a small estate and a regular estate in Maryland?
The dividing line is the gross value of probate assets: $50,000 or less is a small estate ($100,000 when the spouse is the sole heir), and above that is a regular estate. A small estate involves minimal filings and rarely any court involvement. A regular estate means Letters of Administration, notice to interested persons, an inventory within 3 months of appointment, and an account within 9 months. Thresholds differ for deaths before October 1, 2012.
What are the deadlines for a Maryland personal representative?
The core deadlines run from your appointment date: mail the notice of appointment to interested persons within about 20 days, file the Inventory and Information Report within 3 months, and file the account within 9 months. Creditor claims run from the death instead — generally barred 6 months after the date of death, or 2 months after you deliver formal notice to a known creditor, whichever is earlier.
How long do creditors have to make a claim against a Maryland estate?
Under Md. Estates & Trusts § 8-103, a claim is generally barred unless presented within 6 months after the date of death — or within 2 months after the personal representative mails the creditor a notice saying the claim will be barred, whichever comes first. The personal representative must make a reasonably diligent effort to identify creditors and send that notice.
What is modified administration in Maryland?
A streamlined track for qualifying regular estates where the residuary beneficiaries are limited to a close group and everyone consents. It replaces the formal account with a final report at 10 months and distribution within 12 — substantially less paperwork. Ask the Register of Wills whether your estate qualifies.
How long does it take to settle an estate in Maryland?
Many straightforward regular estates close within about a year of the death: the creditor period runs 6 months from death, the account is due at 9 months from appointment, and closing follows approval and distribution. Contested wills, hard-to-sell property, or tax complications extend that. A small estate can wrap up much faster.
Nobody ever opened my parent’s estate and it has been years. Is it too late?
Maryland’s probate statute does not put a time limit on filing the petition. The deadlines in Title 5 of the Estates and Trusts article attach to other things (a petition to caveat a will, for instance, runs 6 months from the first appointment of a personal representative under that will), but opening the estate itself is not on a clock. Where the people with the highest priority to serve never acted, § 5-104 sets the order the Register and court follow: personal representatives named in the will, then the surviving spouse, registered domestic partner and children of an intestate decedent, then residuary legatees, then children of a testate decedent, then grandchildren, and onward. Someone further down that order can be appointed. What usually drives the timing is that assets sit unreachable until Letters exist: untouched bank accounts, surplus proceeds held by a county after a tax sale, or funds already turned over to Maryland’s unclaimed property program. The Register of Wills in the county where the person lived can say which forms that office requires.
Do I have to publish a notice to creditors myself?
In Maryland, no. That one is the Register’s job. Under § 7-103(a)(1), after a personal representative is appointed the register “shall have a notice of the appointment published” in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, once a week for three successive weeks. Families do not arrange the advertisement or chase proof of publication. A different mailing does belong to the personal representative: § 7-103.1 calls for a reasonably diligent effort to identify the decedent’s creditors and to mail each one notice. That mailing is what starts the shorter 2-month claim window for that particular creditor.
Everything passed outside probate. Is there still an estate to open?
Possibly not, and Maryland has a specific filing for it. Where a house passed by survivorship, accounts were jointly held, and investments carried beneficiary designations, there may be no probate asset to administer. The statutory petition form at § 5-206 includes a Will of No Estate option alongside regular estate and small estate. The will goes on record with the Register without an estate being opened, so no personal representative is appointed and no notice to creditors is published. The situation people plan for is a probate asset surfacing later: an account in the sole name, a refund check, an unclaimed-property listing. That is generally the point at which people return to the Register, and the small estate track covers probate assets of $50,000 or less ($100,000 where the surviving spouse is the sole heir or legatee). Whether a particular asset is a probate asset is worth confirming with the Register or a Maryland attorney.
The estate has been quiet for months. How do I find out what is happening?
Maryland estate files are public records held by the Register of Wills in the county where the person lived, and the Registers also run an online estate search, so an interested person can generally read the file without anyone’s permission and without a lawyer. The documents that carry the substance are the inventory, due within 3 months of appointment, and the account, due within 9 months. The account is the one that shows every dollar in and out, including fees. That filing is not meant to be silent either: § 7-501(a) requires the personal representative to give written notice to all interested persons when an account is filed with the court. Reading the file first tends to be what turns a vague sense that nothing is happening into a specific question worth asking.
I received a notice about the personal representative’s and the attorney’s fees. What are my options?
That notice is required, and it carries a short deadline that is easy to miss. Under § 7-502(a), before a commission, fee or other compensation is paid to the personal representative or to the estate’s attorney, interested persons must be given written notice that states the amount requested, sets out “in reasonable detail” the basis for it, and states that a request for hearing may be made within 20 days after the notice is sent. The notice is therefore not simply an announcement. Those 20 days are the window in which a hearing can be requested. Separately, § 7-501(b)(1) provides that exceptions to an account must be filed with the register within 20 days of the court’s approval of that account. Whether a particular fee is worth challenging is a judgment call, and a Maryland attorney or the Register’s office can explain how that county handles the request.