Maryland probate deadline calculator

Enter the date of death and the date the Register of Wills appointed you. This returns every key Maryland deadline, with the statute behind each one so you can check it yourself. Free, no signup.

Maryland runs on two clocks, and that trips people up

If you have read a general guide to settling an estate, you have probably absorbed the idea that everything counts from the date of death. In Maryland that is only half right, and the half that is wrong is the half with most of the deadlines in it.

The creditor bar and the estate tax return run from the date of death. Those dates were fixed the day the person died, and they keep running whether or not anyone has opened an estate yet.

Almost everything you personally have to file runs from the date you were appointed — the inventory, the first account, the list of interested persons, and every modified-administration date. That clock does not start until the Register appoints you. Two estates with the same date of death can have filing deadlines months apart, purely because one family opened the estate promptly and the other took a while to find the will.

This matters most in the gap. If it took you three months to get appointed, you did not lose three months of filing time — but you did burn half of the six-month creditor window, and that one does not wait for you.

The creditor deadline is the one worth understanding

Under Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 8-103(a), a claim against the estate is barred at the earlier of two dates: six months after the date of death, or two months after you mail or deliver notice to that creditor.

Read that again, because the practical consequence is easy to miss. The two-month limb is not an extra hurdle. It is a tool. Mailing notice early is the only thing that closes the claims window sooner than six months, and closing it sooner is what lets you distribute without wondering whether something is still coming. If you leave the notice date blank in the calculator above, you are looking at the slowest possible version of your own timeline.

Claims by the Maryland Department of Health run on their own version of the rule under § 8-103(f), measured from first appointment rather than death.

Regular, modified, or small — the track changes the dates

Maryland does not have one probate process, it has three, and the deadlines above assume the regular track unless you elect otherwise.

Small estate. Property valued at $50,000 or less, or $100,000 or less where the surviving spouse is the sole legatee or heir. Different, shorter process; the list of interested persons goes in with the petition rather than 20 days later.

Modified administration. An election you make within three months of appointment, available when the residuary takers are limited to the personal representative and inheritance-tax-exempt people, and the estate is solvent. It replaces the inventory and the administration accounts with a single final report at ten months and distribution at twelve. It is a real reduction in paperwork, and it is easy to miss because the election window closes at the same three-month mark as the inventory you were trying to avoid filing.

Regular estate. Everything else: inventory at three months, first account at nine, and accounts continuing after that until the final one.

What this calculator does not do

It does not compute subsequent accounts after the first. The statute, § 7-305(a), says accounts continue at six-month intervals, but the widely repeated "or nine months after the prior account was filed" phrasing does not appear in the section text, and until that is resolved against the primary source this tool will not print a date for it. A calculator that guesses is worse than one that says it does not know.

It also does not tell you whether you owe Maryland inheritance tax, which turns on your relationship to the person who died rather than on any date. The inheritance tax page has an estimator for that.

And it is not legal advice. ExecutorPilot is not a law firm. These are the statutory dates and the sections they come from; whether they apply to your estate, and what to do when they collide, is a conversation for your county Register of Wills or an attorney.

Frequently asked questions

Do Maryland probate deadlines run from the date of death or the date I was appointed?

Both, which is the part that catches people out. The creditor claim bar and the Maryland estate tax return run from the date of death. The inventory, the first administration account, the list of interested persons and every modified-administration date run from the date the Register of Wills appointed you. Two estates with an identical date of death can have filing deadlines months apart if one was opened promptly and the other was not.

How long do creditors have to file a claim against a Maryland estate?

Under Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 8-103(a) a claim is barred at the earlier of six months after the date of death, or two months after the personal representative mails or delivers notice to that creditor. Because it is the earlier of the two, mailing notice promptly is what closes the window sooner than six months. Claims by the Maryland Department of Health run under § 8-103(f) and are measured from first appointment instead.

When is the inventory due in Maryland?

Three months after appointment, under Est. & Trusts § 7-201, for a regular estate. If you validly elect modified administration you do not file an inventory at all — but the election itself is due at the same three-month mark, so the decision has to be made before that date, not after.

When is the first administration account due?

Nine months after appointment for a regular estate, under § 7-305. Accounts continue after that until the final account is filed. This calculator prints the first account date only: the statute sets six-month intervals for the ones that follow, and a commonly repeated alternative phrasing does not appear in the section text, so we do not print a date we cannot source.

What is modified administration and what are its deadlines?

It is a streamlined track you elect within three months of appointment, available when the estate is solvent and the residuary takers are limited to the personal representative and people exempt from inheritance tax. It replaces the inventory and the administration accounts with a single final report due within ten months of appointment, and distribution within twelve. Extensions of the distribution date are possible with consent.

What if a deadline falls on a weekend or a holiday?

The practical answer is that a filing due on a day the Register of Wills is closed is generally treated as due the next business day, and some deadlines can be extended on request. This calculator does calendar math on the dates you enter and does not adjust for closures, so treat a date that lands on a weekend as the outside edge and confirm with your county Register rather than filing on the assumption of an extra day.

Does this calculator work for a small estate?

Only partly. The small estate process — property of $50,000 or less, or $100,000 or less where the surviving spouse is the sole legatee or heir — is a different and shorter track, and its list of interested persons is filed with the petition rather than twenty days after appointment. The date-of-death deadlines above still apply. For the small estate process itself, see our small estate page.