Do I have to go through probate in Indiana?

In Indiana, estates worth $100,000 or less may qualify for a simplified small-estate procedure (personal property only). Estates above that generally require probate through the Superior Court or Circuit Court.

How long do creditors have to make a claim in Indiana?

The creditor claim period in Indiana is generally 3 months. What starts that clock varies, so confirm which date applies before relying on it.

How long does probate take in Indiana?

A typical Indiana estate takes 6–18 months. Complications — a contested will, an unsold house, a late-surfacing creditor — extend it.

Does Indiana have an estate or inheritance tax?

Indiana has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax. That is not the same as nothing to file: if the estate earns income and you file a federal Form 1041, many states want their own fiduciary return alongside it.

EstateMate › Probate by state › Indiana

Settling an estate in Indiana

An executor in Indiana has to work through the Superior Court or Circuit Court and a long list of tasks that have nothing to do with the court. This page sets out what Indiana law actually requires at each step, with the section it comes from and the date we last read it.

Probate court: Superior Court or Circuit Court
Small-estate shortcut: Estates of $100,000 or less may qualify for a simplified small-estate procedure (personal property only — it will not transfer real estate).
Creditor claim period: 3 months
Typical timeline: 6–18 months
State death tax: None — no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax

Immediate

Obtain certified death certificates

Indiana makes uncertified death certificates public by statute. That is less unusual than it sounds: Connecticut issues uncertified copies to anyone with no proof of relationship, and Iowa lets you inspect and copy at the county registrar under its public-records law. What Indiana does differently is put it in the vital-records statute itself rather than leaving it to a general public-records route. Under Ind. Code § 16-37-1-10(c) a death certificate is a public record if the copy is uncertified, the Social Security number is redacted, and the applicable fees are paid. So confirming a death, or getting the details for your own file, does not require you to qualify for anything. A certified copy is different. Subsection (b)(1) sets a two-part test: the state registrar must be satisfied both that the applicant has a direct interest in the matter recorded, and that the information is necessary for the determination of personal or property rights or for compliance with state or federal law. Say what the copy is for, not just who you are. Under subsection (e) the registrar may deny access where there is reasonable suspicion that release could result in fraud or identity theft. Two practical notes. The funeral director usually orders the first batch as part of their service, so ask them how many they have already requested before you order more — families routinely pay twice. And order more than you think: banks, insurers and transfer agents often keep the copy you give them rather than returning it. Confirm the current fee on the state’s own page at the moment you order, because fees change without notice.

Ind. Code § 16-37-1-10·last read 2026-09-09

Locate the will (or confirm there is none)

Indiana is the important exception, and getting it wrong wastes months. Under Ind. Code § 29-1-7-3(a), after the death the person having custody of the will may deliver it to the court having jurisdiction of the administration of the estate — and shall do so only upon written demand by the personal representative, or upon court order. There is no self-executing duty. A custodian who simply keeps the will is not in breach, and no clock is running against them, which is the opposite of the rule in most states. So the sequence matters. If a personal representative has been appointed, their written demand is what converts may into shall, and it should go out on paper with a date on it. If nobody has been appointed yet, subsection (b) is the route: an interested person or the personal representative files a verified written application and the court orders the will produced. Under subsection (c), failing without just cause to produce it after being served with that order is contempt, which can mean commitment to the county jail until the will is produced, and liability to interested persons for the damages caused.

Ind. Code § 29-1-7-3·last read 2026-08-25

Short-term

Claim the family allowances you are entitled to

Indiana keeps this simple and puts it on top of everything else. Under Ind. Code § 29-1-4-1 the surviving spouse of a person domiciled in Indiana at death takes a survivor’s allowance of $25,000, and where there is no surviving spouse it goes to the children under eighteen, divided equally between them. The statute is explicit that an allowance under the section is not chargeable against the distributive share of either the surviving spouse or the children, so it is genuinely additional rather than an advance on the inheritance. It may be satisfied out of personal property, real property or a combination of the two, and if no election is filed within ninety days the statute fixes the order in which property is applied. On a modest Indiana estate $25,000 is a large share of what there is, and because it is not charged against the inheritance there is no reason not to claim it.

Ind. Code § 29-1-4-1·last read 2026-08-20

Notify beneficiaries and keep them informed

In Indiana the clerk issues the notice and you serve it, and that split is what trips people up. Under Ind. Code § 29-1-7-7 the notice of administration is issued by the clerk of the court and served by the personal representative or their agent on each heir, devisee, legatee and known creditor, with publication once a week for two consecutive weeks and proof of publication filed within thirty days. The notice gives the court and county, the date of your appointment, and the name and date of death of the deceased. It also carries the creditor bar: claims must be filed within three months of the first publication of the notice, or within nine months after the death, whichever is earlier, or be forever barred. Creditors discovered within one month of first publication must be served as well. Getting this wrong rarely costs money directly — it stalls the case. An estate that cannot show notice was properly given can be held open, and the appointment itself can be reopened, so keep proof of what you sent, to whom, and on what date.

Ind. Code § 29-1-7-7·last read 2026-08-25

Determine if probate is required

Indiana’s affidavit limit is $100,000 of the gross probate estate less liens, encumbrances and reasonable funeral expenses — but that figure applies only to deaths after 30 June 2022. For an earlier death the older, much lower limit applies, so check the date first. Forty-five days must have passed since the death, and the affidavit route cannot be used for real estate of any value.

Ind. Code § 29-1-8-1·last read 2026-08-19

Legal Process

File a petition with the probate court

Indiana offers unsupervised administration by two different doors, and the will can open one of them by itself. Under Ind. Code § 29-1-7.5-2 the court may authorise administration without court supervision where the required persons consent, the estate is solvent, the personal representative qualifies, the heirs, legatees and devisees consent freely, and the will does not request supervised administration. Alternatively, where the deceased authorised unsupervised administration in the will, the estate is solvent and the representative qualifies, it may be granted on that basis without hunting for consents. Once it is approved, the personal representative’s authority is not subject to any requirement of court approval or confirmation, unless the court later finds that the order should be revoked. So the difference between the two routes is whether you must gather agreement from the family or the will has already supplied it. One practical point: the word your state uses for this office is not decoration — asking for the wrong one wastes a trip and a phone call. And where a registrar or clerk can grant it, no judge is involved and no hearing is set, so nothing in the system will prompt you: the case moves only when you file.

Ind. Code § 29-1-7.5-2·last read 2026-08-25

Inventory all assets and debts

Indiana gives two months and makes the filing optional. Under Ind. Code § 29-1-12-1 the personal representative must, within two months after appointment unless the court grants longer, prepare a verified inventory showing the fair market value of each item and a statement of all known liens and other charges. It is organised into seven categories, running from real property and household goods through crops, corporate stocks, mortgages and bonds, and bank accounts and insurance payable to the estate, to other personal property. You need not file it with the court. Instead you must furnish a copy to interested persons who request one, unless you have filed the original. You may employ disinterested appraisers, using different ones for different kinds of asset, and their names and addresses must appear on the inventory itself. Two things that apply everywhere. Values are as of the date of death, not today — a house that has risen since is still listed at what it was worth then. And the inventory is the document everything else is measured against: fees, bond, and every later distribution. It is also what beneficiaries most often challenge, so take the time to get it right rather than filing a rough figure you intend to fix later.

Ind. Code § 29-1-12-1·last read 2026-08-25

Publish notice to creditors

Indiana runs three clocks at once and the shortest one usually decides it. Under Ind. Code § 29-1-14-1(a) claims against the estate are forever barred unless filed with the court within three months after the date of the first published notice to creditors, or three months after the court revokes probate of a will. Subsection (d) then puts an outer limit on all of it: claims barrable under subsection (a) are barred if not filed within nine months after the death, whatever the publication did or did not do. And subsection (g) gives a governmental unit its own window — a claim by the unit is forever barred unless made not later than one hundred and twenty days after the date of death. So a late publication does not extend the estate’s exposure past nine months from the death, and a Medicaid or other public claim can arrive on a clock of its own. Two things to hold on to. Publication is what starts the clock in most states, so an estate where nobody published can stay exposed to claims far longer than the family expects. And a known creditor usually has to be told directly — publication alone does not bind someone whose name and address you could reasonably have found.

Ind. Code § 29-1-14-1·last read 2026-08-25

Administration

Identify and close digital accounts

Indiana names unsupervised administration, which is how most Indiana estates actually run. Under Ind. Code § 32-39-2-4 the personal representative gives the custodian a written request, a certified or authenticated copy of the death certificate, and a copy of the letters as defined in IC 29-1-1-3(a)(21) — or of the order of no supervision, or the order of unsupervised administration issued under IC 29-1-7.5. Two things there are unusual and both help you. The death certificate may be certified or authenticated. And the letters need only be a copy, not a certified copy. Unless the person used the provider’s online tool you must also produce the will, trust or power of attorney evidencing consent. The act sits in Title 32, on property, rather than in the probate title. The rule to hold on to everywhere: without consent you generally get only the catalogue — who was contacted, when, and at what address — not what was actually said. “The executor can get into the accounts” is not what these laws do. And if you are advising someone still living, the provider’s own online tool is where this should be set, because it beats the will.

Ind. Code § 32-39-2-4·last read 2026-08-25

Financial Settlement

Pay valid debts and expenses

Indiana splits the funeral out of administration costs and puts the family third. Under Ind. Code § 29-1-14-9 the classes are as follows. First, the costs and expenses of administration, but not funeral expenses, the expenses of a tombstone, or expenses incurred in disposing of the body. Second, those reasonable funeral, tombstone and disposition expenses — with a cap that applies where the deceased received public assistance, set by IC 12-14-6, 12-14-17 and 12-14-21. Third, the family allowance under IC 29-1-4-1. Fourth, all debts and taxes having preference under the laws of the United States. Fifth, the reasonable and necessary medical expenses of the last sickness, including compensation of the people who attended the deceased. Sixth, all debts and taxes having preference under the laws of Indiana — with a protection worth noting: the representative is not required to pay tax on any of the deceased’s property unless it is due and payable before they deliver possession of that property. And seventh, all other claims allowed. The public assistance cap is the trap here: if the deceased was on public assistance, the amount of funeral expense that keeps its second-class priority is limited, and the balance drops to the last class. Within any class no preference is given to one claim over another, and a claim that is due and payable does not outrank one that is not yet due. Paying a lower-ranked debt before a higher-ranked one can leave you personally liable for the difference. So where the estate may not cover everything, stop before paying anything beyond the funeral and administration costs, and take advice.

Ind. Code § 29-1-14-9·last read 2026-08-27

File required tax returns

Indiana repealed its inheritance tax and left a dated line in the code that settles the question. Ind. Code § 6-4.1-1-0.5 says the chapter does not apply to a property interest transferred by a decedent whose death occurs after 31 December 2012. The rest of Article 4.1, headed Death Taxes, has been steadily emptied out — chapters 2, 3, 11 and 11.5 were all repealed by P.L.79-2017 — and what survives is the machinery for the handful of pre-2013 estates that were never closed. Indiana has no estate tax. What Indiana does have is an income tax, so an estate that earns income while it is being administered will have an Indiana fiduciary return to file. Because the repeal is old enough to predate a lot of the advice online but recent enough that older guides still mention it, check the date on anything that tells you an Indiana inheritance tax return is due. None of that removes the federal returns: the deceased’s final income tax return, and Form 1041 for income the estate itself earns during administration. And it does not help with property in another state, which may carry that state’s own death tax and its own filing.

Ind. Code § 6-4.1-1-0.5·last read 2026-08-25

Distribution

Distribute assets to heirs

Indiana is one of the few states where a second spouse’s share of the house is cut to a quarter, and it is a life interest at that. Under Ind. Code § 29-1-2-1(b) the ordinary shares are simple: half the net estate if the deceased is survived by at least one child or other descendant; three quarters if there is no surviving issue but at least one parent survives; and the whole net estate if neither issue nor parent survives. Subsection (c) then carves out the second or subsequent spouse who had no children by the deceased. Where the deceased left children from an earlier relationship, that spouse takes only twenty-five percent of the remainder of the fair market value of the real property after liens. The fee vests immediately in the deceased’s surviving children or their descendants. The spouse’s share of the personal property is unaffected. Remarriage late in life therefore changes the answer on the house very sharply, and nothing about the family looks different from the outside. Indiana also has two forfeiture rules that can remove a spouse entirely, and neither has a clock on it — which makes them unlike every comparable rule elsewhere. Under Ind. Code § 29-1-2-15, a person who abandons their spouse without just cause takes no part of that spouse’s estate or trust. There is no minimum period: the question is abandonment without just cause, not how long it lasted. Under § 29-1-2-14, where a husband or wife has left the other and is living in adultery at the time of the other’s death, they likewise take no part of the estate or trust. Both turn on conduct a family will have to prove, so if the couple were estranged, raise these before anyone is paid. Indiana handles a killing differently from most states, and the difference is procedural. Under Ind. Code § 29-1-2-12.1 a culpable person does not simply lose the property — they hold it as a constructive trustee for whoever would have taken had they died immediately before the deceased. The trust reaches trust property, transfer-on-death transfers, life insurance, the deceased’s interest in joint tenancy property and property passing by contract at death. Two features are worth knowing. Nothing happens automatically: subsection (e) requires an interested person to bring a civil action, and the court then decides on a preponderance of the evidence, a lower bar than the clear and convincing standard several states use. And “unlawful death” is defined to include a suicide caused by someone other than the deceased, not only murder and voluntary manslaughter. These shares apply only where there is no valid will — a will overrides all of it. And do not distribute anything until the creditor period has run and the debts are settled: a representative who pays the family early can be personally liable for what is still owing. Indiana sets its paternity deadline by the CHILD’S AGE, which is unusual and easy to miss. Under § 29-1-2-7 a child born out of wedlock is treated as though the parents had been married — from the mother always, and from the father where paternity is established. Some routes need no court at all: the father marrying the mother and acknowledging the child, or a paternity affidavit under IC 16-37-2-2.1. Where a court action is needed the clock depends on the child’s age at the death. If the child was twenty or older, the action must have been filed in the father’s lifetime. If under twenty, in his lifetime or within five months after the death. If the child was born after the father died, within eleven months after the death. Subsection (c) adds a rule of evidence with real teeth: “no judgment shall be made upon the evidence of the mother alone. The evidence of the mother must be supported by corroborative evidence or circumstances.” Section 29-1-2-8 covers adoption, and its second exception is the most generous thing in this column. An adopted child is treated as the natural child of the adopting parents and ceases to be a child of the natural parents. There are two exceptions. One is where a birth parent married the adoptive parent. The other is where the adopter is a relative within the SIXTH DEGREE, and there the child may inherit through either the natural or the adoptive line, “whichever is greater in value in each case”.

Ind. Code §§ 29-1-2-1, 29-1-2-7, 29-1-2-8, 29-1-2-12.1, 29-1-2-14, 29-1-2-15·last read 2026-09-09

Close Estate

File a final accounting and close the estate

Indiana ties the final account to the distribution decree, and that decree does the title work. Under Ind. Code § 29-1-17-2 the personal representative files a final account and at the same time petitions the court to decree the final distribution of the estate. The timing is a set of conditions rather than a fixed date: after the expiration of the time limit for filing claims, and after all claims against the estate — including state and federal inheritance and estate taxes — have been determined, paid, or provision made for them. The account must carry a verified statement that proper notice to creditors was given. What follows is worth understanding. The decree of final distribution is a conclusive determination of the persons who are the successors in interest and of the extent of their interests, and it operates as a final adjudication of the transfer of the deceased’s right, title and interest to the distributees. Closing is what ends your exposure, so do not simply stop when the money runs out — an estate left open leaves the representative personally on the hook. And filing a closing statement is not the same as being discharged. In several states the appointment only terminates some months later, if nobody objects. Keep the file, the receipts and the proof of what you sent until then.

Ind. Code § 29-1-17-2·last read 2026-08-25

Work through this as a checklist

The free Indiana checklist tracks where you are across every step, keeps your documents in one place, and tells you what is due next. No payment, no card.

Open the free Indiana checklist

EstateMate is not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Every note above cites the section it came from and the date it was last read, so you can check it yourself. Statutes change, and the right answer can turn on facts specific to your family — when something looks close to the line, talk to a Indiana probate attorney.