Settling an estate in Maryland
An executor in Maryland has to work through the Orphans' Court and a long list of tasks that have nothing to do with the court. This page sets out what Maryland law actually requires at each step, with the section it comes from and the date we last read it.
- Probate court
- Orphans' Court
- Small-estate shortcut
- Estates of $50,000 or less may qualify for a simplified small-estate procedure (personal property only — it will not transfer real estate).
- Creditor claim period
- 6 months
- Typical timeline
- 9–18 months
- State death tax
- a state estate tax and a state inheritance tax
Immediate
Obtain certified death certificates
Maryland certified copies come from the Division of Vital Records at the Department of Health, and may also be ordered by mail or at some local health departments — check which is closest before travelling. One cutoff worth knowing: for deaths before 2012 the record is held by the Maryland State Archives, not by Vital Records, so an older death goes to a different office entirely. And if the record cannot be located the certificate fee is not refunded — you receive a Certification of Record Search instead. Order more than you think you need; every institution wants its own certified copy and will not accept a photocopy. One thing to settle before you travel: Maryland does not treat these as open records. Under Md. Code Health-Gen. § 4-217(a) the Secretary provides a certified or abridged copy to any person authorised by regulation adopted under that subtitle — so the eligible class is fixed by rule rather than by the statute, and you cannot read it off the code. Local health departments and the Motor Vehicle Administration may issue to the same authorised persons, which is worth knowing when you are choosing where to go. Arrive able to identify yourself and to say how you are entitled, and ask the Division of Vital Records what evidence they require before travelling or posting an application.
Md. Code Health-Gen. § 4-217; Md. Dept. of Health — Division of Vital Records·last read 2026-08-19
Locate the will (or confirm there is none)
The will is filed with the Register of Wills for the county where the person lived — the same office that will administer the estate. Before concluding there is no will, ask that register whether one was deposited for safekeeping during their lifetime: Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 4-202 lets a will be lodged with the register of the county where the testator resides, by the testator or by anyone holding it. The register gives a receipt on payment of the fee, keeps the will in a sealed wrapper endorsed with the testator’s name, and records the date it was received and who handed it in. A deposited will is not to be delivered or opened except as the section allows, so it will not turn up in any search you can do yourself — you have to telephone the register and ask.
Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 4-202·last read 2026-08-18
Short-term
Claim the family allowances you are entitled to
Maryland’s allowance is modest but it is automatic and it is quick. Under Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 3-201 a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner is entitled to an allowance of $10,000 for personal use, and a further $5,000 for each unmarried child of the person who had not turned 18 when they died. So a spouse with two young children is looking at $20,000 in total, paid by the personal representative under § 13-501. Note who is covered: Maryland names registered domestic partners alongside spouses, which many states do not. Ask the Register of Wills about it when you open the estate rather than waiting — it is meant to carry the family through the administration, not to be settled at the end.
Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 3-201·last read 2026-08-19
Notify beneficiaries and keep them informed
Maryland splits this between the register and you, and your half is more demanding than it looks. Under Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 7-103 the Register publishes a notice of the appointment in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, once a week for three successive weeks, announcing the appointment and your address and telling creditors to present claims. You must then file with the register a certification that the notice has been published. That filing is easy to miss precisely because someone else did the publishing. The published notice also warns interested persons and unpaid claimants that any objection to your appointment must be filed with the register on or before six months from the date of appointment. Your other duty has a hard deadline: under § 7-104, not later than 20 days after appointment you must deliver to the register the text of the first published notice. You must also give the register the names and addresses of the heirs and legatees, so far as you know them, so that it can issue the notices under § 2-210. You are not supplying copies for posting — you are supplying the list the register mails from, so an incomplete list means someone entitled to notice never gets it. This does not apply to a successor representative where notice was already given, or to an appointment made through judicial probate. 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.
Md. Code Est. & Trusts §§ 7-103, 7-104·last read 2026-08-19
Determine if probate is required
Maryland has a second, higher door people miss, and a valuation rule that can put you under the line when the gross figure says otherwise. Under Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 5-601 an estate qualifies as a small estate where the property subject to administration in Maryland is worth $50,000 or less — or $100,000 or less if the surviving spouse is the sole legatee or heir. The rule worth knowing is in subsection (d): value is fair market value less debts of record secured by the property, measured at the date of death, to the extent insurance does not pay the secured debt. So a mortgaged house counts at its equity, not its price, which is how many Maryland families turn out to qualify. One more thing the section allows: an estate already opened as a regular administration can be moved onto the small-estate track later, provided that happens before the initial account is filed. A small estate is opened and run administratively by the Register of Wills and rarely involves a judge, so it is worth checking before assuming you face a full estate.
Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 5-601·last read 2026-08-19
Legal Process
File a petition with the probate court
You file with the Register of Wills for the county where the person lived, and Maryland then has two tracks, and which one you are on changes how much work this is. Administrative Probate (§ 5-301) is begun by petition to the register, may be conducted without prior notice, and is final to the extent set out in § 5-304 — this is the ordinary route and the one most families take. Judicial Probate (§ 5-401) is begun by petition to the Court by an interested person or a creditor, is conducted only after notice, and is used where there is a dispute. The point that matters: any interested person can require judicial probate instead, so an administrative grant is not immune from challenge. The Orphans’ Court is the judge that resolves disputes; the Register is the office that administers the estate and receives every filing. One more thing worth knowing: if nobody files within a reasonable time, the register may file the petition itself with the court’s approval.
Md. Code Est. & Trusts §§ 5-301, 5-401·last read 2026-08-18
Inventory all assets and debts
The inventory is due within three months of your appointment, filed with the Register of Wills, and Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 7-201 says what has to be in it: each item in reasonably descriptive detail, its fair market value as of the date of death (not today’s value), and any encumbrance against it — so a house worth $400,000 with a $250,000 mortgage is listed at both figures, not one. It covers real property, tangible personal property, corporate stocks, debts owed to the person who died, and bank and savings accounts. On valuing it, § 7-202 is more forgiving than families expect. You may value listed corporate stocks, over-the-counter securities and the money and account items in § 7-201(b)(4) and (5) yourself, and you must secure an independent appraisal for all the other categories — but there are two exceptions worth real money. Real and leasehold property may instead be valued at the full cash value for property tax assessment purposes as of the most recent date of finality, or at the contract sales price where the price is set out on a settlement statement and settlement happens within a year. And a motor vehicle may be valued from a designated price guide. So you generally do not have to pay an appraiser for the house or the car; you do for things like jewelry and furnishings. Everyday clothing and food for the family are excluded, but furs and jewelry are not. The duty also does not end when you file: § 7-203 requires a supplemental inventory whenever property turns up later or you learn a value you reported was wrong. The first Account then follows within nine months of appointment.
Md. Code Est. & Trusts §§ 7-201, 7-202, 7-203·last read 2026-08-19
Publish notice to creditors
Maryland differs from most states in two ways, and one of them is a deadline. The Register’s Office mails the notice of appointment to interested persons — you supply the copies, within 20 days of appointment. And the claim clock does not run from publication. Under Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 8-103 a claim is forever barred against the estate, against you personally, and against the heirs and legatees unless it is presented within the earlier of: six months after the date of death. Or two months after you mail or deliver that creditor a notice in the form required by § 7-103 warning them that the claim will be barred. Two months, not thirty days. Because the outer limit runs from the death rather than from your appointment, the window is already part-spent by the time you are appointed — an estate opened three months after the death has three months left, not six. Sending the § 7-103 notice early is how you shorten it deliberately.
Md. Code Est. & Trusts §§ 8-103, 7-103·last read 2026-08-19
Administration
Identify and close digital accounts
Maryland adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act in 2016, at Md. Code Est. & Trusts §§ 15-601 to 15-620. One provision is worth knowing when a platform stalls: under § 15-615 a custodian must respond to a proper request within 60 days, and a court can order compliance if it does not. As everywhere, access to the content of communications turns on what the deceased consented to; without that you may get only a catalogue. One more point, and in your actual order of work it belongs first: check for an online tool before you check the will. Under Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 15-603 the opening question is not what the will says. Some providers offer a tool that lets the user name who may receive their account — Google’s Inactive Account Manager, Facebook’s Legacy Contact and the like. If the user actually used it, that direction overrides a contrary direction in a will, trust or power of attorney. That holds so long as the tool let them change or delete it at any time. Only where there is no online-tool direction does the will, trust or power of attorney govern, and only where there is neither does the provider’s terms-of-service agreement decide. So look at the accounts before you look at the paperwork — it is quick, it is free, and it can settle the question outright.
Md. Code Est. & Trusts §§ 15-601 to 15-620 (esp. § 15-603)·last read 2026-08-19
Financial Settlement
Pay valid debts and expenses
Maryland sets eleven ranks in Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 8-105, binding when the estate cannot pay everything. (1) Fees Due the Register — the state is paid before anyone. (2) Costs and expenses of administration. (3) Funeral expenses as provided in § 8-106. (4) Compensation of the personal representative, legal fees, and commissions of licensed real-estate brokers. (5) The family allowance. (6) Taxes due by the deceased. (7) Reasonable medical, hospital and nursing expenses of the last illness. (8) Rent payable for not more than three months in arrears. (9) Wages, salaries or commission for services performed for the deceased within three months before the death. (10) Assistance paid under the public assistance to adults program; and (11) All other claims. Section 8-106 is where the funeral detail sits, and three things in it are easy to miss. First, what counts. “Funeral expenses” is defined broadly enough to take in cremation, disposition of the remains, a memorial or memorial service, any other reasonable expense the will authorises, and — unusually — the food and drink for a wake or a gathering before or after the funeral. Second, the limit. The allowance is in the court’s discretion according to the deceased’s condition and circumstances, and may not exceed $15,000 unless the estate is solvent and a special order of court is obtained. No court allowance is needed at all where the estate is solvent and either the will expressly empowers the representative to pay without an order, or the estate is under modified administration and the expenses go on the § 5-707 final report. Third, the deadline has teeth. The representative must pay the funeral expenses within six months of first appointment, and if they do not, the creditor may petition the court to make them show cause why they should not be compelled to pay. Where the court finds the claim valid it fixes the amount and orders payment within ten days of the order being served. No preference applies within a class, and a claim already due does not outrank one 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.
Md. Code Est. & Trusts §§ 8-105, 8-106·last read 2026-08-27
File required tax returns
Maryland is one of very few states with both an estate tax and an inheritance tax, and they work on completely different tests. The inheritance tax turns on who receives the property, not on how big the estate is, so a modest estate can owe it. The rate is 10% of the clear value (Md. Tax-Gen. § 7-204). Section 7-203(b)(2) exempts a wide circle: a grandparent, parent, spouse, child or any lineal descendant of a child, the spouse of a child or of a lineal descendant, the surviving spouse of a deceased child who has not remarried, and a brother or sister. Do not stop at that list, because § 7-203(b)(1) widens the words in it: “‘Child’ includes a stepchild or former stepchild” and “‘Parent’ includes a stepparent or former stepparent.” A stepchild is exempt, and stays exempt even where the marriage that created the relationship has since ended. Unmarried partners are not automatically outside the circle either: under § 7-203(l) a domestic partnership registered under Estates and Trusts § 2-214 exempts everything passing to the partner, and without registration a jointly held primary residence still passes exempt on the affidavit or proofs that subsection names. Nieces, nephews, cousins and friends are usually who pays — though § 7-203(m) exempts even a niece or nephew inheriting land under a perpetual conservation easement, with recapture if it stops qualifying. Work out the relationships before telling anyone what they will receive. The estate tax is the size test and it is separate: under § 7-309 the exclusion is $5,000,000 for anyone dying on or after 1 January 2019, plus any deceased spousal unused exclusion carried over from a spouse who died first — but that carryover is not automatic. Under § 7-309(b)(9) it counts only if a Maryland estate tax return was timely filed for the first spouse to die and an irrevocable election was made on it. Families lose it in exactly one way: the first estate was comfortably under the threshold, so nobody filed anything, and the unused exclusion is simply gone by the time the second death happens. That figure is fixed, not indexed, so it does not drift upward the way the federal one does. On the rate, § 7-309(b)(3)(iii) caps the credit used at 16 per cent of the amount by which the taxable estate exceeds the threshold, so 16 per cent is the effective ceiling. Farmland gets its own treatment, with up to $5,000,000 of qualified agricultural property excluded where it passes to a qualified recipient. If the estate earns income and you file a federal Form 1041, Maryland requires form 504. Three taxes, three different tests — a tax professional is worth the hour here.
Md. Tax-Gen. §§ 7-203(b), 7-203(l), 7-204, 7-309 (and Form 504)·last read 2026-09-09
Distribution
Distribute assets to heirs
Maryland reformed this on 1 October 2023, so older guidance is out of date — the figure used to be $40,000. And read the opening words of Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 3-102 carefully: the share belongs to a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner, which many states do not recognise, so check the partnership registry before assuming there is no surviving partner. The share is the entire intestate estate. One half if there is a surviving minor child. And, where there is no minor child but there is surviving issue who are not the spouse’s or partner’s, the first $100,000 plus one half of the residue. Note the trigger is a minor child, not a child from another relationship — Maryland asks a different question from most states, and an adult child of the marriage does not reduce the share at all. The net estate is calculated without deducting the estate tax. 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. Two details from the section itself. The share belongs to a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner, which many states do not recognise, so check the partnership registry before assuming there is no surviving partner. And subsection (d): for this calculation the net estate is worked out without deducting the Maryland estate tax, so the figure you divide is larger than the one you may have in mind. Maryland has no bar on a surviving spouse, but it does have two on a surviving PARENT, which matter when a child dies leaving neither spouse nor descendants and the parents would otherwise take. Under § 3-112 a parent takes nothing from a minor child’s estate if they abandoned the child, or wilfully failed to contribute to its support for at least three consecutive years immediately before the death, or for the child’s whole life if that is shorter. The section defines abandonment as conduct showing a settled purpose wilfully and intentionally to relinquish all parental rights and duties and to renounce and forsake the child entirely. Section 3-111 adds a narrower bar where the parent was convicted of, or committed, certain crimes under the Criminal Law Article against the child’s other parent, and that other parent was their own child. Maryland’s definitions are in §§ 1-207 and 1-208, and they are written gender-neutrally and to cover registered domestic partnerships as well as marriages. Under § 1-207 an adopted child is treated as a natural child of the adopting parents and may not be considered a child of either natural parent — except on adoption by the spouse of a natural parent, where the child is still the child of THAT natural parent. Only that one. Subsection (b) then answers a question most states leave open: a child adopted more than once is the child of the most recent adopting parents and ceases to be a child of the previous ones. Section 1-208 covers a child born to people who were neither married nor in a registered domestic partnership. That child is always the mother’s. They are also the child of the individual who did not give birth in three cases. Where that person has been judicially determined to be the parent. Where both consented to conception by assisted reproduction with the shared express intent to be the parents. Or — simply — where “the child’s mother identifies the individual as the other biological parent of the child and the individual agrees”. Subsection (c) adds a rebuttable presumption of parenthood where the individual acknowledged it in writing, “openly and notoriously recognized the child” as theirs, or afterwards married or registered a domestic partnership with the mother and acknowledged the child orally or in writing.
Md. Code Est. & Trusts §§ 1-207, 1-208, 3-102, 3-111, 3-112·last read 2026-09-09
Close Estate
File a final accounting and close the estate
Maryland does not let an estate go quiet after the first account. Under Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 7-305 accounts are rendered: within nine months of your appointment. Then within six months of that account, and within six months of each account after it, until the final account is filed. On the termination of your appointment. And whenever else the court orders. So the obligation is a rolling six-month cycle, not one filing and then silence — an estate that takes three years to settle files roughly six accounts, not two. If you need longer for any of them, the court may extend the time to a specified date for good cause, but only on your written application — ask before the date passes rather than explaining afterwards.
Md. Code Est. & Trusts § 7-305·last read 2026-08-19
Work through this as a checklist
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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 Maryland probate attorney.