Do I have to go through probate in Wyoming?

In Wyoming, estates worth $400,000 or less may qualify for a simplified small-estate procedure. Estates above that generally require probate through the District Court.

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

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

How long does probate take in Wyoming?

A typical Wyoming estate takes 6–12 months. Complications — a contested will, an unsold house, a late-surfacing creditor — extend it.

Does Wyoming have an estate or inheritance tax?

Wyoming 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 › Wyoming

Settling an estate in Wyoming

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

Probate court: District Court
Small-estate shortcut: Estates of $400,000 or less may qualify for a simplified small-estate procedure.
Creditor claim period: 3 months
Typical timeline: 6–12 months
State death tax: None — no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax

Immediate

Obtain certified death certificates

Wyoming puts the entire eligibility question in regulation, so the code will not answer it for you. Under Wyo. Stat. § 35-1-426(a) it is unlawful for any person to permit inspection of, or to disclose information contained in, vital records, or to copy or issue a copy of all or part of any such record, except as authorized by regulations. There is no list of relatives in the section and no personal or property right test written into it. The Department of Health’s rules carry all of that, which makes the vital records office rather than the statute the place to confirm what evidence it wants before you travel. Two things the section does settle: the department may authorize disclosure of vital record data for research purposes, and it supplies death information to the secretary of state so that deceased voters are removed from the registration list. 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.

Wyo. Stat. § 35-1-426·last read 2026-08-25

Locate the will (or confirm there is none)

Wyoming sets one of the shortest deadlines we have checked: ten days. Under Wyo. Stat. § 2-6-119(a) every custodian of a will, within ten days after receipt of information that the maker is dead, shall deliver it to the clerk of the district court having jurisdiction of the estate, or to the executor named in the will. A failure to comply makes the person failing responsible for all damages sustained by anyone injured by it — not just by the beneficiaries, and with no wilfulness requirement written into that sentence. If you are holding a will in Wyoming, act first and work out the rest afterwards, because the clock started when you were told of the death. Subsection (b) is the route for everyone else. If it is brought to the attention of the court that a will is in the possession of a third person, and the court or the commissioner is satisfied the information is correct, an order shall be issued and served on that person. Neglect or refusal to produce it in obedience to that order may be punished as contempt. Put your notice of the death in writing and keep a dated copy — it starts the ten days.

Wyo. Stat. § 2-6-119·last read 2026-08-25

Short-term

Claim the family allowances you are entitled to

Wyoming gives the homestead itself plus a court-set support provision, and fixes no allowance figure. Under Wyo. Stat. § 2-7-501, where a person dies leaving a spouse or minor children, the spouse or minor children are entitled to the homestead, and the widow or minor children are also entitled to a reasonable provision for their support, to be allowed by the court. The section states no amounts: what is reasonable is for the court to decide. Section 2-7-508 fixes the homestead exemption at $30,000, a figure that applies across the Probate Code. Because the support provision has no cap and no formula, the practical work is evidencing what the household actually needs, so put the real monthly outgoings in front of the court rather than asking for a round number. We have not verified how the homestead and the support provision interact with the surviving spouse’s share of the estate, so ask the court about that rather than assuming either is additional.

Wyo. Stat. §§ 2-7-501, 2-7-508·last read 2026-08-21

Notify beneficiaries and keep them informed

Wyoming runs this through the newspaper, and the published notice starts a three-month clock on the will. Under Wyo. Stat. § 2-7-201 the personal representative must cause notice of the admission of the will or estate to probate and of the appointment to be published once a week for three consecutive weeks in the county where the probate is pending. The section sets out the form. It must give the date of admission to probate and your name. It must warn that any action to set aside the will has to be filed in the court within three months from the date of first publication or be forever barred. It asks debtors to pay, and tells creditors to file within the same three months or be barred. We have read § 2-7-201 itself and not the rest of the article, so ask the court whether anything must also be mailed to a named beneficiary. 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.

Wyo. Stat. § 2-7-201·last read 2026-08-25

Determine if probate is required

Wyoming has the highest small-estate dollar limit of any state we cover — $400,000, up from $200,000 on 1 July 2025 — and, unusually, two routes at that figure. The next highest is Oregon at $275,000. Say dollar limit rather than most generous: New Hampshire sets no figure at all, keying its Waiver of Full Administration to who inherits instead, so there is no number there to be beaten. The Affidavit for collection of personal property (W.S. 2-1-201) does what its name says. But the decree of summary distribution (W.S. 2-1-205) covers personal and real property, expressly including mineral interests — which matters enormously in Wyoming, where royalty interests are often the main thing a family inherits. So unlike almost everywhere else, a house or a set of mineral rights does not by itself push a Wyoming family into full probate: the second route is built for exactly that case. Both are measured net of liens. Ask the district court about the summary distribution decree specifically, by name.

Wyo. Stat. §§ 2-1-201, 2-1-205·last read 2026-09-09

Legal Process

File a petition with the probate court

Wyoming asks for different petitions depending on whether there is a will, and the person named as executor is on a thirty-day clock. Where there is a will, Wyo. Stat. § 2-6-201(a) says the petition for probate must show five things. The jurisdictional facts. Whether the person named as executor consents to act or renounces the right to letters testamentary. The names, ages and residences of the heirs and devisees so far as the petitioner knows them. The probable value and character of the estate property. And the name of the person for whom letters testamentary are asked. Section 2-6-203 then lets the court or the clerk hear the petition straight away, with or without notice, and admit the will to probate on proof of due execution. Where there is no will, § 2-4-205 requires a written petition signed by the applicant or their counsel, stating the facts that give the court jurisdiction and, so far as known, the heirs’ names, ages and residences and the value, character and location of the property. Two Wyoming traps. Under § 2-6-202, an executor who waits thirty days after learning of the death and of the appointment without petitioning may be held to have renounced, and the court may appoint somebody else. And under § 2-4-203, a non-resident cannot serve unless a Wyoming resident is appointed as coadministrator.

Wyo. Stat. §§ 2-6-201, 2-6-202, 2-6-203, 2-4-205·last read 2026-08-25

Inventory all assets and debts

Wyoming gives you a hundred and twenty days, and then a second hundred and twenty for the appraisal. Under Wyo. Stat. § 2-7-403(a), every personal representative must make and return to the court within 120 days after appointment a true inventory, upon oath, of all the estate of the deceased — including the homestead — that has come into their possession or knowledge. Miss that date and you must show the court good cause for the delay, and the court decides whether to extend. The statute is unusually blunt about the consequence: for failure to comply in good faith with the time limits, the personal representative is adjudged in contempt of court, with a fine and whatever other enforcement the court thinks fit, and any fine assessed is paid into the corpus of the estate. Subsection (b) shortens the deadline to 75 days after the will is admitted in cases governed by § 2-5-101. Then comes the second stage. Under § 2-7-404, within 120 days after the inventory is timely filed, the personal representative must file a sworn report of appraisal of the values of the listed assets. Anything with a readily determinable market value is stated in writing by one disinterested person, at its date-of-death value. For anything without one, the representative employs disinterested people to determine fair market value at the date of death, with a separate written report for each asset showing how the appraiser got there. Different people may value different assets.

Wyo. Stat. §§ 2-7-403, 2-7-404·last read 2026-08-25

Publish notice to creditors

Wyoming folds the creditor notice into the same published notice that announces the probate. Under Wyo. Stat. § 2-7-201 the personal representative causes notice to be published once a week for three consecutive weeks in the county where the probate is pending, and the statute sets out the form of it. That notice tells creditors to file their claims within three months from the date of the first publication, or thereafter be forever barred, and it carries the parallel warning that an action to set aside the will must be filed within the same three months. One publication therefore starts both clocks. We read § 2-7-201 itself rather than the rest of the article, so ask the court whether anything must also be mailed to a creditor you already know about. 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.

Wyo. Stat. § 2-7-201·last read 2026-08-25

Administration

Identify and close digital accounts

Wyoming wants the court order that appointed you, and nothing else will do. Under Wyo. Stat. § 2-3-1007(a) the content of electronic communications is disclosed where the deceased person consented or a court directs it, and the personal representative must give the custodian a request in written or electronic form, a certified copy of the death certificate, and a certified copy of the court order appointing the personal representative. No small-estate affidavit is named, so a Wyoming family that never went through an appointment is looking at the provider’s online tool or a direction from the court. Unless the person used the online tool you must also produce the will, trust or power of attorney evidencing consent. The custodian may then ask for an account identifier, evidence linking the account, or a court finding — including that disclosure is reasonably necessary for administration of the estate. 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.

Wyo. Stat. § 2-3-1007·last read 2026-08-25

Financial Settlement

Pay valid debts and expenses

Wyoming classifies debts into ten ranks and puts the family allowances fourth. Under Wyo. Stat. § 2-7-701(a), where the assets are or appear to be insufficient to pay all debts and charges in full, the personal representative classifies them as follows. First, court costs. Then other costs of administration. Then reasonable funeral and burial expenses. Then the allowances payable under §§ 2-7-503 and 2-7-504. Then all debts and taxes having preference under the laws of the United States. Then the reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness, including compensation of persons attending. Then all taxes having preference under Wyoming law. Then all debts owing to employees for labor performed during the ninety days before the death. Then all claims allowed under § 2-7-707. And then all other claims allowed. Section 2-7-702 sets the mechanics. Payment is made in that order without preference of any claim over another of the same class, and where the assets will not cover a whole class in full, the claims in it are paid pro rata, with no preference between claims then due and those of the same class 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.

Wyo. Stat. §§ 2-7-701, 2-7-702·last read 2026-08-27

File required tax returns

Wyoming has no estate tax in practice, no inheritance tax and no state income tax, which puts it among the simplest states in the country for this step. The estate tax article is still printed: Wyo. Stat. § 39-19-103(a) imposes a tax on the transfer of property constituting the Wyoming gross estate of every deceased person. But subsection (b) gives the basis of the tax as the maximum state death tax credit allowed to a Wyoming estate against federal estate taxes, apportioned to the Wyoming share. The article is intended, it says, to take full advantage for Wyoming of that credit without increasing the aggregate of federal and state death taxes on any estate. Congress replaced the credit with a deduction, so the maximum credit is zero and the Wyoming tax is zero. With no individual income tax either, there is no Wyoming fiduciary return on estate income. 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.

Wyo. Stat. § 39-19-103·last read 2026-08-25

Distribution

Distribute assets to heirs

Wyoming splits the estate down the middle whenever there are children, and it does not care whose children they are. Under Wyo. Stat. § 2-4-101(a)(i), if the deceased leaves a spouse and children or the descendants of any children, one half of the estate descends to the surviving spouse and the residue to the children and the descendants of dead children. Under (a)(ii), if the deceased leaves a spouse and no child or descendant of a child, the whole of the real and personal estate vests in the surviving spouse — a surviving parent takes nothing. Where there is no spouse, § 2-4-101(c) sends the estate to the children and the descendants of dead children, then to the father, mother, brothers and sisters and the descendants of dead brothers and sisters in equal parts, then to grandparents, uncles, aunts and their descendants. Two Wyoming rules to note. Dower and curtesy are abolished, so neither spouse has any share beyond what this section gives. And under § 2-4-104 half-blood relatives inherit the same share as whole-blood relatives, while stepchildren and foster children and their descendants do not inherit at all. One disqualification to check before distributing. Wyo. Stat. § 2-14-101 says that no person who feloniously takes, or causes or procures another to take, the life of another may inherit from or take by devise or legacy any part of that person’s estate. Nor may they take property held with the deceased in joint tenancy with survivorship, tenancy by the entirety or any other co-ownership with survivorship, nor property the deceased conveyed in the circumstances the section describes. It reaches survivorship and insurance benefits, not just the probate estate. Beyond that, Wyoming has no bar on a deserting spouse and none on an absent parent — Title 2 contains nothing of the kind, unlike Montana, Colorado and South Dakota around it. Nebraska bars a parent too, but only where the parent’s rights were formally terminated. So a separated spouse who never divorced is still the surviving spouse, and an absent parent still inherits from a child. 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.

Wyo. Stat. §§ 2-4-101, 2-4-104, 2-14-101·last read 2026-08-26

Close Estate

File a final accounting and close the estate

Wyoming closes an estate in three filed steps, and the taxes must be cleared before any of it takes effect. Under Wyo. Stat. § 2-7-811, when the estate is ready to be closed the personal representative files with the clerk, under oath, a final report and accounting and petition for distribution. Subsection (b) lists what it must set out. A description of the real estate the deceased died seized of that has not been sold. Whether they died testate or intestate. The surviving spouse’s name and residence, or that none survived. The names and residences of the heirs or devisees and how they were related. Whether any legacy or devise remains a charge on the real estate. Whether any distributee is under a legal disability. Any conservator or trustee for a distributee, and the court that issued their letters. An accounting of all money and personal property that came into the representative’s hands, unless every interested party waives it. A statement whether the tax requirements of § 2-7-812(a) have been met. And the proposed distribution. It is set down for hearing, served under §§ 2-7-204 and 2-7-205, and any interested party may object in writing before the date in the notice. At the hearing the burden of proof on any issue of fact or law is on the personal representative — not on whoever objects. Section 2-7-812 then bars a final decree until the court is satisfied, by receipts, cancelled cheques, certificates and closing letters, that all federal, state, county and municipal taxes have been paid. On top of that, either the inheritance and estate taxes and interest must be paid, or the court must find that none is chargeable. Section 2-7-813 is the final decree of distribution, naming who takes what, after which the representative distributes forthwith. Only then, under § 2-7-814, may the representative petition for discharge, which is granted on proof that everything due has been paid and delivered and every act lawfully required has been performed.

Wyo. Stat. §§ 2-7-811, 2-7-812, 2-7-813, 2-7-814·last read 2026-08-25

Work through this as a checklist

The free Wyoming 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 Wyoming 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 Wyoming probate attorney.