Probate and Estate Administration in Maryland
The Register of Wills, the Orphans’ Court, and what a personal representative actually has to do.
Probate is the process of transferring property from someone who has died to the people entitled to receive it. Maryland handles it differently from most states, and the vocabulary trips people up.
Maryland has no “probate court”
Two offices do this work here. The Register of Wills is the administrative office: it opens estates, appoints the personal representative, issues Letters of Administration, receives the required filings, and collects inheritance tax. The Orphans’ Court is the judicial body that decides contested questions, and the Register serves as its clerk.
Most estates are handled entirely through the Register of Wills and never see a judge.
Small estate or regular estate
Maryland sorts estates by value. A small estate is one where the property subject to administration is $50,000 or less, or $100,000 or less where the surviving spouse is the sole heir or legatee. Small estates use a simplified procedure with fewer filings.
Anything above those figures is a regular estate, with fuller documentation and formal accounting. Thresholds are set by statute and can change, so confirm the current figures rather than relying on an older article.
What the personal representative does
The personal representative, called an executor in some states, is responsible for gathering assets, identifying and paying valid debts and taxes, and distributing what remains. They are a fiduciary, which means the role carries personal responsibility for doing it properly.
The filing schedule for a regular estate runs roughly like this:
- List of Interested Persons within 20 days of appointment
- Inventory of estate assets within three months
- First Account within nine months, with further accounts until the estate closes
Missing these creates avoidable problems, and the personal representative is the one who answers for them.
What does not go through probate
Probate reaches assets in the deceased person’s name alone. It does not reach:
- Retirement accounts and life insurance with a living named beneficiary
- Property held jointly with right of survivorship
- Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts
- Assets titled in a trust
This is why beneficiary designations deserve as much attention as the will itself. See wills.
Maryland inheritance tax
Maryland imposes an inheritance tax on certain property passing at death, but a broad set of close relatives is exempt, including a spouse, children and other lineal descendants, parents, siblings, stepchildren and stepparents, and domestic partners in defined circumstances. Charitable organizations are also exempt. A collateral rate applies to beneficiaries outside those categories, which is worth knowing if you intend to leave property to a niece, a nephew or a friend.
Maryland also has a separate estate tax with its own threshold. Both are worth checking against current figures at the time of planning.
When probate becomes contested
Disputes over the validity of a will, the conduct of a personal representative, or the interpretation of a bequest go to the Orphans’ Court. There is no fixed deadline in Maryland for opening an estate, but delay makes these disputes harder to resolve, not easier.
Related
Official resources
Talk with a Towson attorney
The Law Office of Thomas K. Mallon, LLC offers a free consultation. Call (410) 847-9075 or request a consultation online. The office is at 1107 Kenilworth Drive, Suite 305, Towson, MD 21204.
This page provides general information about Maryland law. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Maryland law changes, and how it applies depends on the facts of your situation.