Probate in Catonsville, MD

Legal help with probate for Catonsville, Maryland residents from The Law Office of Thomas K. Mallon in Towson.

The Law Office of Thomas K. Mallon, LLC provides probate assistance for people in Catonsville. The information below explains the issues to discuss with an attorney and connects you with the firm’s original Maryland service guide.

Working with our Towson office from Catonsville

Catonsville is in Baltimore County, Maryland. The Law Office of Thomas K. Mallon, LLC serves this area from 1107 Kenilworth Drive, Suite 305, Towson, MD 21204. This is the firm’s Towson office, not a separate office in this community.

Maryland law applies throughout the service area. Where a matter must be filed depends on the type of proceeding and the facts, not simply on the location of the attorney’s office. Discuss residence, existing orders, and any pending case at your consultation.

Read the Baltimore County service-area guide for the original local context.

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.

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.

Probate resources

Read the full Maryland probate guide. Bring relevant agreements, court papers, financial records, and a list of questions that relate to your situation. If you have received papers with a deadline, tell the office when you contact us.

Other services in Catonsville

Discuss your situation

or call (410) 847-9075. Advice about your particular matter requires a consultation. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.

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