Estate Administration Overview

When a person dies, whoever has the will of the person who died (the “decedent”) is required to send the will to the register of wills in the county where the person who died lived when they died. A will has no power until it has been admitted to probate. In Maryland there are two kinds of probate – administrative and judicial. Administrative Probate is for uncontested wills and is handled by the county register of wills. Judicial Probate is for contested wills and is handled by the county Orphan’s Courts. Read the Law: MD Code Estates & Trusts §§ 4-202, 5-102

A petition for probate must be filed with either the register of wills or the orphan’s court. A personal representative for the estate will be appointed. The priority for appointing a personal representative is generally 1) anyone named to be the personal representative in the will; 2) surviving spouses and children; 3) other people named in the will; and 4) other relatives of the person who died. When the register of wills or orphan’s court appoints a personal administration it grants the representative letters of administration. Letters of administration empower the representative to distribute the assets in the estate. Read the Law: MD Code Estates & Trusts § 5-104

Estates are either small or regular estates. Small estates are for estates that are worth $30,000 or less. Regular estates are for estates values more than $30,000. Read the Law: MD Code Estates & Trusts § 5-601

The personal representative pays the debts of the estate, distributes assets of the estate, reports to the court what he or she did, and closes the estate. The court rules for estates administration is in Title 6 of the Maryland court rules. Read the Law: MD Code Estates & Trusts § 10-101