How Probate Works in Indiana

Main steps: petition the court to probate the will and/or appoint a personal representative; letters issued; as soon as letters are issued, publish notice of administration once a week for two consecutive weeks and mail it to heirs, beneficiaries and known creditors; prepare a verified inventory within two months after appointment (given to interested persons who ask, unless filed with the court); pay claims; distribute property; and close the estate.

Small estate summary closing: if the estate (minus liens) is no more than $100,000 plus administration costs and reasonable funeral expenses (for deaths after June 30, 2022), the personal representative of an unsupervised estate or another court-appointed fiduciary may distribute the estate without notice to creditors and close it with a closing statement. When real estate is involved, an affidavit with the legal description and each person's share may be recorded with the county recorder.

Claims must be filed with the court within three months after the first published notice to creditors (or, for a beneficiary named in a will whose probate is later revoked, within three months after the revocation, if later). A known or reasonably ascertainable creditor who was not served notice within one month after the first publication, and is served later, must file within two months after being served. All claims are barred if not filed within nine months after death. Claims of the United States, the state or its political subdivisions are not subject to these filing deadlines, but the state's Medicaid estate recovery unit must file its claim within nine months after death. Mortgages and other liens can still be enforced, and negligence claims against a deceased person's estate can be brought within the tort statute of limitations.

Priority: the executor named in the will, a spouse who is a beneficiary, other beneficiaries, the spouse or the spouse's nominee, an heir or an heir's nominee, then any qualified person. Persons under 18, incapacitated persons (other than from physical illness alone), persons the court finds unsuitable, and (unless the court allows it) convicted felons cannot serve. A nonresident may serve as sole personal representative only by filing written acceptance, appointing an Indiana resident agent to accept legal papers, and posting bond; a nonresident serving with a resident co-representative must also post bond. In unsupervised administration the court may adjust or waive bond.

If the gross probate estate, minus liens, encumbrances and reasonable funeral expenses, is $100,000 or less (for deaths after June 30, 2022), a distributee can collect money owed to the decedent, personal property, bank accounts, securities and safe deposit box contents by affidavit 45 days after death, if no personal representative has been appointed or applied for. Vehicle and watercraft titles can be transferred by the BMV with an affidavit signed by all distributees. The affiant must notify all distributees. The affidavit does not cover real estate.

The Indiana Judicial Branch's free public case search, MyCase (mycase.in.gov), covers courts that use the state's Odyssey case management system (most courts in the state) and shows all public cases that are not confidential, sealed or expunged.