How Probate Works in Nebraska

Typical steps: file an application for informal probate/appointment or a petition for formal probate in county court; the personal representative qualifies (with bond unless waived) and receives letters; the clerk publishes notice to creditors once a week for 3 weeks (first publication within 30 days of appointment) and notice is mailed as required, including to the Department of Health and Human Services if the deceased was 55 or older or lived in a medical institution; file an inventory with the court within 3 months of appointment; handle inheritance tax within 12 months of death; pay claims; distribute; and close the estate.

If the inventory shows the whole estate, less liens, is no more than the homestead allowance, exempt property, family allowance, administration costs, reasonable funeral expenses, and last-illness medical expenses, the personal representative may distribute it without notice to creditors and close by sworn statement. Nebraska also allows informal probate and appointment without a hearing.

Claims that arose before death must be presented within 2 months after the first published notice to creditors (a late creditor may ask the court within 60 days after that deadline for up to 30 more days for good cause). If proper notice is never given, the limit is 3 years after death. Claims arising after death generally must be presented within 4 months after they arise.

A personal representative must be at least 19 and not found unsuitable by the court. Priority: the person named in the will, the surviving spouse who is a devisee, other devisees, the surviving spouse, other heirs, and after 45 days any creditor. No residency requirement appears in the qualification rule. Bond is required unless the will waives it, all heirs or devisees waive it in writing, the representative is a bank or trust company, or the estate qualifies for summary procedures; the court can still order bond if an interested person shows a risk.

Personal property: 30 days after death, a successor may collect money, bank accounts, stock, vehicles and other personal property by affidavit if the value of all personal property in the estate, less liens, is $100,000 or less, no personal representative has been applied for or appointed, and a certified death certificate is attached. The affidavit is signed before a notary and given to whoever holds the property (it is not filed with the court). Real estate: 30 days after death, successors may record an affidavit with the register of deeds if the deceased's Nebraska real estate is worth $100,000 or less (based on the assessed value for the year of death, less taxes owed), with a death certificate and any will attached.

Probate cases (along with guardianships, conservatorships and adoptions) are filed in the county court. Statewide trial-court records, from the county and district courts in all 93 counties, can be searched online through JUSTICE, the Judicial Branch's case search: a one-time search costs $17 and returns up to 30 records, viewing a case found in a general search costs $2, and subscriber accounts cost $100 a year. Case information is free at any courthouse kiosk or law library, including the Nebraska State Library.