How Probate Works in North Dakota

Informal administration: (1) any time after five days from death, file with the district court the Application for Informal Probate/Appointment of Personal Representative (with the original will, if any) and obtain the Statement of Informal Probate and Letters; (2) send Notice and Information to Heirs and Devisees; (3) optionally publish a notice to creditors once a week for three weeks and mail it to known creditors; (4) within six months after appointment or nine months after death, whichever is later, prepare the inventory and appraisement and file it or send it to heirs or devisees; (5) pay allowed claims, expenses and taxes; (6) distribute property (real estate by personal representative's deed of distribution, recorded with certified letters); (7) close the estate by filing a verified closing statement, no earlier than three months after first publication and mailing of the creditor notice.

North Dakota uses the Uniform Probate Code's informal probate, which can be opened by application to the district court without a hearing; the court must provide forms, and an attorney is not required. If the inventory shows the estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the homestead, exempt property, family allowance, administration costs, reasonable funeral expenses and last-illness medical expenses, the personal representative may distribute the estate immediately without giving notice to creditors and close it by a sworn closing statement.

If the personal representative publishes notice once a week for three successive weeks and mails notice to known or reasonably ascertainable creditors, claims arising before death are barred unless presented within three months after the first publication and mailing. If notice is not published and mailed, claims are barred three years after death. Claims arising after death must generally be presented within three months after they arise (four months after performance is due for contracts with the personal representative).

Priority for appointment: the person named in the probated will, then a surviving spouse who is a devisee, other devisees, the surviving spouse, other heirs, the decedent's guardian or conservator, a trust company, and (45 days after death) any creditor. A person under 18 or found unsuitable by the court cannot serve. The statute does not bar nonresidents, and a personal representative appointed in the decedent's home state has priority. No bond is required in informal proceedings unless the will requires it, an interested person demands it, or a special administrator is appointed; in formal proceedings the court may require bond unless the will waives it.

Thirty days after death, a successor may collect the decedent's personal property (money owed, tangible personal property, stock and similar instruments) by presenting an affidavit stating that the entire estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000; that 30 days have passed since death; that no application or petition for a personal representative is pending or has been granted in any jurisdiction; and that the successor is entitled to the property. Transfer agents must re-register securities on the affidavit. The procedure covers personal property only; real estate cannot be transferred this way. The affidavit is presented to whoever holds the property and is not filed with the court.

Probate cases are filed in the district court. The North Dakota Court System's public case search (ND Court Records) covers civil, family and probate case records statewide or by county; you can search by case number, party name, attorney or date filed.