Maryland timeline
Maryland probate timeline and creditor deadlines
The waiting-period requirement has not been verified, so no number is published below.
Maryland creditor deadlines are set out below against the event each one runs from.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch October 3, 2026.
The one date this page can source
No waiting-period number is published for the small-estate administration route. Sections 5-601 and 5-602 state no universal post-death wait; the route begins by petition, and absence of a stated wait is not encoded as a sourced zero. Read: Md. Code, Est. & Trusts §§ 5-601 to 5-607.
§5-601. (a) If the property of the decedent subject to administration in Maryland is established to have a value of $50,000 or less as of the date of the death of the decedent, the estate may be administered in accordance with the provisions of §§ 5-602 through 5-607 of this subtitle. (b) If, before the filing of an initial account in administration proceedings instituted under Subtitle 3 or Subtitle 4 of this title, the property of the decedent subject to administration in Maryland is established to have a value of $50,000 or less as of the date of the death of the decedent, the estate thereafter may be administered in accordance with the provisions of §§ 5-602 through 5-607 of this subtitle.Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 5-601 — Maryland General Assembly; verified October 3, 2026.
Creditor deadlines
- From publication of notice to creditors
- The register publishes once a week for three successive weeks after appointment, but the general claim bar is not measured from publication.
- From actual notice to a known creditor
- Two months after the personal representative mails or otherwise delivers written notice.
- From appointment of the representative
- Appointment triggers publication; objections to appointment/will use six months from appointment, distinct from creditor claims.
- Outer limit, running from death
- For general claims, six months after death, subject to express exceptions; the earlier of this and individual notice controls.
How these combine. The general bar uses the earlier of a death-based outer period and an individual-notice period, while publication is weekly for three weeks and special claims have separate rules; one days value would misstate the framework.
§7-103. (a) (1) After the appointment of a personal representative, the register shall have a notice of the appointment published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county of appointment once a week in 3 successive weeks, announcing the appointment and address of the personal representative, and notifying creditors of the estate to present their claims. (2) The personal representative shall file or have filed with the register a certification that a notice has been published. (b) The notice of appointment shall be substantially in the following form: "To all persons interested in the estate of.......................: This is to give notice that the undersigned, ......... whose address is ......... was, on ........., appointed personal representative of the estate of ......... who died on ...... (with) (without) a will.Md. Code, Est. & Trusts § 7-103 — Maryland General Assembly; verified October 3, 2026.
General sequence: first week, how long probate takes.
Maryland record: 7/7 verified, 25 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction