How Long Does Probate Take in 2026? Creditor Claim Windows in 25 States and DC, From the Statutes

Why "how long does probate take" has no single answer

Three separate clocks run after a death, and most guides blend them. The first is the creditor clock: how long people the decedent owed have to present a claim. The second is the court clock: how long the court and the representative take to inventory, pay and close, which statutes mostly leave open. The third is the federal tax clock, which applies to a few estates but stops the rest from closing when it does.

For a house, a brokerage account and some shares of a non-traded fund, the creditor clock is the only one that a statute actually fixes in most states. Our page on probate and real estate covers who can sell a house without a judge; this page covers how long the exposure to creditors lasts. For the fees that run alongside, see executor and trustee fees by state.

The state table: what each statute says

We read the creditor-claim sections of 25 states and the District of Columbia on November 12, 2026 and saved each text. Not covered: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Their official code could not be read on November 12, 2026. Where a state uses the Uniform Probate Code wording, the window is four months after first publication (Arizona 14-3801 reads “four months after the date of the first publication of the notice”; Maine 18-C 3-801 and Montana 72-3-801 say "4 months" in the same words), but the table shows how many states depart from that default.

Source: the statute text cited in each cell, read and saved on November 12, 2026. Four states are read from a public.law copy of the code (Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Texas) because the official site would not render the section for us; those cells should be checked against the official code. In the outer-limit column, "Not read" means we did not read a section that states one, not that the state has none.

Patterns worth knowing

• The default is four months, but the starting gun differs. California counts from letters, Florida and most UPC states from first publication, Iowa from the second publication, Delaware and Maryland from death. A creditor who is mailed a notice often gets a different, later date (for example, 60 days after mailing in Arizona and California, 30 days in Montana and Washington).
• A few states run longer than the default. South Carolina allows 8 months after first publication (62-3-801(a)); Missouri allows 6 months (473.360). Delaware's 8 months run from death itself (12 Delaware Code 2102(a)).
• Some notices are optional. Virginia's notice sets the later of 6 months from first publication or 90 days after mailing, and says the representative's liability for an unpresented claim is then limited to assets left in hand (64.2-508.1). Connecticut's optional notice must set a date at least 90 days out (45a-357(a)).
• New York has no bar in the section we read. After 7 months from letters, a fiduciary who paid in good faith is not chargeable for a later claim (SCPA 1802), which is protection for the fiduciary, not a cut-off for the creditor.
• A distribution is not always final. Virginia says a distributee may be sued to refund a share of allowed claims within 5 years after the distribution (64.2-508.1).
• California is the one state where we read both ends. Probate Code 9100(a)(1) sets “Four months after the date letters are first issued to a general personal representative.” and section 12200 asks for a petition for final distribution or a status report within 1 year after letters, or 18 months if a federal estate tax return is required.

Our reading matches our earlier probate and real estate table where the two overlap (California, Florida, Texas, Washington, Arizona, Virginia and the District of Columbia).

What official court data says about how long cases take

Few state courts publish how long a probate case takes; most publish filings and dispositions. What we could read:

• California. The Judicial Council's 2026 Court Statistics Report lists 41,985 estate, trust and other probate filings and 33,656 dispositions in fiscal year 2024-25 (Tables 12a and 12d), a clearance rate of 80.2% (33,656 divided by 41,985, our arithmetic). Its time-to-disposition tables cover civil and criminal cases, not probate, so the report gives no duration for an estate. Conservatorship and guardianship, a different proceeding, had 24,923 filings. Our California probate fees page covers cost.
• Michigan. The Supreme Court's caseflow guideline, as summarized in the state court administrator's training manual, is a goal that all contested estate, trust, guardianship and conservatorship matters be adjudicated within 364 days (1 year) of the objection, with 75% in 182 days and 90% in 273 days. It is a goal, not a statute, and it covers contested matters only.
• Florida. The Florida Bar published a proposal to the Florida Supreme Court (case SC2026-0996) to amend Rule 2.250, the time standards for trial courts, and to add administrative probate. The text includes the probate standards: “No federal estate tax return -- 12 months (from issuance of letters of administration to final discharge)” and “Contested -- 24 months (from filing to final discharge)”. The notice shows current and proposed wording together, and the PDF text strips the markup, so we could not tell which figures are new. Comments were due October 1, 2026; we did not confirm the outcome. Our Florida probate cost page covers the fee schedule.
• Texas, Wisconsin and the National Center for State Courts. These publish probate statistics, but their files did not download for us (the Texas Office of Court Administration report returned an access error), so we report no figure.

The federal clocks that can keep an estate open

For the 2026 filing threshold the instructions state: “In 2026, the basic exclusion amount, as adjusted for inflation under section 2010(c)(3), is $15,000,000.” Below that, an estate files Form 706 only to elect portability for a surviving spouse. Our page on executor liability, Form 5495 and prompt assessment covers the discharge and assessment requests; it is not repeated here.

Worked example: one estate in California, Florida and Texas

An heir inherits from a parent who died owning a $420,000 house, a $60,000 brokerage account, $25,000 of a non-traded REIT and a $9,000 checking account, all in the parent's sole name with no transfer-on-death registration, plus a $180,000 IRA with a named beneficiary. Which assets go through court depends on titling and each state's small-estate limits (our transfer on death deed page covers the main alternative). On those facts (our arithmetic): the probate estate is $420,000 + $60,000 + $25,000 + $9,000 = $514,000; the IRA passes by designation outside probate; the gross estate is $694,000, under the $15,000,000 federal threshold.

We assume letters issue 45 days after death and the notice goes out that week, which is our assumption, not a statutory figure.

What the statutes do not give is a minimum waiting time before selling the house or paying an heir. The claim window is the usual benchmark for when exposure to known and unknown creditors ends, and the sections above show what can follow a distribution made earlier (Virginia's 5-year refund suit, New York's 7-month rule). Shares in a non-traded fund add their own steps; see what happens to non-traded REIT and BDC shares when an owner dies. Property in other states adds a second estate; see ancillary probate. What the heir owes in tax is on our inheritance tax page.

What a reader can do with this

• Find the date the clock started, not the date of death. In California it is the date letters issue; in Florida, the first publication; in Delaware and Maryland, the death itself. The table shows which.
• Ask the court or the attorney which notice dates apply. A mailed notice can give a creditor a later date than publication, so the end of the window can differ by creditor.
• Check the outer limit for your state before treating an estate as closed. One year after death in California, two in Florida, three in South Dakota.
• Put the federal dates on the calendar only if they apply. Nine months and fifteen months matter above $15,000,000 or when a spouse's portability election is wanted; five years is the late-election window.
• If the estate holds investments you do not know how to value or sell, talk to a professional before the window closes. Illiquid shares do not follow the creditor clock; they follow the issuer's rules.

This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice. Procedures vary by county.

More for a family handling someone else's money: what a living trust costs against statutory probate fees; how executors get letters testamentary, with court fees; small estate affidavit limits by state; TOD and POD accounts, including non-traded REIT and BDC shares; financial power of attorney rules in 13 states; guardianship vs conservatorship under state law.

Frequently asked questions

Sources, read and saved November 12, 2026: the state statutes cited in the table (legislature code sites for Arizona, California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming; public.law copies for Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Texas); the Judicial Council of California 2026 Court Statistics Report; the Michigan State Court Administrative Office caseload manual; the Florida Bar publication of Florida Supreme Court case SC2026-0996; 26 U.S.C. 6075 and 6501; the Instructions for Form 706 (07/2026); and IRS Revenue Procedure 2022-32.