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Connecticut Executor Duties
Pillar GuideConnecticut18 min read

Connecticut Executor Duties

Connecticut executor duties in order: apply within 30 days, post a bond, file the two-month inventory, run the 150-day creditor window, then account and close.

By Settled Editorial

A Connecticut executor works a fixed sequence: apply to the Probate Court within 30 days, post a bond, take control of the property, file the inventory within two months, run the 150-day creditor window that starts at your appointment, pay claims with funeral expenses first, settle the tax, then account to the court and close.

Start with the words Connecticut actually uses, because they change what you search for. The person who settles an estate here is a fiduciary, and Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-315 defines that term to include the executor or administrator of a decedent's estate. You are an executor when a will names you and the court admits the will. You are an administrator when the court appoints you and there is no will. Connecticut never adopted the Uniform Probate Code, so personal-representative vocabulary and UPC section numbers belong to other states.

Connecticut also has no county probate court. The state abolished county government in 1960, and § 45a-2 divides the state into 54 probate districts serving the 169 towns. Jurisdiction follows the town where the decedent lived, so your first job is finding which district that town sits in. The directory of your Probate Court and chief clerk maps every town to its district, its elected judge of probate and the clerk you will call.

Apply Within 30 Days of the Death

Anyone who knows a will names them as executor has 30 days after the testator's death to apply for probate of that will, in the court for the district where the testator was domiciled at death (§ 45a-283). Skipping it carries a fine of up to $250. Whoever holds the original will carries a separate duty under § 45a-282: hand it over forthwith after learning of the death, either to a designated executor or to the judge or clerk of the court with jurisdiction. The 30 days in that section is the point where a criminal penalty attaches, up to a $1,000 fine or a year in prison. Two different clocks, two different people, and competitor pages routinely merge them.

Where there is no will, § 45a-303 sends the application to the same district court, which holds a hearing after notice to everyone interested and then grants letters of administration in a set order: the surviving spouse, a child, a grandchild, the parents, a brother or sister, the next of kin entitled to share, and on their refusal or incapacity, any other person the court finds proper. The court takes a probate bond from whoever it appoints.

Both paths open with the same document, form PC-200, Petition/Administration or Probate of Will. Connecticut runs no informal track. § 45a-286 requires the court to hold a hearing before proving or disapproving any will, with notice to all known interested parties, unless every one of them files a written waiver or the court dispenses with notice for cause. A checklist that offers you an informal-versus-formal choice was written for a Uniform Probate Code state and does not describe Connecticut.

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Post the Bond, Because Connecticut Assumes One

A bond waiver in the will does not end the question here, because Connecticut starts from the opposite assumption. § 45a-289(a) reads: a probate bond shall be required of an executor, unless such bond is excused as provided by law.

Two things follow from that. § 45a-139 defines a probate bond as security for your faithful performance and your accounting for every dollar that reaches your hands, and subsection (b) sets the timing rule that controls your whole calendar: where a bond is required, your appointment is not effective until the court accepts the bond. Subsection (c) gives the judge a small-estate waiver, available where the assets of the estate come to less than $20,000, or where the part of the estate not restricted by a Probate Court order comes to less than $10,000.

Where the will excuses the bond or names an amount, § 45a-289(b) tells the court to follow the will if nobody objects. Once an objection is filed, or the court finds cause to protect creditors or to assure payment of taxes, the bond becomes the greatest of twice the estimated debts, the estimated tax on untaxed property plus the succession tax, or the amount the will named. The Connecticut probate bond guide covers the exits, and a will waiver is not the end of the question on its own.

One citation to sidestep. Section 45a-169 carries the catchline When probate bond not required, which reads like the general answer and is not. It sits in Part V of chapter 801b, headed Sale or Mortgage of Estate Property, and its own text scopes it to "a probate bond as set forth in sections 45a-162 to 45a-169, inclusive." Those sections govern a fiduciary selling or mortgaging estate property.

File the Inventory Within Two Months

You file the inventory within two months after the court accepts your bond or you otherwise qualify, and the court may extend that for cause to no more than four months from qualification (§ 45a-341(b)). It covers all of the decedent's property except real property sitting outside Connecticut, it carries your appraisal at fair market value, and you sign it under penalty of false statement.

You do the valuing. § 45a-346 states flatly that there shall be no court-appointed appraisers of any decedent's property, so budget for your own appraiser on real estate, a closely held business or anything unusual, and keep the report. Under rule 30.12 of the Probate Court Rules of Procedure you also send a copy of the inventory to each party and attorney of record at the time you file it, then certify to the court that you sent it.

Missing the deadline puts your appointment at risk. § 45a-342 lets the court cite you in to show cause, and unless you show sufficient cause and file the inventory forthwith, the court shall remove you and appoint a successor to finish the estate.

The Creditor Clock Starts at Your Appointment

Connecticut anchors its main creditor window to the appointment of the first fiduciary, so a late appointment moves the whole window rather than shortening it.

  • Day 0 to day 14. The court causes newspaper notice to be published at least once, telling anyone with a claim to present it to you. That publication happens within 14 days after the appointment of the first fiduciary (§ 45a-354).
  • Day 150. A claim not presented on or before the 150th day from the appointment of the first fiduciary loses its grip on you. § 45a-356(a) says no fiduciary is chargeable for assets paid or distributed in good faith before that claim arrived, and good faith is presumed unless the creditor proves you already knew about the claim.
  • Your optional 90-day notice. § 45a-357 lets you write to anyone you believe may have a claim, setting a bar date at least 90 days out. A creditor who misses that date is barred forever, subject to a narrow extension application.
  • Day 210. Within 60 days after the 150-day period expires, file your return and list of claims, signed under penalty of false statement, showing everyone you notified and every claim presented with your action on it (§ 45a-361).
  • Two years from the death. § 45a-375(c) is the outer wall, and it runs from the death rather than from your appointment.

Answering a claim is its own duty. § 45a-360 gives you three moves on any presented claim: allow it, reject it in writing with reasons, or pay it. Sit on a claim for 90 days and the claimant may prod you; ignore that for another 30 days and the claim counts as rejected by operation of law. A creditor whose claim is rejected then has 120 days from the rejection to sue or to apply to the Probate Court (§ 45a-363(b)). The Connecticut rules for handling estate debts cover how each claim is worked before a distribution goes out.

Pay in the Statutory Order, With Funeral Expenses First

When the money will not cover everything, Connecticut ranks the bills for you (§ 45a-365):

ClassClaim
1Funeral expenses
2Expenses of settling the estate
3Claims for the last sickness of the decedent
4Lawful taxes and claims due Connecticut and the United States
5Wages owed a laborer or mechanic for labor in the three months before the death
6Other preferred claims
7All other allowed claims, in proportion to their amounts

Read class 1 twice. Connecticut puts the funeral ahead of administration expenses, which reverses the order most cross-state templates print, and that single flip changes who gets paid in a tight estate. The order of paying debts works through the seven classes. Where an estate cannot cover its allowed claims, Connecticut provides an insolvent-estate procedure under §§ 45a-376 to 45a-383, which puts the ranking in front of the Probate Court rather than leaving it to whoever asks loudest.

Real Property, the Tax Return and the Court's Fee

Three items sit between a settled estate and a clean closing.

The house. During settlement you hold possession, care and control of the decedent's real property, and its rents and income vest in you as personal property, unless the will devised the property to a named person or directs otherwise (§ 45a-321). The same section lets the decedent's family stay in the dwelling until the property is sold, distributed or otherwise disposed of according to law. There is no month limit on that occupancy.

The certificate that moves title. You have one month after the real property is distributed, devised, set out or divided, or, where it descends to the heirs or the spouse, one month after the court accepts your final administration account, to get a certificate from the judge or clerk and record it in the land records of every town where the property sits. The certificate names each recipient with a mailing address and describes exactly what each one takes (§ 45a-450). Skip it and you face a fine of up to $25, and the next buyer's title searcher finds a gap.

The tax return. Connecticut estate tax is due and payable six months from the date of death, and the return is due on the same date (§ 12-392). For a decedent who died on or after January 1, 2023, subsection (b)(3)(J) puts every estate in one of two lanes. An estate whose Connecticut taxable estate is over the federal exclusion amount files Form CT-706/709 with the Department of Revenue Services and a copy with the Probate Court. An estate at or below that figure files Form CT-706 NT with the Probate Court alone, and the judge reviews it and issues a written opinion when no tax is owed. Both lanes end at the court, which is why the fee arrives late. Work the numbers with the Connecticut estate tax return guide.

Then the fee. Connecticut charges no flat fee to open a decedent's estate. The court invoices a sliding scale under § 45a-107 after the estate tax return sets the values, which is why the bill arrives near the end. Three rules shape the number: the part of the basis made up of property passing to the surviving spouse is reduced by 50 per cent, a full estate opened on a basis under $10,000 still pays a $150 minimum, and the scale tops out at $40,000. Anyone quoting you a single opening fee for a Connecticut estate is quoting § 45a-106a, which by its own terms covers matters other than a decedent's estate.

What Connecticut Pays a Fiduciary

There is no percentage schedule anywhere in Title 45a. Rule 39 of the Probate Court Rules of Procedure has the court decide whether your fee is reasonable when it reviews the financial report or account covering the period you paid yourself, whether or not any interested party objects. To put a number on your own estate before you decide, run the Connecticut executor compensation calculator. You may also move for approval of a fee arrangement before you do the work, and the court may ask you for a task statement addressing nine factors: the size of the estate, the responsibilities involved, the character of the work, special problems and difficulties, results achieved, the knowledge and judgment required, the manner and promptness of your handling, the time and labor required, and other relevant circumstances.

Contemporaneous time records kept from week one are generally the evidence that task statement rests on. One trap worth naming: percentage tiers of 5, 4 and 3 per cent do appear in § 17b-95(b)(3). Read what they do. They cap the fiduciary fee that outranks the state's Medicaid claim against an estate, and they apply only where the state has such a claim. Connecticut publishes no fee schedule for anybody else.

Report Every Year, Then Close

Connecticut checks on open estates. Under rule 30.21, an executor or administrator who has not yet submitted an interim or final financial report or account must file a status update no later than three months after the first anniversary of the appointment, and on each anniversary after that, giving the approximate distributions already made, the approximate estate still on hand, and why administration is not finished.

Closing runs in this order:

  1. Finish the claims, the taxes and the distributions, taking a signed receipt for every payment you make (§ 45a-431).
  2. Submit a final financial report or account when settlement is complete, or when you resign or the court removes you (rule 30.19).
  3. Use a financial report rather than a full account where the rules allow it. § 45a-176 lets the court decree a release of you and your sureties from further liability on every item the approved report shows.
  4. Include the closing statement the rules require: an itemized list of proposed distributions, the reserve you are holding, and a statement that the funeral expenses, administration expenses, taxes and claims have all been paid.
  5. Attend the hearing. The court holds one before approving the final account of an executor or administrator, unless every interested party signs and files a written waiver of that notice (§ 45a-179).
  6. File the affidavit of closing within 30 days of finishing distribution, when the court directs one.

Prepare each schedule against the Connecticut rules for how you account to the beneficiaries, which set out what a report has to carry and when the court will demand a full account instead.

Run this list before you ask the court to close:

  1. Was the will application filed within 30 days, in the right probate district?
  2. Is the bond posted, or the excusal on the record?
  3. Was the inventory filed inside two months, or inside an extension the court granted?
  4. Did the return and list of claims go in within 60 days of day 150?
  5. Are the allowed claims paid in the § 45a-365 order, with receipts?
  6. Is the Connecticut estate tax return filed in the correct lane, and the probate fee paid?
  7. Is the certificate of distribution recorded in every town where the decedent owned land?

This guide is general information about Connecticut estates. It is not legal advice. Confirm anything that affects your situation with the chief clerk of your probate district, the Connecticut Probate Courts, or a licensed Connecticut attorney.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the duties of an executor in Connecticut?

Apply for probate of the will within 30 days of the death, post a probate bond, take possession of the estate property, file the inventory within two months of qualifying, run the 150-day creditor window that starts at your appointment, pay claims in the order set by Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-365 with funeral expenses first, settle the Connecticut estate tax return, then file a financial report or account and ask the court to close the estate.

When is the Connecticut estate inventory due?

Within two months after the court accepts your bond or you otherwise qualify. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-341(b) sets that deadline and lets the court extend it for cause to no more than four months from qualification. You appraise the property yourself at fair market value and sign the inventory under penalty of false statement, because § 45a-346 bars court-appointed appraisers.

How long do creditors have to file a claim against a Connecticut estate?

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-356(a) runs 150 days from the appointment of the first fiduciary, not from the date of death. A fiduciary may also send an optional notice under § 45a-357 setting a bar date at least 90 days out, and § 45a-375(c) caps everything at two years from the death.

Does a Connecticut executor have to post a bond?

Yes, by default. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-289(a) says a probate bond shall be required of an executor unless it is excused as provided by law, and § 45a-303(d) tells the court to take a bond from an administrator. Section 45a-289(b) has the court follow a will that excuses the bond when nobody objects, and § 45a-139(c) lets a judge waive it where the estate holds less than $20,000, or less than $10,000 unrestricted by court order. Where a bond is required, § 45a-139(b) says your appointment is not effective until the court accepts it.

How much does a Connecticut executor get paid?

Connecticut publishes no percentage fee schedule for a fiduciary. Rule 39 of the Probate Court Rules of Procedure has the court decide whether the fee is reasonable when it reviews the financial report or account, whether or not anyone objects, and it may ask for a nine-factor task statement describing the work.

Which Connecticut Probate Court settles the estate?

The court for the probate district that serves the town where the decedent lived. Connecticut abolished county government in 1960 and has no county probate court. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-2 divides the state into 54 probate districts covering the 169 towns, and jurisdiction follows the decedent's town of residence.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

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Settled Estate is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.

Information current as of August 1, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Connecticut can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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