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District of Columbia Probate Timeline
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District of Columbia Probate Timeline

D.C. probate deadlines in order: notice within 20 days of appointment, the 6-month creditor window, and the 10-month estate tax return.

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A District of Columbia probate estate cannot close until at least 6 months after the notice of appointment is first published, because that is when the creditor period ends (D.C. Code § 20-903(a)). Every other D.C. deadline counts from one of three events: the date of death, the personal representative's appointment, or that first publication. The D.C. Code sets no total length for probate, so plan around those three anchors instead of a single closing date.

One court handles every estate in the District: the Probate Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia (D.C. Code § 20-101(b)). The Register of Wills is an office inside that division (§ 11-2101). Use this page as a planning calendar. For the full process, start with the District of Columbia probate guide, and see the D.C. executor duties guide for the task list that sits behind each date.

District of Columbia Probate Timeline at a Glance

WhenTaskD.C. Code section
First weekOrder certified death certificates and find the original willPractical step
Within 90 days after learning of the deathWhoever holds the original will delivers it to the Probate Court, the Register of Wills, or the named executor§ 18-111
60 days after death, at the earliestSmall-asset affidavit can be used (estate of $40,000 or less, no real property)§ 20-361(a)(2)
Within 20 days after appointmentPublish notice of appointment once a week for 2 successive weeks§ 20-704(a)
Within 20 days after appointmentMail the notice to heirs, legatees and known creditors by registered or certified mail§ 20-704(b)
Within 90 days after appointmentCertify to the Register of Wills that the mailed notices went out§ 20-704(b-2)
Within 3 months after appointmentUnsupervised estates: deliver or mail the inventory to each interested person§ 20-713.01(a)
6 months after first publicationCreditor claims are barred, and objections and will contests are due§§ 20-903(a), 20-305
Within 6 months after the will is admittedA surviving spouse or domestic partner may renounce the will§ 19-113(a)
Within 10 months after deathD.C. estate tax return and payment, if the estate must file§ 47-3705(a)
Within 1 year and 1 day of first publicationSupervised estates: first account, then every 9 months§ 20-724(a)
After the creditor period and a 60-day account objection windowUnsupervised estates: file the Certificate of Completion§ 20-735

Here is how each date works, in the order an estate meets them.

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A Note on Temporary Law

Some D.C. probate rules on this page come from temporary legislation. D.C. Law 25-302, the Strengthening Probate Administration Amendment Act of 2024, took effect March 21, 2025 and rewrote the small estate figures and the publication rules. The Council then passed a series of short-term acts on top of it. The one in force now is D.C. Law 26-164, effective August 14, 2026, and its own text says it expires 225 days after it takes effect.

This guide states the law in force today and marks each rule that rests on that act. Check the current text before you rely on any rule marked that way, because the permanent version of the same section reads differently.

First Weeks: Death Certificates and the Will

The first weeks are about records, not court filings. Order certified death certificates from DC Health, which charges $18.00 per certified copy. Banks, insurers, the Recorder of Deeds, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Probate Division may each ask for one, so order several.

Find the original will next. D.C. law gives the person holding it a firm reason to act: whoever has a will and willfully neglects, for 90 days after learning of the death, to deliver it to the Probate Court, the Register of Wills, or an executor named in it can be fined up to $500 (§ 18-111). Do not wait that long, because delivering the will is the first step toward opening the estate under it.

While you gather papers, list what the person owned and how each item was titled. A payable-on-death account, a transfer-on-death deed, or jointly owned property may pass outside probate. The District of Columbia first steps page covers this early stage in more detail.

Opening the Estate and Appointment

You open the estate by filing a petition with the Probate Division. D.C. Law 25-302 replaced "standard probate" with "formal probate", so the District now has three routes: abbreviated probate, formal probate, and the small estate proceeding (§ 20-301).

Abbreviated probate is the faster of the two full routes. It is a proceeding for probate of a will or a finding that the person died without one, plus the appointment of a personal representative, and it can go forward without the prior notice formal probate requires (D.C. Code § 20-311(a), as amended by D.C. Law 26-164, a temporary act effective until March 27, 2027). Under the current text, the Court or the Register of Wills appoints the personal representative, and the Register may ask for more proof and refer the matter to the Court (D.C. Code § 20-312, as amended by D.C. Law 26-164, a temporary act effective until March 27, 2027).

The appointment order makes the administration unsupervised unless the order says it is supervised (§ 20-312(a)). That one detail decides which inventory, account and closing rules below apply to you, so read your order closely.

No creditor clock starts until the notice of appointment is published. A delay in opening the estate pushes every later date back by the same amount.

The First 20 Days: Publish and Mail the Notice

The first hard deadline lands 20 days after appointment, and it has two parts.

First, publish a notice of the appointment once a week for 2 successive weeks, starting within 20 days after appointment. The notice may run in a legal periodical or newspaper of general circulation in the District (D.C. Code § 20-704(a), as amended by D.C. Law 26-164, a temporary act effective until March 27, 2027). The notice names the personal representative, says whether administration is supervised or unsupervised, and tells creditors to present claims. File a certification with the Register of Wills giving the date and content of the published notice.

The date of that first publication matters more than any other date in a D.C. estate. The creditor deadline, the objection deadline and the will contest deadline all run from it. Write it down the day the notice appears.

Second, within 20 days after appointment, send by registered or certified mail to the heirs, the legatees, and every creditor you know of or can find with reasonable effort, a copy of the first published notice plus the court's general information form (§ 20-704(b)). The published notice also tells any relative who does not get mailed notice within 25 days to contact the Register of Wills.

Then, within 90 days after appointment, certify to the Register of Wills that the mailed notices went out (§ 20-704(b-2)). This applies to both supervised and unsupervised personal representatives.

Within 3 Months: The Inventory

In an unsupervised administration, the personal representative must deliver or mail an inventory to each interested person within 3 months after appointment (§ 20-713.01(a)). The inventory lists each item the person owned at death, its fair market value as of the date of death, and any mortgage or other encumbrance on it. Filing the verified original with the Court is optional (§ 20-713.01(b)).

Start the inventory work in the first weeks. Bank statements, deeds, vehicle titles and brokerage records take time to collect. If you find property later, or learn a value was wrong, prepare a supplementary inventory and send copies to the same people (§ 20-713.01(d)).

6 Months After First Publication: Creditors, Objections and Will Contests

The longest fixed clock in a D.C. estate is the creditor period. A claim against the estate is barred unless the creditor presents it within 6 months after the date of the first publication of the notice of appointment (§ 20-903(a)). The clock runs from first publication, not from the date of death. Read D.C. creditor claims for how claims are presented and paid.

Three points to know about this window:

  • Claims based on the personal representative's own conduct or contracts follow a separate rule: the claimant must sue within 6 months after the claim arose (§ 20-903(a)(2)).
  • The bar does not stop a mortgage holder or other secured creditor from enforcing a recorded lien (§ 20-903(b)).
  • A claim covered by the decedent's liability insurance can still be brought within the ordinary limitations period, limited to the policy amounts (§ 20-903(d)).

The same 6-month window applies to people who object to the appointment or to the probate of the will, per the notice form in § 20-704(a). A verified complaint to contest the validity of a will must also be filed within 6 months following notice by publication (§ 20-305).

Do not distribute the estate before this period ends. The Certificate of Completion that closes an unsupervised estate must state that the time for creditor claims has expired (§ 20-735(b)(1)).

Surviving Spouse or Domestic Partner: The Renunciation Clock

A surviving spouse or domestic partner who receives a gift under the will is bound by it unless they file a written renunciation within 6 months after the will is admitted to probate (§ 19-113(a)). Renouncing lets them take their legal share instead, which is the intestate share capped at one-half of the net estate passing under the will (§ 19-113(e)). The court can extend the time before it runs out, for periods of up to 6 months each, on a petition showing reasonable cause (§ 19-113(c)). If a suit to construe the will is filed during the 6 months, the period restarts when that suit is finally decided.

Accounts: Supervised and Unsupervised Estates

Account deadlines depend on the type of administration.

A supervised personal representative must file a first account within one year and one day of the first publication of notice, then another account within 9 months after that one, and every 9 months after that, until the final account (§ 20-724(a)). The Court can extend an account date for good cause on a written request (§ 20-724(b)). Ask before the due date, not after.

An unsupervised personal representative accounts to the interested persons at reasonable intervals or on reasonable demand, and an interested person can ask the Court to compel an account (§ 20-734). The D.C. probate accounting guide covers accounts and the Certificate of Completion line by line.

Closing an Unsupervised Estate: The Certificate of Completion

An unsupervised estate closes when the personal representative files a verified Certificate of Completion with the Court (§ 20-735(a)). It can be filed at any time, but never before the time for creditor claims has expired.

The certificate must state, among other things, that every interested person was sent a copy of an account with notice of the right to object within 60 days, and that each person either consented in writing or did not object within that 60-day period (§ 20-735(b)). It must also confirm that distribution followed the account, that known claims were paid or settled, and that administration expenses were paid.

So the closing sequence has two waits. The 6-month creditor period must end, and the 60-day objection window on the account must run. Sending the account early lets the two overlap.

The D.C. Estate Tax: 10 Months After Death

The District charges its own estate tax, separate from the federal one. For deaths in 2026, the exclusion amount is $4,988,400, according to the Office of Tax and Revenue's 2026 D-76 instruction booklet. The personal representative of an estate subject to the tax must file the return, with a copy of any federal estate tax return, within 10 months after the death (§ 47-3705(a)(1)), and must pay the tax by the same date (§ 47-3705(c)). No D.C. return is required if the gross estate does not exceed $1 million or the zero bracket amount, whichever is higher (§ 47-3705(a)(2)).

If the estate gets an extension for the federal return, the D.C. deadline moves to 30 days after the federal extension ends, and you must send the Office of Tax and Revenue a copy of the federal extension (§ 47-3705(b)). The OTR booklet names Form D-77 for a D.C. extension request.

A federal estate tax return, IRS Form 706, is due 9 months after death when a large estate must file or an executor wants to elect portability. See the D.C. estate tax guide for who files and how the zero bracket works.

Faster Small Estate Routes

Two shorter routes skip most of the calendar above. The D.C. small estate guide covers both.

The small estate proceeding is a court route for property subject to administration in the District worth $80,000 or less (§ 20-351). Real property counts toward that figure. When the Court directs notice, it runs once in the § 20-704 form, and the window for claims, will contests, and objections to the proceeding or the appointment is 30 days from publication (§ 20-353(b)). That replaces the 6-month creditor period.

The small-asset affidavit needs no court at all. All known successors sign an affidavit, and the holder of the asset pays or delivers it. The decedent's entire probate estate must be $40,000 or less after liens, it cannot include real property, no personal representative application can be pending or granted anywhere, and the funeral expenses must be paid. At least 60 days must have passed since the death, shown by a certified death certificate attached to the affidavit (D.C. Code § 20-361(a), as amended by D.C. Law 26-164, a temporary act effective until March 27, 2027). The current text also dropped an older requirement that any will first be admitted to probate.

The $80,000 figure and the affidavit route apply to deaths on or after March 21, 2025 (D.C. Law 26-164, § 3, a temporary act effective until March 27, 2027). For an earlier death, the small estate cap is the prior $40,000 figure and the affidavit route does not apply.

What Can Slow the Timeline

A D.C. estate takes longer when:

  • the original will is missing, or someone files a will contest within the 6-month window
  • the notice of appointment is published late, which pushes back the creditor period
  • heirs or legatees are hard to find for the mailed notice
  • a creditor disputes a claim, or a lawsuit against the decedent was pending at death
  • real property has to be sold or valued
  • the estate owes D.C. estate tax or must file a federal Form 706
  • the administration is supervised, with accounts due every 9 months
  • an interested person objects to the account within the 60-day window

Next steps: calendar each date from its anchor the day you learn it.

Practical Filing Calendar

Work the estate in this order:

  1. First week: order death certificates, secure the property, and find the original will.
  2. Before day 90 after learning of the death: deliver the original will to the Probate Division or the Register of Wills.
  3. Check the small estate routes first. If the estate is $40,000 or less with no real property, the affidavit may work once 60 days have passed.
  4. Petition the Probate Division and get appointed. Note whether your order says supervised or unsupervised.
  5. Within 20 days after appointment: start the 2-week publication and mail the notice to heirs, legatees and known creditors.
  6. Record the date of first publication. Count 6 months from it.
  7. Within 90 days after appointment: certify the mailed notices to the Register of Wills.
  8. Within 3 months after appointment: deliver the inventory, if unsupervised.
  9. Within 10 months after death: file and pay any D.C. estate tax.
  10. Supervised: file the first account within one year and one day of first publication. Unsupervised: send the account, wait out the 60-day objection window and the creditor period, then file the Certificate of Completion.

The Probate Self-Help Center at 515 5th Street, NW, Room 318 offers free help with small and large estates, Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 3:30pm, according to the D.C. Office of the Tenant Advocate. Confirm each date against your own appointment order, or with a licensed D.C. attorney. Return to the D.C. probate process for the rest of the series.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

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Information current as of October 5, 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 District of Columbia can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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