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Indiana Executor Duties
Pillar GuideIndiana14 min read

Indiana Executor Duties

Indiana executor duties in deadline order: get letters, prepare the two-month verified inventory, publish notice to creditors, pay claims, and close the estate.

By Settled Editorial

Indiana executor duties begin with getting appointed. You file a petition with the circuit or superior court that handles probate in the county where the person lived, and the clerk issues your letters. St. Joseph County runs a separate Probate Court; everywhere else the circuit or superior court hears estate cases. Your letters are your proof of authority, and banks, the BMV, and title companies ask to see them before they release anything.

Once the court appoints you, you are a fiduciary for the estate. You take possession of the property, prepare a verified inventory, publish notice to creditors, pay allowed claims in the order Indiana sets, and distribute what remains. This guide walks the duties in deadline order. It is general information, not legal advice. Confirm each step with your county court or a licensed Indiana attorney.

Use this guide with the Indiana probate guide, the Indiana creditor claims guide, the Indiana debt payment priority guide, the Indiana bond guide, and the Indiana probate accounting guide. For deadlines at a glance, see the Indiana probate timeline. For your local court, see the Indiana probate court directory.

Get Appointed by the Court First

Authority comes from your letters, not from the will naming you. A named executor can locate the original will, secure the home, and gather account statements before appointment. But you cannot collect accounts, sign estate documents, or transfer title until the court appoints you and the clerk issues letters.

With a valid will you receive letters testamentary and serve as executor. Without a will you receive letters of administration and serve as administrator. Indiana gives both roles one title: personal representative. The duties below apply the same way to each.

Timing matters more in Indiana than in most states when the estate holds real estate. If a house or land may need to be sold to pay unsecured debts or administration costs, the petition for administration must be filed within five months after the death, and letters must issue within seven months, or the estate loses that sale power (IC 29-1-7-15.1(b)). Estates holding real property that may need to be sold are generally opened early for that reason.

A Bond Is Usually Not Required

Indiana flips the default many states use. You do not post a bond unless the will calls for one or the court finds a bond necessary to protect creditors, heirs, legatees, or devisees (IC 29-1-11-1). The same rule applies in unsupervised administration, and the court has discretion to require a bond from a personal representative who lives outside Indiana (IC 29-1-7.5-2.5). See the Indiana bond guide for when a court orders one and how the amount is set.

Supervised or Unsupervised Administration

Indiana gives you two tracks. Under supervised administration, the court reviews the major steps: you ask before you sell property, and the court approves your final account. Under unsupervised administration, you handle routine work without court orders. The court may grant unsupervised administration when the will authorizes it and the estate is solvent, or when the estate is solvent and the heirs, or the legatees and devisees under the will, all consent (IC 29-1-7.5-2).

An unsupervised personal representative may retain assets, pay claims, sell property, and take most other administration steps without a court order (IC 29-1-7.5-3). The lighter track does not lighten your fiduciary duty to the heirs and creditors, and the court can revoke unsupervised administration and impose supervision when that serves the estate (IC 29-1-7.5-2(d)). Confirm which track your estate is on before you plan the filings, because the closing paperwork differs.

Duty 1: Take Possession of the Estate

Indiana hands you the whole estate. The personal representative has a right to take, and shall take, possession of all the real and personal property of the decedent (IC 29-1-13-1). You pay the taxes on that property, collect the rents and earnings, keep buildings in tenantable repair, and may insure them. You can also bring an action to obtain possession of real estate or to settle its title.

Open a separate estate account for cash and keep estate money out of your own accounts. Commingling is one of the losses the accounting statute charges to you personally (IC 29-1-16-1). Record the date-of-death value of each asset as you collect it, because the inventory is due fast.

Duty 2: Prepare the Verified Inventory Within Two Months

Within two months after your appointment, unless the court grants more time, you prepare a verified inventory of the probate estate (IC 29-1-12-1). The inventory shows the fair market value of each item and lists all known liens and other charges. You may hire a disinterested appraiser for anything hard to value, and the appraiser's name and address go on the inventory next to the items appraised.

The statute lets you file the original with the court or hold it and furnish a copy to any interested person who requests one (IC 29-1-12-1(d)). Supervised estates file as the court directs; ask the court which it expects. Either way, build the worksheet the same: owner name, account or title number, date-of-death value, lien, source document. If property turns up after you finish, report it in a supplement.

Duty 3: Publish Notice and Watch the Three-Month Bar

As soon as letters issue, notice of the administration is published in a county newspaper once each week for two consecutive weeks, and proof of publication is filed with the clerk within thirty days (IC 29-1-7-7(b)). The notice is also served on each heir, devisee, legatee, and known creditor named in the petition (IC 29-1-7-7(c)).

You then search for the creditors you do not know about. Within one month after the first publication, review the financial records and ask the people likely to know about debts, then serve notice on each creditor you find (IC 29-1-7-7(d); IC 29-1-7-7.5). A creditor served within that month must file within three months after the first published notice. A creditor served later gets two months from the date of service (IC 29-1-7-7(f)).

The claim windows are what protect you. A claim not filed within three months after the date of the first published notice is barred (IC 29-1-14-1(a)), and every claim subject to that bar is cut off nine months after the death even when no notice ran (IC 29-1-14-1(d)). One rule sits outside the windows: liens on estate property survive against their collateral (IC 29-1-14-1(e)). The Medicaid estate recovery claim by the state unit has its own subsection but the same nine-month deadline (IC 29-1-14-1(g)). Keep proof of every notice you serve, and see the Indiana creditor claims guide.

Duty 4: Pay Claims in the Statutory Order

When claims come in, you pay them in the order Indiana sets, not in the order the bills arrive (IC 29-1-14-9). Costs of administration come first, then funeral expenses, then the survivor's allowance, then debts and taxes with federal preference, then medical expenses of the last illness, then debts and taxes with state preference, then everything else. Within a class, no claim gets preference over another (IC 29-1-14-9(b)).

If the estate cannot cover every class, the order decides who gets paid and who does not, and paying a lower class first can leave you personally exposed. Do not guess. See the Indiana debt payment priority guide and confirm the order before you release estate funds.

Duty 5: Account for Everything and Close on Time

You are chargeable with every asset that comes into your hands, plus the income it earns (IC 29-1-16-1). Losses from neglect, self-dealing, commingling, or slow collection land on you personally. The statute also sets the pace: close the estate as promptly as possible, and file the final account within one year after your appointment unless the court finds good cause for more time (IC 29-1-16-2).

The closing filing depends on the track. In supervised administration you file a verified account with your petition for final settlement (IC 29-1-16-3), broken into the three schedules the statute requires: property charged to you, payments and distributions, and property remaining on hand (IC 29-1-16-4). In unsupervised administration you instead file a verified closing statement no earlier than three months after the first published notice, confirming that claims, expenses, and taxes are handled, the assets are distributed, and each distributee received a written account of the administration (IC 29-1-7.5-4). If no proceeding involving you is pending three months after the closing statement is filed, your appointment ends by operation of law. For a walkthrough of what goes in each filing, see the Indiana probate accounting guide.

Duty 6: Distribute Only After Claims and Taxes Clear

Distribution comes last, and only after the estate can support it. Before you hand anything to an heir or beneficiary, walk this checklist:

  1. Has notice been published and served on known creditors?
  2. Has the three-month claim period run?
  3. Is the verified inventory prepared, and filed or furnished?
  4. Are allowed claims paid in the statutory order?
  5. Is the $25,000 survivor's allowance set aside for the surviving spouse, or for children under 18 if there is no spouse (IC 29-1-4-1)?
  6. Are the final income tax returns filed or accounted for?
  7. Does your account or closing statement support every receipt, payment, and distribution?
  8. Do you have signed receipts from the people who received property?

A name in the will is not a green light to distribute on day one. Claims, taxes, and the allowance can come first. When the estate is ready, you distribute under the probated will or, with no will, under the Indiana intestate succession rules. Distributing early is dangerous because a claim that is not yet barred can follow the property into the distributees' hands, and any shortfall can come back to you.

Real Estate: Move Inside the Five-Month Window

Indiana treats the house as part of your job. You take possession of real property along with everything else, collect its rents, and keep it in repair (IC 29-1-13-1). To sell, mortgage, or lease estate property to pay claims, allowances, expenses of administration, or taxes, you need a court order unless the will grants you the power to act without one (IC 29-1-15-2; IC 29-1-15-3).

The five-month rule sits over all of it. Real property cannot be sold to pay unsecured debts or administration costs unless the petition for administration was filed within five months after the death and letters issued within seven months (IC 29-1-7-15.1(b)). When you convey real estate, you execute and record a personal representative's deed; the recorded deed is one of the items an unsupervised closing statement must confirm (IC 29-1-7.5-4). If the estate is short on cash and the value sits in the house, get title and deed review before you act.

How an Indiana Executor Gets Paid

Indiana has no percentage fee table. If the will sets your compensation, that amount is your full compensation unless you file a written renunciation with the court before qualifying (IC 29-1-10-13). When the will is silent, or you renounce, the court allows the compensation it deems just and reasonable for the services you performed. The court may allow more for services you performed as the estate's attorney and for work beyond what the office requires, and the attorney who works for the estate is paid what the court deems just and reasonable as well. You do not have to wait for the end: you or the estate attorney may apply during administration for an allowance on compensation or fees (IC 29-1-10-13). To frame a number before you decide whether to take or waive the fee, work through the Indiana executor compensation calculator.

Because there is no statutory schedule, local practice fills the gap. Some Indiana courts publish fee guidelines in their local rules. Ask the court that issued your letters what it expects before you set a number.

Common Questions

Which court handles probate in Indiana?

The circuit or superior court with probate jurisdiction in the county where the person lived. St. Joseph County has a separate Probate Court. Find your county's court in the Indiana probate court directory.

What is my first deadline after I get letters?

Prepare the verified inventory within two months after your appointment unless the court grants more time (IC 29-1-12-1). Publication of the notice of administration starts even sooner: it begins as soon as letters issue (IC 29-1-7-7).

How long do creditors have to file claims?

Three months after the date of the first published notice to creditors (IC 29-1-14-1(a)). A creditor served with notice late gets two months from service, and every claim subject to the bar is cut off nine months after the death regardless of notice (IC 29-1-7-7(f); IC 29-1-14-1(d)).

How much does an Indiana executor get paid?

The amount the court deems just and reasonable, unless the will sets your compensation (IC 29-1-10-13). Indiana has no statutory percentage schedule, so courts weigh the size of the estate and the work performed, and some counties publish fee guidelines in their local rules.

Do I have to post a bond?

Usually no. A bond is required only when the will calls for one or the court finds one necessary to protect creditors, heirs, legatees, or devisees (IC 29-1-11-1). A personal representative who lives outside Indiana is different: qualifying under IC 29-1-10-1 takes a written acceptance, a resident agent, and a bond, which the court may increase, decrease, or reduce to zero once it approves unsupervised administration (IC 29-1-7.5-2.5).

Can I distribute as soon as I am appointed?

No. Wait until notice has run, the three-month claim period has passed, allowed claims are paid in the statutory order, the survivor's allowance is set aside, and taxes are handled. A claim that is not yet barred can reach distributed property, and early distribution can come back to you personally.

This guide is general information about Indiana estates. It is not legal advice. Confirm anything that affects your situation with the court that issued your letters or a licensed Indiana attorney.

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 July 18, 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 Indiana can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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