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Maryland Estate Planning Basics
Pillar GuideMaryland13 min read

Maryland Estate Planning Basics

Maryland estate planning basics: the will, power of attorney, advance directive, and living trust adults need, plus the dual estate and inheritance tax.

By Settled Editorial

Estate planning in Maryland comes down to a short set of documents that decide who inherits your property, who settles your estate, and who acts for you if you cannot act for yourself. Most adults need three: a will, a durable financial power of attorney, and an advance directive for health care. Many people add a revocable living trust on top.

This guide gives you the plain-language map. It walks through each document, how Maryland probate runs through two offices, the small-estate and modified-administration options, the state's unusual dual tax picture, and what happens if you die with no will. Each Maryland guide linked below goes deeper on one topic.

Use this page to plan, not as legal advice. Maryland courts apply these statutes to the facts of each estate, and a small mistake at signing can put a document at risk. When property, a blended family, or a possible dispute is in play, confirm your plan with a licensed Maryland attorney before you sign.

Why Planning Matters in Maryland

Here is what a plan does for you and your family:

  • You choose who inherits, instead of leaving it to a statute.
  • You name the person who settles your estate and the person who raises your minor children.
  • You name someone to manage your money and your medical care if you become unable to.
  • You can keep your family out of a court guardianship fight and shorten the work after death.

Without a plan, Maryland law fills the gaps. A statute decides who inherits. A court may decide who manages your finances and care during incapacity. Your family carries more cost, delay, and worry than they need to.

The Three Documents Every Adult Needs

1. Last Will and Testament

A will is the foundation of most Maryland plans. It names who receives your probate property, names a personal representative to settle the estate, and names a guardian for your minor children. It can also set up a trust for a young or vulnerable heir.

Maryland sets a short list of rules for a valid will in the Estates and Trusts Article, Section 4-102:

  • The maker must be at least 18 and legally competent to make a will (Est. & Trusts 4-102(a)).
  • The will must be in writing, signed by the maker or by someone else at the maker's direction and in the maker's presence, and attested and signed by two or more credible witnesses (Est. & Trusts 4-102(b)).
  • Maryland does not accept an ordinary unwitnessed handwritten will, so the two-witness step is the part you cannot skip.

Read the Maryland will requirements guide before you sign anything, because the witness rule is where homemade wills fail. A will does not avoid probate and does no work during incapacity, which is why it pairs with the documents below.

2. Durable Financial Power of Attorney

A financial power of attorney lets a person you trust, called your agent, handle money matters if you cannot. That covers banking, bills, real estate, taxes, and benefits. Without one, your family may have to ask a court to appoint a guardian of the property, which costs time and money.

Maryland's rules sit in the Estates and Trusts Article, Title 17, the Maryland General and Limited Power of Attorney Act. Two points matter most:

  • A written Maryland power of attorney is durable by default. It survives your later incapacity unless the document says otherwise (Est. & Trusts 17-105).
  • To be valid, the document must be signed by the principal, acknowledged before a notary, and attested and signed by two adult witnesses (Est. & Trusts 17-110). Maryland's execution standard is stricter than many states, so meet all three steps.

The Maryland power of attorney guide walks through what powers to grant and how banks and other third parties must accept the document.

3. Advance Directive for Health Care

An advance directive is Maryland's health care document. One writing can do two jobs: it can give instructions about the treatment you do or do not want, and it can name a health care agent to decide for you when you cannot decide for yourself. Maryland folds the living will and the medical agent into this single directive.

The rules sit in the Health-General Article, Section 5-602:

  • A written advance directive must be dated, signed by you or at your direction, and witnessed by two people (Health-General 5-602).
  • At least one witness must be someone who does not stand to gain from your death, and your health care agent cannot serve as a witness.
  • Notarization is not required by statute, but it helps if the document ever has to be honored outside Maryland.

If you never sign one, Maryland law lets a default surrogate decide, usually a spouse or partner, then an adult child, then a parent, in a set order. Naming your own agent keeps that choice with you. The Maryland advance directive guide covers the form and the surrogate order.

Should You Add a Revocable Living Trust?

A revocable living trust holds your assets during life and passes them at death without probate for whatever the trust owns. You stay in control as trustee while you are able, and a successor trustee steps in at incapacity or death. Maryland trusts follow the Maryland Trust Act in the Estates and Trusts Article, Title 14.5, and a trust is created when a settlor with capacity transfers property to it or declares that they hold property in trust (Est. & Trusts 14.5-401; the capacity and other creation requirements are in 14.5-402).

A trust is not required, and many Maryland estates do not need one. A trust earns its keep when you own out-of-state real estate, want privacy, want smooth management during incapacity, or have a family situation that a plain will handles poorly. It also matters more in Maryland than in most states because Maryland's real-property transfer-on-death deed is not operative until October 1, 2026 (enacted in 2026 under Chapter 751 / House Bill 738), so today a trust or survivorship titling is how many owners keep a home out of probate. The Maryland revocable living trust guide covers how to create and fund one, the national will versus trust guide explains the trade-off, and the how to avoid probate in Maryland guide shows the tools that pass property outside court.

Maryland's Trust Act also authorizes narrower tools, including a pet trust for the care of an animal that sets aside money for a pet after you die (Est. & Trusts 14.5-407).

How Probate Works in Maryland

Maryland probate runs through two offices in each of its 24 jurisdictions, not a single clerk. Here is how they split the work:

  • The elected Register of Wills opens the estate, files the will, appoints the personal representative, keeps the records, administers small estates, and collects both the probate fee and the inheritance tax.
  • The three-judge Orphans' Court, Maryland's probate court, supervises the administration and hears disputes. In Montgomery, Harford, and Howard counties there is no separately elected Orphans' Court, so the Circuit Court judges sit as the Orphans' Court instead.

The personal representative files an inventory within three months of appointment and pays valid debts before distributing what is left (Est. & Trusts 7-201). Creditor claims are barred at the earlier of six months from death or two months after mailed notice, so the window is short (Est. & Trusts 8-103). Only probate property runs through this process. Assets with a named beneficiary, a payable-on-death tag, survivorship rights, or trust ownership usually pass outside probate. The Maryland probate guide covers the steps, the timeline, and the personal-representative commission.

One naming note: Baltimore City is an independent city with its own Register of Wills and Orphans' Court, and Baltimore County is a separate jurisdiction with its own offices. Confirm which one handled the decedent's records before you file anything.

Maryland's Small-Estate and Modified-Administration Options

Maryland offers three administration tracks, and two of them save smaller or simpler estates a lot of work:

TrackStatuteWhen it fits
Regular estateEst. & Trusts 5-301The default administration (administrative probate); judicial probate under 5-401 applies to contested estates
Modified administrationEst. & Trusts 5-701A shorter path with a single final report, generally due within 10 months, when the takers are a narrow family class who all consent and the estate is solvent
Small estateEst. & Trusts 5-601Property subject to administration of $50,000 or less, or $100,000 or less when the surviving spouse is the sole heir or legatee

Modified administration is a Maryland feature that most cross-state content skips. Ask the Register of Wills which track your estate qualifies for before you open the regular route by default.

Does Maryland Have an Estate or Inheritance Tax?

Maryland is the only state with both a state estate tax and a state inheritance tax, so plan for two separate questions.

  • The Maryland estate tax applies only above a $5,000,000 exemption per person, with a top rate of 16 percent (Md. Tax-General 7-309). The exemption is not indexed to inflation, and a surviving spouse can carry over a deceased spouse's unused exclusion. Most estates fall under the line and owe nothing.
  • The Maryland inheritance tax is 10 percent of the clear value of property that passes to certain takers (Md. Tax-General 7-204). Property passing to a spouse, a child or other lineal descendant, a parent, a grandparent, or a brother or sister is exempt (Md. Tax-General 7-203). The tax mostly reaches gifts to nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, and unrelated heirs, and the Register of Wills collects it.

The sibling exemption is the point competitors miss most often, so confirm your beneficiaries against that list. Federal estate tax reaches only very large estates, with a $15 million per-person exclusion for 2026 under the IRS, so most families owe no federal tax either. Titling and beneficiary choices can lower the inheritance-tax bill, which is one more reason to review your plan with a Maryland attorney.

Who Inherits If You Have No Will

If you die without a valid will, Maryland's intestacy statute decides who inherits your probate property under the Estates and Trusts Article, Title 3, Subtitle 1. The statute was reformed effective October 1, 2023, and it now gives a surviving spouse stronger protection, including the whole intestate estate in some family situations.

Two points shape the result:

  • A surviving spouse and the decedent's children share the estate, with the shares set by whether the children are also the spouse's and whether any child is a minor. If there is no spouse, the estate passes to children, then parents, then siblings, and on to more distant relatives.
  • A spouse who is left out of a will is not powerless. Maryland's elective share, reformed to an augmented-estate model effective October 1, 2020, lets a surviving spouse claim one-third of the augmented estate when there are surviving descendants, or one-half when there are none (Est. & Trusts 3-403).

Stepchildren are not heirs unless adopted, and unmarried partners and friends inherit nothing under intestacy. A will or trust replaces these defaults with your own choices. The Maryland intestate succession guide shows how each family situation plays out.

How the Pieces Fit Together

Each document covers a different moment, and they work as a set:

  • The durable power of attorney and the advance directive protect you while you are alive but unable to act.
  • The will and any revocable living trust direct your property after death.
  • A guardian named in your will protects your minor children, and planning ahead can keep you out of an adult guardianship case. See the Maryland guardianship planning guide.

Maryland also pays a family allowance ahead of general creditors: $10,000 for a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner, plus $5,000 for each unmarried child under 18 (Est. & Trusts 3-201). The Maryland family allowance guide explains how to claim it.

Beneficiary designations on life insurance, retirement accounts, and bank accounts sit beside all of this. They pass outside your will, so review them after every marriage, divorce, birth, or death. Outdated beneficiaries are one of the most common ways a careful plan goes wrong.

Getting Started

You do not have to do everything at once. A sensible order looks like this:

  1. List what you own and roughly what it is worth.
  2. Decide who should inherit, who should be your personal representative, who should raise your children, and who should be your financial and medical agents.
  3. Sign the three documents: a will, a durable power of attorney, and an advance directive.
  4. Check the beneficiary designations on your accounts and insurance.
  5. Tell your personal representative and agents where the documents are.
  6. Review the plan every few years and after any major life change.

For the bigger picture across every state, the national estate planning overview shows how these pieces connect.

The Bottom Line

Most Maryland adults need three documents: a will, a durable financial power of attorney, and an advance directive. Add a revocable living trust if your situation calls for it, and remember that Maryland's transfer-on-death deed does not take effect until October 1, 2026, so today a trust or survivorship titling does that job. Maryland runs probate through the Register of Wills and the Orphans' Court, offers small-estate and modified-administration shortcuts, and is the only state that charges both an estate tax and an inheritance tax, with siblings and close family exempt from the latter. Sign the documents while you are healthy, keep your beneficiaries current, and review the plan as life changes.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

Prefer to talk it through? Connect with an estate-planning attorney

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

Information current as of July 21, 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 Maryland can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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