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North Dakota Executor Duties
Pillar GuideNorth Dakota27 min read

North Dakota Executor Duties

North Dakota executor duties in order: tell heirs in 30 days, send HHS the petition, file the inventory, pay claims, then close.

By Settled Editorial

North Dakota executor duties start at appointment and follow a set order. The personal representative qualifies, tells the heirs and devisees within 30 days, sends the Department of Health and Human Services a copy of the probate petition, decides whether to publish notice to creditors, takes control of the property, files or mails an inventory, pays allowed claims in the order the statute sets, and closes the estate by sworn statement or court order.

North Dakota calls the office personal representative. NDCC 30.1-01-06(42) says the term includes executor, administrator, successor personal representative and special administrator, along with anyone who performs much the same function under the law governing their status. Executor is the word most people search for when a will named them. Title 30.1, North Dakota's version of the Uniform Probate Code, uses personal representative for every version of the job, and so does this page.

A note on the links. Every rule below was read on September 28, 2026 in the chapter text of the North Dakota Century Code published by the Legislative Council at ndlegis.gov, which states that all changes approved by the 69th Legislative Assembly in 2025 are reflected. Each link opens the chapter at the section cited. Read this beside the North Dakota probate guide for how the case itself moves, and the probate deadlines for the dates on one page.

Who Can Serve, and Who Goes First

Being named in the will puts you at the front of the line. The appointment is what gives you authority.

NDCC 30.1-13-03(1) sets one priority order for formal and informal proceedings alike:

  1. The person with priority under a probated will, including someone nominated by a power in the will
  2. The surviving spouse who is also a devisee
  3. Other devisees
  4. The surviving spouse
  5. Other heirs
  6. The decedent's guardian or conservator at the time of death
  7. A trust company
  8. Any creditor, once 45 days have passed since the death

Two rows set North Dakota apart from the list many national checklists copy. A trust company holds its own place in line, and no public administrator appears at all. Under 30.1-13-03(3), anyone with priority in rows 2 through 5 may nominate a qualified person to serve instead, and anyone may renounce in a writing filed with the court.

The age floor is 18. Under 30.1-13-03(6), nobody under 18 may serve, and neither may a person the court finds unsuitable in formal proceedings.

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Getting Appointed, and What the Clerk Can Sign

The district court of the county hears the case. In an uncontested informal case the clerk can do much of the work. NDCC 30.1-02-06 lets the clerk sign all appropriate documents without a written order of the court once at least 120 hours have passed since the death and the applicant is named in the will, has priority under 30.1-13-03, or holds the seat because others renounced. The North Dakota courts directory lists the clerk of district court for each county.

NDCC 30.1-14-07(1) has the court appoint the applicant after the 120 hours, subject to qualification and acceptance. Where the decedent lived outside North Dakota, the court waits until 30 days after the death, unless the applicant is the personal representative appointed at the decedent's domicile or the will puts the estate under North Dakota law. The order and the letters must issue within ten working days after all requirements for informal proceedings have been met. Under 30.1-14-07(2), an informal appointment fully establishes the office and its powers.

Two filings come before letters:

  • Qualification. Under NDCC 30.1-17-01, you file any required bond and a statement accepting the duties of the office with the appointing court.
  • Consent to jurisdiction. Accepting the appointment submits you personally to the court's jurisdiction in any proceeding about the estate that an interested person brings, under NDCC 30.1-17-02. Notices then go to the address in your application or the one you later report to the court.

Bond: Off by Default, and 1,000 Dollars Turns It On

NDCC 30.1-17-03 says no bond is required of a personal representative appointed in informal proceedings, with three exceptions:

  • The appointment of a special administrator
  • A will that expressly requires bond
  • A bond demanded under 30.1-17-05

The demand threshold is low. Under NDCC 30.1-17-05, anyone apparently holding an interest in the estate worth more than 1,000 dollars, or any creditor with a claim over 1,000 dollars, may file a written demand with the court and mail you a copy. Bond is then required. From notice until the bond is filed, you may use the powers of the office only as needed to preserve the estate, and failing to give suitable bond within 30 days after notice is cause for removal. The page on whether you need a bond covers the amount and the surety.

Your Duties Start at Appointment and Reach Back

NDCC 30.1-18-01 starts your duties and powers at appointment. Your powers then relate back, so acts you took before appointment that benefited the estate carry the same effect as acts taken afterward. Locking up the house in the first week falls inside that rule.

One thing is allowed before any appointment exists. A person named executor in a will may carry out the decedent's written instructions about the body, the funeral and burial arrangements. After appointment you may also ratify acts others did for the estate, where those acts would have been proper for a personal representative.

Within 30 Days: Tell the Heirs and Devisees

This is the first dated duty. NDCC 30.1-18-05 requires every personal representative except a special administrator to give information of the appointment to the heirs and devisees not later than thirty days after appointment. Deliver it or send it by ordinary mail to each one whose address is reasonably available to you. If you were appointed on the assumption that there was no will and no formal testacy proceeding has been held, it also goes to the devisees in any will mentioned in your application.

The notice has to:

  • Give your name and address
  • Say it goes to people who have or may have some interest in the estate
  • Say whether bond has been filed
  • Describe the court where the estate papers are on file
  • State that you are administering the estate under Title 30.1 without supervision by the court, and that recipients are entitled to information about the administration from you and may petition the court on any matter, including distribution of assets and expenses of administration

Skipping it has a price. Failing to give this information is a breach of your duty to those people. It does not undo your appointment, your powers or your other duties.

Send the Department of Health and Human Services the Petition

This one sits outside the probate code, in the Medicaid chapter, and it is easy to miss. NDCC 50-24.1-07(3) says every personal representative, upon the granting of letters testamentary or letters of administration, shall forward to the department a copy of the petition or application that commenced probate, together with a list of the names of the legatees, devisees, surviving joint tenants and heirs at law. NDCC 50-24.1-00.1 defines the department as the Department of Health and Human Services.

The same subsection adds a second step. Unless a properly filed claim of the department is paid in full, you give the department a statement of assets and disbursements in the estate.

The duty applies to every personal representative, whether or not you think the decedent ever received Medicaid. Where the decedent did, 50-24.1-07(1) makes the medical assistance paid after the recipient turned 55, or after the department determined that the recipient, as a resident of a nursing facility or other medical care setting, was not reasonably expected to return home, a preferred claim against the estate. Under 50-24.1-07(2)(a), the department cannot require payment while a surviving spouse is alive, or while a child under 21 or a blind or permanently and totally disabled child survives. Subsection (1) also reaches the estate of the recipient's spouse at that spouse's death. The Department of Health and Human Services lists its Estate Recovery Unit contacts on its estate recovery page.

Notice to Creditors: Your Choice, With a Three-Year Cost

Here is where North Dakota parts ways with states such as Montana, where publishing is mandatory. NDCC 30.1-19-01 says a personal representative upon appointment may publish a notice to creditors once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county.

Choosing to publish brings a second duty. If you publish, you shall also mail a copy of the notice to creditors whose identities you know or can reasonably ascertain and who have not already filed a claim. A creditor who regularly sent bills to the decedent or the estate, and whose bills you have seen, counts as reasonably ascertainable. The notice announces your appointment and address and tells creditors to present claims within three months after the first publication or mailing or be forever barred.

Skipping the notice has a cost. Under NDCC 30.1-19-03(1), a claim that arose before the death is barred three months after the first publication and mailing if you gave notice, and three years after the death if notice was not published and mailed. Claims based on a contract you made as personal representative run four months from when your performance is due, and other claims arising after the death run three months from when they arise. The page on notice to creditors walks through presentment and the choice to publish.

Once a claim comes in, NDCC 30.1-19-06(1) runs two 60-day clocks. Mail a notice of disallowance that warns of the bar, and the claimant has 60 days to petition the court or sue. Say nothing for 60 days after the presentation period ends, and your silence counts as allowance.

Take Possession and Protect the Property

NDCC 30.1-18-09 gives you both a right and a duty to take possession or control of the decedent's property, unless the will says otherwise. You may leave real property and tangible personal property with the person presumptively entitled to it until you judge that you need it for administration. If you ask an heir or devisee to hand something over, your request is conclusive evidence in a later lawsuit that you needed it.

You also pay the taxes on the property in your possession and take all steps reasonably necessary to manage, protect and preserve it, and you may sue to recover property or settle title. That usually means keeping insurance in force, holding estate cash in an estate account, and checking on a vacant house.

The Inventory: 6 Months or 9 Months, Whichever Is Later

NDCC 30.1-18-06(1) sets the deadline at six months after appointment, or nine months after the death, whichever is later. You list the property the decedent owned at death in reasonable detail, with each item's fair market value as of the date of death and the type and amount of any encumbrance. A special administrator is outside the duty, and so is a successor who follows someone who already did it.

Delivery works one of two ways under 30.1-18-06(2):

  • File the original with the court and send a copy only to interested persons who ask for one, or
  • Skip the court filing and mail a copy to each heir in an intestate estate, or to each devisee if a will has been probated, and to any other interested person who asks

Under NDCC 30.1-18-07, you may hire a qualified and disinterested appraiser for any asset whose value is open to reasonable doubt, and each appraiser's name and address go on the inventory beside the items appraised. Found something later, or a value turns out wrong? NDCC 30.1-18-08 requires a supplementary inventory, filed with the court if the original was filed, or furnished to the people the new information affects.

The homestead gets its own appraisal

North Dakota adds a step the uniform code does not have. Under NDCC 30-16-05, you get a description of any real property subject to a homestead estate from the people it passed to, and appraise it at its value at the time of death. If needed, you have a competent surveyor mark the boundaries in your presence. Where the homestead exceeds any value limit set by law, you set it off in a way that excludes the excess, unless the property cannot be divided without material injury. Your full report on the homestead is annexed to the inventory. The surviving spouse's right to that homestead is covered in what the surviving spouse can claim.

The Standard You Are Held To

NDCC 30.1-18-03(1) makes you a fiduciary who observes the standards of care that apply to trustees. You settle and distribute the estate under any probated will and Title 30.1, "as expeditiously and efficiently as is consistent with the best interests of the estate." NDCC 30.1-18-04 lets you do that without an order or direction of the court, unless the estate is in supervised administration, while leaving you free to ask the court to resolve a question.

Your transaction powers are broad. NDCC 30.1-18-15 lists 27 kinds of transactions you may carry out, acting reasonably for the benefit of the interested persons, unless the will or an order in a formal proceeding restricts you. Subsection (6) lets you acquire or dispose of an asset, including land in North Dakota or another state, for cash or on credit, at public or private sale. Subsection (21) lets you hire attorneys, auditors, investment advisers and other agents. Selling the house during probate walks through the deed and the closing.

Two sections set the limits:

  • Conflicts of interest. Under NDCC 30.1-18-13, a sale or encumbrance to you, your spouse, your agent or your attorney, or to a corporation, limited liability company or trust in which you hold a sizable beneficial interest, and any transaction affected by a serious conflict of interest on your part, is voidable by any interested person who did not consent after fair disclosure. Two things save it: the will or a contract the decedent signed expressly authorized it, or the court approved it after notice to interested persons.
  • Personal liability. Under NDCC 30.1-18-12, an improper exercise of power makes you liable to interested persons for the resulting damage or loss, to the same extent as a trustee of an express trust.

Paying Claims in the Order the Statute Sets

Payment waits for the clock. NDCC 30.1-19-07(1) has you pay allowed claims once three months have passed from the first publication and mailing of the notice to creditors, after providing for homestead, family and support allowances, claims presented but not yet allowed, unbarred claims that may still arrive, and administration costs.

Paying early is allowed and priced. Under 30.1-19-07(2), you may pay a just claim that is not barred at any time. You are personally liable to a claimant you hurt if you paid before the three months ran without requiring security for a refund, or if your negligence or willful fault cost that claimant their priority.

When the estate cannot pay everyone, NDCC 30.1-19-05(1) sets the order:

  1. Costs and expenses of administration
  2. Reasonable funeral expenses
  3. Debts and taxes with preference under federal law
  4. Reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness, including pay for the people who attended the decedent
  5. The decedent's child support obligations that were due and unpaid before death
  6. Debts and taxes with preference under other North Dakota laws
  7. All other claims

Within a class nobody gets a preference, and a claim that is due gets none over one that is not yet due. The child support row is North Dakota's own. The page on the order debts are paid works through a short estate, including where the Medicaid claim fits.

What a North Dakota Personal Representative Gets Paid

North Dakota publishes no percentage and no fee schedule. NDCC 30.1-18-19 says "A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for the personal representative's services." Where the will sets your pay and you had no contract with the decedent about it, you may renounce the will's provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead. You may also give up all or part of your fee, and a written renunciation may be filed with the court.

Disputes go to the judge. Under NDCC 30.1-18-21, the court may review whether hiring an attorney, auditor, investment adviser or other agent was proper, whether their pay was reasonable, and whether the pay you set for yourself was reasonable. Anyone who received excessive compensation from the estate can be ordered to refund it. The same section adds a North Dakota rule: if an attorney's fee is based on the value of the estate, the fee agreement must be in writing and mailed to the heirs of the estate under the will, and if there is no will, notice goes to all heirs in the manner chapter 30.1-03 sets. Time records kept from the first week give the reasonableness question an answer. The North Dakota executor compensation page sets out the same reasonable-compensation rule and the court review beside it.

Taxes

The Office of State Tax Commissioner says North Dakota has an estate tax law, but for deaths occurring after January 1, 2005, no estate taxes are paid to North Dakota. The same page says a Form 54-91 North Dakota Estate Tax Return is required for every estate that must file a federal estate tax return, due 15 months after the date of death, and that North Dakota has no inheritance tax and no gift tax. Income tax is a separate question, and the Commissioner's page sends estate and trust questions to its fiduciary tax page. The estate tax question is covered on its own page.

Closing: A Sworn Statement or a Court Order

North Dakota gives you two ways to finish.

The sworn statement. NDCC 30.1-21-03(1) lets you close an estate that is not in supervised administration by filing a verified statement with the court saying you:

  1. Fully administered the estate by paying, settling or otherwise disposing of the claims presented, the administration expenses, and any estate, inheritance and other death taxes, and distributed the assets to the persons entitled, with any undischarged claims and the arrangements for them spelled out
  2. Sent a copy of the statement to all distributees and to every creditor or claimant you know of whose claim is neither paid nor barred, and gave a full written account of your administration to the distributees whose interests it affects

If you published and mailed notice to creditors, you may not file the statement until three months after the first publication and mailing. Under 30.1-21-03(2), if no proceeding involving you is pending one year after the statement is filed, your appointment ends. The account and closing statement page shows what the written account covers.

The formal settlement. Under NDCC 30.1-21-01(1), you may petition at any time for an order of complete settlement, once the time for presenting claims that arose before the death has run. Any other interested person may petition one year after the original appointment. After notice and a hearing, the court can approve the settlement and distribution and discharge you from further claims by interested persons.

After a sworn-statement close, NDCC 30.1-21-05 bars claims by successors and unbarred creditors against you for breach of fiduciary duty unless brought within six months after the closing statement is filed. That bar does not reach fraud, misrepresentation or inadequate disclosure.

The Three-Year Rule: Show Cause and a Fee Accounting

North Dakota polices slow estates by counting from the death, not from the appointment. Under NDCC 30.1-21-03.1, if you have not filed a verified closing statement, or closed through supervised administration, within three years from the date of death, any devisee, heir, distributee or claimant may petition, formally or by an informal request, or the court may act on its own motion. The court then orders you and the attorney you hired to show cause at a hearing scheduled within 90 days, and serves notice on the heirs, devisees, claimants, distributees and beneficiaries.

Within 20 days of receiving the order, you or the attorney give the court a report with three parts:

  • A time frame for closing the estate
  • A detailed explanation of why it is still open
  • A detailed accounting of every disbursement, with specific information on all fees and other payments to you and to any attorney, auditor, investment adviser or other agent

After the hearing the court sets a closing timetable. If it finds that you or the attorney failed to show cause, it may award attorney's fees and costs to the petitioner, and it may file a complaint against the attorney with the disciplinary board. An estate held open for a real reason, such as a lawsuit or land that has not sold, is what the hearing exists to hear.

If Things Go Wrong: Removal

NDCC 30.1-17-11 lets any person interested in the estate petition to remove a personal representative for cause at any time. Once you receive notice of the petition, you may act only to account, correct maladministration or preserve the estate. Cause exists where removal would be in the best interests of the estate, where you or the person who sought your appointment intentionally misrepresented material facts, or where you disregarded a court order, became incapable of doing the job, mismanaged the estate or failed to perform any duty of the office.

Common Questions

What are the duties of an executor in North Dakota?

North Dakota calls the job personal representative. Under the North Dakota Century Code you qualify by filing any required bond and a statement of acceptance (30.1-17-01), tell the heirs and devisees about the appointment within 30 days (30.1-18-05), send the Department of Health and Human Services a copy of the probate petition or application with the names of the heirs and beneficiaries (50-24.1-07(3)), take possession of the property and pay its taxes (30.1-18-09), file or mail an inventory by the later of 6 months after appointment or 9 months after death (30.1-18-06), pay allowed claims in the 30.1-19-05 order, and close by sworn statement (30.1-21-03) or by a formal settlement order (30.1-21-01).

Is an executor the same as a personal representative in North Dakota?

Yes. NDCC 30.1-01-06(42) says personal representative includes executor, administrator, successor personal representative, special administrator, and persons who perform much the same function under the law governing their status. Title 30.1 uses personal representative throughout, so the same duties apply whether a will named you or the court appointed you without one.

When is the North Dakota estate inventory due?

Within 6 months after appointment or 9 months after the death, whichever is later, under NDCC 30.1-18-06(1). The inventory lists the property the decedent owned at death in reasonable detail, with each item's fair market value as of the date of death and the type and amount of any encumbrance. Under 30.1-18-06(2) you either file the original with the court and send copies to interested persons who ask, or skip the court filing and mail a copy to every heir (no will) or every devisee (probated will) and to anyone else interested who asks.

Does a North Dakota personal representative have to publish notice to creditors?

No. NDCC 30.1-19-01 says a personal representative upon appointment may publish a notice once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county. If you choose to publish, you also have to mail the notice to creditors you know about or can reasonably find. Claims are then due within three months after the first publication or mailing. If notice is never published and mailed, 30.1-19-03(1)(b) leaves claims that arose before the death open for three years after the death.

Does a North Dakota personal representative have to notify Medicaid?

Yes. NDCC 50-24.1-07(3) says every personal representative, upon the granting of letters, shall forward to the Department of Health and Human Services a copy of the petition or application commencing probate, together with a list of the names of the legatees, devisees, surviving joint tenants and heirs at law. Unless a properly filed department claim is paid in full, you also provide the department a statement of assets and disbursements in the estate.

How much does a North Dakota personal representative get paid?

Reasonable compensation for services, under NDCC 30.1-18-19. North Dakota sets no percentage and no fee schedule. You may renounce a fee the will sets, before qualifying, and take reasonable compensation instead, and you may give up all or part of your fee by a written renunciation filed with the court. Under 30.1-18-21 the court can review the fee on petition of an interested person, and anyone paid too much can be ordered to refund it.

What happens if a North Dakota estate is still open three years after the death?

NDCC 30.1-21-03.1 lets any devisee, heir, distributee or claimant petition, or the court act on its own motion, to order the personal representative and the estate's attorney to show cause why the estate has not been closed within three years from the date of death. The hearing is set within 90 days, and within 20 days of receiving the order you file a report with a closing time frame, an explanation, and a detailed accounting of every fee paid to you and to the attorney. The court then sets a closing timetable and may award attorney's fees to the petitioner.

This guide is general information about North Dakota estates. Confirm anything that affects your own matter with the clerk of district court handling the estate, the current text of the statute, or a licensed North Dakota 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 September 28, 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 North Dakota can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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