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North Dakota Probate Types: Informal, Formal and Affidavit

North Dakota sorts its routes by whether anyone disputes the estate and by what the estate is worth. One affidavit skips court entirely, and summary administration sits in between with no fixed dollar limit.

Compare eligibility, timing, court involvement, and local verification points

How to Compare North Dakota Probate Types

One court hears every North Dakota estate. The district court has jurisdiction over all subject matter relating to probate and testamentary matters, including estates of decedents (N.D.C.C. § 30.1-02-02), and there is no separate probate court. In an uncontested informal matter the clerk of district court may sign the documents without a judge once venue and the three-year limit are satisfied, 120 hours have passed since the death, and the applicant is named in the will or has priority (§ 30.1-02-06). Venue is the county where the decedent was domiciled at death, or, for a decedent domiciled elsewhere, any county where the decedent's property was located (§ 30.1-13-01).

The five routes fall into two groups. Four run through the district court: informal probate and appointment with no hearing, formal testacy and appointment proceedings decided after notice and a hearing, supervised administration under the court's continuing authority, and summary administration under § 30.1-23-03, which lets a personal representative distribute a modest estate without notice to creditors. One never reaches a court: the § 30.1-23-01 affidavit for personal property when the whole estate, net of liens, is $100,000 or less for deaths on or after August 1, 2025.

Cost does not scale with the estate. Opening a formal or informal estate costs $160 in every county, the fee in N.D.C.C. § 27-05.2-03(1)(a) for filing a case for decision since July 1, 2025 ($80 before). North Dakota has no probate tax, no inheritance tax, and no estate tax for deaths after 2004, and the statute does not name probate, so confirm the charge with the clerk of district court before filing.

Simplified Path vs Formal Path at a Glance

Who decides

Tie

Simplified Path: The court without a hearing; in an uncontested matter the clerk of district court may sign

Formal Path: A district judge, on a petition, after notice and a hearing

Cost to open

Tie

Simplified Path: $160 in every county

Formal Path: $160 in every county

Earliest start

Simplified Path

Simplified Path: 120 hours after death to probate a will or appoint (§ 30.1-14-07)

Formal Path: After notice and a hearing date, which takes longer

Notice before acting

Formal Path

Simplified Path: Only to people who demanded notice and, for appointment, anyone with an equal or prior right

Formal Path: To heirs, devisees and executors before the hearing, and by publication to unknown persons

Creditor window

Tie

Simplified Path: Three months from the first publication and mailing if the personal representative publishes; publication is optional

Formal Path: The same three months; § 30.1-19-01 does not vary with the route

Earliest closing

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Simplified Path: By sworn statement, 3 months after the first publication and mailing of any notice to creditors (§ 30.1-21-03)

Formal Path: The same floor unless the estate is supervised, which closes only by court order

Best fit

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Simplified Path: An agreed family, a will nobody challenges, and one obvious person to appoint

Formal Path: A contested will, competing applicants, uncertain heirs, or a family that wants a court order

Main North Dakota Probate Options

Informal Probate and Informal Appointment

N.D.C.C. §§ 30.1-14-02 and 30.1-14-07

An uncontested estate that needs letters, with an agreed personal representative and a will nobody is challenging

Threshold: No dollar threshold. The ordinary route for an uncontested North Dakota estate.

Filing Fee: $160, the same in all 53 counties

Timeline: Commonly 6 to 12 months as a planning estimate. If notice to creditors is published and mailed, the closing statement cannot be filed until 3 months after the first publication and mailing (§ 30.1-21-03(1)), and the inventory is due by the later of 6 months after appointment or 9 months after death

Real Estate: Yes

Attorney: No. "The assistance of an attorney is not required" (§ 30.1-14-01.1)

Formal Testacy and Appointment Proceedings

N.D.C.C. § 30.1-15-01

A contested will, competing applicants for appointment, or uncertain heirs

Threshold: No dollar threshold. Used where a will is contested, the heirs or the will's validity need a court order, or an interested person wants one.

Filing Fee: $160, the same fee as informal probate

Timeline: 9 to 18 months as a planning estimate for a contested matter

Real Estate: Yes

Attorney: No statutory requirement, and rare without one because the proceeding is litigation

Supervised Administration

N.D.C.C. § 30.1-16-01

An estate where beneficiaries want the court overseeing each step until discharge

Threshold: No dollar threshold.

Filing Fee: $160 to open

Timeline: Longer than informal administration, because the court approves distribution

Real Estate: Yes

Attorney: No statutory requirement, though counsel is common because the court approves each step

Summary Administration

N.D.C.C. §§ 30.1-23-03 and 30.1-23-04

A modest estate, often a home and household goods, that the family allowance and final bills would use up anyway

Threshold: No dollar figure. The inventory and appraisal must show the entire estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the homestead under § 47-18-01 (up to $150,000 over liens), $15,000 of exempt property, the family allowance, administration costs, reasonable funeral expenses and last-illness medical and hospital expenses.

Filing Fee: $160 to open the estate

Timeline: Commonly 2 to 6 months as a planning estimate

Real Estate: Yes

Attorney: No statutory requirement

Small Estate Affidavit (Personal Property)

N.D.C.C. § 30.1-23-01

An estate of accounts, vehicles and belongings, net of liens, of $100,000 or less with no land to transfer

Threshold: $100,000 or less for deaths on or after August 1, 2025 ($50,000 before), measured as the value of the entire estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances. Real property counts toward it, though this affidavit collects only personal property.

Filing Fee: $0. It is never filed. Budget for a notary and certified death certificates at $15 for the first copy

Timeline: Usable 30 days after the death; commonly 1 to 2 months to collect

Real Estate: No

Attorney: No

* North Dakota probate filing fees are set by state statute, so all 53 counties charge the same amounts. The $160 to open an estate, formal or informal, is the fee in N.D.C.C. § 27-05.2-03(1)(a) "For filing a case for decision", raised from $80 by 2025 Senate Bill 2057 for filings on or after July 1, 2025. The fee follows the filing date, not the date of death. The statute does not name probate, and the court system's own fee schedule could not be read for this page, so confirm the charge with the clerk of district court. Summary administration needs an appointed personal representative and costs the same $160. The small estate affidavit carries no court fee, because it is not filed with the court.

Unfamiliar terms in the comparison? The North Dakota probate glossary defines them in plain language.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the main North Dakota probate types?
Informal probate and appointment (N.D.C.C. §§ 30.1-14-02 and 30.1-14-07), formal testacy and appointment proceedings decided after notice (§ 30.1-15-01), supervised administration (§ 30.1-16-01), and summary administration for a modest estate (§ 30.1-23-03). Beside them sits the § 30.1-23-01 small estate affidavit, which never reaches a court, for personal property when the whole estate, net of liens, is $100,000 or less.
Which court handles probate in North Dakota?
The district court. N.D.C.C. § 30.1-02-02 gives it jurisdiction over all subject matter relating to probate and testamentary matters, including estates of decedents. There is no separate probate court and no registrar: in an uncontested informal matter the clerk of district court may sign the documents (§ 30.1-02-06), and a district judge hears formal proceedings. File in the county where the decedent was domiciled at death.
What is the difference between informal and formal probate in North Dakota?
Who decides and whether anyone gets notice first. Informal probate is decided without a hearing, and notice of the application goes only to people who demanded notice and, for appointment, anyone with an equal or prior right to be appointed who has not waived it (§§ 30.1-14-06 and 30.1-14-10). Formal proceedings are litigation, decided after notice and a hearing. Both cost $160 to open, so the choice turns on whether the will or the heirs are in dispute, not on price.
Do you need a lawyer for informal probate in North Dakota?
No. N.D.C.C. § 30.1-14-01.1 says the assistance of an attorney is not required for informal probate or appointment procedure, and requires the court to provide forms prepared by the state court administrator at cost. A lawyer is still worth considering for a contested will, uncertain heirs, real estate in several counties, or a business.
How soon can a North Dakota probate start?
Once 120 hours have passed since the death, the court can informally probate a will and appoint a personal representative, and must issue letters within ten working days after all requirements are met (§ 30.1-14-07(1)). For a nonresident decedent, appointment waits 30 days unless the domiciliary personal representative applies or the will directs that North Dakota law govern. The small estate affidavit waits 30 days.
Is publishing a notice to creditors required in North Dakota?
No. N.D.C.C. § 30.1-19-01 says the personal representative may publish once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, and must then also mail the notice to known and reasonably ascertainable creditors. Claims that arose before the death are then barred unless presented within 3 months after the first publication and mailing. Without published and mailed notice, those claims stay open until 3 years after the death (§ 30.1-19-03(1)).
What does a North Dakota personal representative owe Health and Human Services?
A copy of the probate petition. Upon the granting of letters, every personal representative must send the Department of Health and Human Services a copy of the petition or application commencing probate, with a list of the legatees, devisees, surviving joint tenants and heirs (N.D.C.C. § 50-24.1-07(3)). The department may hold a preferred claim for Medicaid paid to the decedent, which cannot be required to be paid while a surviving spouse, or a child under 21 or blind or permanently and totally disabled, is living.
How soon can a North Dakota estate close?
Outside supervised administration, by a verified closing statement under N.D.C.C. § 30.1-21-03 stating that the estate is fully administered and that a copy and a full written account went to the distributees. If notice to creditors was published and mailed, the statement cannot be filed until 3 months after the first publication and mailing. The appointment ends one year after filing if nothing is pending. A summary administration closes by its own sworn statement under § 30.1-23-04.
Does a North Dakota personal representative have to file an inventory?
Prepare one, yes; file it, not necessarily. N.D.C.C. § 30.1-18-06 requires an inventory within six months after appointment or nine months after the death, whichever is later, listing each item's fair market value at death and any encumbrance. The personal representative may file it with the court, and if it is not filed it must be mailed to every heir in an intestate estate or every devisee under a probated will, and to anyone else who asks.
Does a North Dakota personal representative need a bond?
Usually not in informal proceedings. Under N.D.C.C. § 30.1-17-03, bond is required only of a special administrator, where the will expressly requires it, or where a person with an interest in the estate worth more than $1,000, or a creditor with a claim over $1,000, files a written demand (§ 30.1-17-05). The surety sets the premium.
What is the deadline to open probate in North Dakota?
Three years after the death, with exceptions. N.D.C.C. § 30.1-12-08 bars informal and formal probate and appointment proceedings after that. An appointment may still be made later to confirm title in the successors, but the personal representative then has no right to possess assets beyond that, and claims other than administration expenses may not be presented. An estate still open three years after the death can be called in for a show-cause hearing (§ 30.1-21-03.1).
Does North Dakota have estate or inheritance tax?
No tax is due. North Dakota has had no inheritance tax since 1927, and its estate tax statute is still in the code but equals a federal credit that no longer exists, so no North Dakota estate tax is paid for deaths after 2004. The Tax Commissioner still asks for Form 54-91 from an estate that must file a federal estate tax return.
How is a North Dakota personal representative paid?
Reasonable compensation, with no statutory percentage. N.D.C.C. § 30.1-18-19 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for services, and a fee provision in the will governs unless the personal representative renounces it before qualifying. The court may review the reasonableness of the pay of the personal representative and of any attorney on petition (§ 30.1-18-21).

Important: Picking the North Dakota county picks the courthouse and nothing else. Every county runs the same routes through the district court, venue follows the decedent's domicile under N.D.C.C. § 30.1-13-01, and the filing fee is statewide, so no county is cheaper. What is local is the clerk of district court who takes the filing (in counties of 6,000 or fewer people the recorder often serves as clerk, § 11-10-02), the county recorder who records a deed or a transfer on death deed, and the newspaper that prints a notice to creditors if the personal representative chooses to publish one.

Legal Authority: N.D.C.C. § 30.1-02-02 (subject matter jurisdiction), § 30.1-02-06 (powers of the clerk), § 30.1-13-01 (venue), § 30.1-13-03 (priority for appointment), § 30.1-12-08 (three-year limit), §§ 30.1-14-01.1, 30.1-14-02, 30.1-14-06, 30.1-14-07 and 30.1-14-10 (informal probate and appointment), §§ 30.1-15-01 and 30.1-15-03 (formal testacy proceedings), § 30.1-16-01 (supervised administration), § 30.1-18-05 (information to heirs and devisees), § 30.1-18-06 (inventory), §§ 30.1-19-01 and 30.1-19-03 (creditor claims), §§ 30.1-21-03 and 30.1-21-03.1 (closing), §§ 30.1-23-01, 30.1-23-03 and 30.1-23-04 (small estates), §§ 30.1-17-03 and 30.1-17-05 (bond), § 30.1-18-19 (compensation), § 50-24.1-07 (notice to Health and Human Services), and § 27-05.2-03 (filing fees).. Last Verified: September 2026.

SourcesOfficial references used for this page

This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice or a substitute for attorney review. Laws and fees may change. Verify current requirements with your local court clerk before filing.

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