Oregon Probate Guide

Oregon probate is the court process that proves a will, appoints a personal representative, settles claims against the estate, and passes what is left to the heirs or devisees. Which court hears the case depends on the county. ORS 111.075 vests probate jurisdiction in the county courts of six named counties and in the circuit court for every other county.

That single sentence is where most writing about Oregon probate goes wrong. Read it in full: "Jurisdiction of all probate matters, causes and proceedings is vested in the county courts of Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman and Wheeler Counties and in the circuit court for each other county and as provided in ORS 111.115." Thirty Oregon counties file probate with the circuit court. Six file with the county court, in front of a county judge who is part of county government rather than the Oregon Judicial Department. Those six counties also have a circuit court, its page sits on the state court website, and it does not hear their probate cases. That is the default rather than the only route: ORS 111.075 itself ends with the words 'and as provided in ORS 111.115', and ORS 111.115 lets a county court transfer an estate proceeding to that county's circuit court at any time, and requires the transfer where the county judge is a party or directly interested. After a transfer, jurisdiction vests in the circuit court as if it had been there originally.

Read this page as a map of the process rather than a filing packet. The statutes, the deadlines and the filing fees are statewide, so an estate in Wheeler County follows the same rules as one in Multnomah County. The courthouse is your own county's. Start with the Oregon probate court directory to find yours, and use the Oregon first steps guide for the tasks that come before any filing.

Oregon Has Two Probate Forums

The probate code says so about itself. ORS 111.005(7) defines "court" and "probate court" throughout chapters 111 to 117 as "the court in which jurisdiction of probate matters, causes and proceedings is vested as provided in ORS 111.075." The code never names one statewide probate court, because there is not one.

A county court sitting in probate is not a lesser court, and the code says so twice. ORS 111.095(1) gives a probate court "the general legal and equitable powers of a circuit court," and subsection (2) gives its determinations, orders and judgments "the same validity, finality and presumption of regularity as those of a circuit court." Subsection (4) then lets that court compel testimony and documents, surcharge a fiduciary and any surety for a loss caused by a breach of duty, decide ownership of title to real or personal property, and remove a fiduciary when removal serves the interested persons.

What that court does is the same in both forums. ORS 111.085(1) lists the work: appointing and qualifying personal representatives, probating and contesting wills, determining heirship, deciding title to property claimed by or against a personal representative, administering and distributing estates, construing wills, running guardianships and conservatorships, and supervising the fiduciaries it appoints. Subsection (2) adds a rule worth knowing before money moves: a distributee who accepts a distribution from an Oregon estate submits personally to Oregon courts on any matter involving that estate.

The county court is the default forum in those six counties, not the only one. ORS 111.115(1) lets a county court transfer an estate proceeding to the circuit court for that county at any time by its own order, and subsection (2) requires the transfer when the county judge is a party or is directly interested. On transfer the county clerk certifies the papers into the circuit court records and jurisdiction vests there as if it had been exclusive from the start.

The counter you walk up to also differs. In the 30 circuit-court counties, probate filings go to the circuit court and its trial court administrator. In the six county-court counties the county sets its own filing office, and the six do not answer alike. Grant County directs "all filings" to the county clerk by name and address, and its page quotes ORS 111.075 back at the reader, which tells you how often the question comes up there. Ask your own county where a petition goes before you address an envelope.

Venue Is the County, and More Than One Can Qualify

ORS 113.015(1) gives four places where a petition for appointment or for probate of a will may be filed: the county where the decedent had a domicile or a place of abode at death, any county where estate property was located at death or sits when the proceeding starts, the county where the decedent died, and the county where a personal injury or wrongful death claim could be maintained.

Subsection (2) softens the whole question. Filing in a county other than one of those four "does not constitute a jurisdictional defect." Most families still file where the person lived, which is usually the least friction, but the statute is wider than the habit.

Opening the Estate

Anyone with an interest in the estate, or the person a will nominates, may petition. ORS 113.035 sets out what the petition has to say: the decedent's name, age, domicile, address and date and place of death, whether there was a will, the facts that establish venue, the proposed personal representative and why that person qualifies, the heirs with their addresses and the ages of any minors, and a statement that reasonable efforts were made to identify and locate all of them. If the decedent left a will, the devisees go in the same way, with an explanation of any devise that failed. Subsection (11) asks for the extent and nature of the assets so the court can set bond.

ORS 113.085(1) ranks who gets appointed: the personal representative named in the will, then a surviving spouse who is a distributee or that spouse's nominee, then a distributee who would take under intestate succession, then any other distributee, then the Director of Human Services or of the Oregon Health Authority where public or medical assistance may be recoverable, then the Department of Veterans' Affairs in a protected-person case, then anyone else. Where the decedent died wholly intestate and without known heirs, subsection (3) sends the appointment to the State Treasurer.

Bond is the default and the exceptions are broad. ORS 113.105(1) blocks letters until the personal representative files a bond in an amount the court sets against the liquidity of the assets, expected income, and probable debts and taxes. Subsection (2) drops that requirement where the will says no bond is needed, where the personal representative is the sole heir or devisee, where a listed public fiduciary serves, or where the petition states that no assets are known. Subsection (4) lets the court waive bond on a request that gives reasons and describes the known creditors, and subsection (5) lets the court waive or reduce it where estate money is held subject to withdrawal only on court order.

ORS 113.125 then issues letters testamentary or letters of administration once that bond, if any, is filed, carrying any conditions the court imposed. Letters are the document a bank or a title company will ask to see. The Oregon executor duties guide covers the job once they issue.

The Notices That Start Every Clock

Two notices go out on appointment and they do different jobs.

The first goes to the family. ORS 113.145(1) requires the personal representative to deliver or mail information to the devisees, heirs and other people named in the petition, giving the court and file number, the decedent's name, the place and date of death, whether a will was admitted, the personal representative's name and address, the date of appointment, and a warning that the recipient's rights may be affected. Proof of that mailing goes into the file within 30 days under subsection (4). Subsection (6) adds the step out-of-state templates always miss: within 30 days of appointment the personal representative must send the same information plus a copy of the death record to the Department of Human Services and the Oregon Health Authority.

The second goes to the world. ORS 113.155(1) requires a notice to interested persons published once in a newspaper published in the county where the proceeding is pending, or in a newspaper the court designates if the county has none. Subsection (2)(d) fixes the wording that matters: the notice must require all persons having claims to present them within four months after the date of publication or they may be barred. That publication date is the clock the rest of the estate runs on.

Then the personal representative goes looking. ORS 115.003(1) allows three months after appointment to investigate the decedent's financial records and affairs and identify everyone who has or asserts a claim, and the court shall extend that period on request if the work cannot be finished. Within 30 days after the period ends, subsection (2) requires written notice to each known claimant, and subsection (3)(d) sets the wording: claims not presented within 45 days of the date of that notice may be barred. Proof of the search and the notices is filed within 60 days after the period ends.

The inventory follows. ORS 113.165 gives 90 days after the date of appointment, unless the court grants longer, to file an inventory of all estate property that has come into the personal representative's possession or knowledge, valued at fair market value as of the date of death.

Oregon Probate Deadlines

The Oregon probate deadlines guide turns these into a working schedule, and how long Oregon probate takes handles the duration question on its own page.

The Creditor Clock Runs From Publication

Claims go to the personal representative, not into the court file. ORS 115.005(1)(a) says exactly that: "Filing a claim with the court does not constitute presentation to the personal representative." A claim is presented when it is mailed or personally delivered to the address in the petition, the address given in the ORS 115.003 notice, or the address in the published notice. Subsection (1)(b) lets the personal representative also authorize email or fax to a designated address, and puts the burden on the creditor to prove a disputed transmission went through.

Subsection (2) is the bar. A claim is barred from payment unless it is presented within its own statute of limitations and before the later of four months after the date of publication, or 45 days after a conforming ORS 115.003 notice is delivered or mailed to the claimant's last known address. Subsection (3) keeps one door open: a claim presented late is still paid if the limitation period has not run, the final account has not been filed, and the claimant did not get a 115.003 notice more than 30 days before presenting. Those late claims are paid only after the expenses that outrank claims and every earlier claim.

Answering a claim has its own clock. ORS 115.135(1) treats a presented claim as allowed as presented unless the personal representative mails or delivers a notice of disallowance within 60 days. The claimant then has 30 days under ORS 115.145(1) to ask the probate court for a summary determination or to file a separate action, and missing that window bars the disallowed part.

When the money runs short, ORS 115.125(1) sets the order of payment: support of the spouse and children first, then administration expenses, then a plain and decent funeral, then debts and taxes with federal preference, then the medical and hospital expenses of the last illness, then state taxes due and payable while the personal representative still holds the estate, wages owed employees for labor performed in the 90 days before the death, child support arrearages, the Department of Veterans' Affairs claim, the Department of Human Services and Oregon Health Authority claims, the Department of Corrections claim, and everything else last. Inside a class that cannot be paid in full, subsection (2) prorates.

What It Costs to Open an Oregon Probate

Oregon bands the filing fee by the value of the estate. The bands are statutory and statewide, and the Oregon Judicial Department's own circuit court fee schedule prints the same four numbers with ORS 21.170 as the authority for each row.

Two details decide whether a page about Oregon fees is right. ORS 21.170(5) says "the fees established under this section apply to county courts exercising probate jurisdiction," so all six county-court counties charge the same schedule and no county sets its own number. And subsection (3) leaves a wrongful death settlement paid to the surviving spouse or dependents out of the estate value when the fee is calculated.

Paperwork charges are set by order rather than by statute, and they do not reach both forums the same way. The fee schedule carries two rows that are easy to confuse, and the one an executor actually buys is "Certified copies of letters of administration or letters testamentary" at "$5 + 25¢ per page if provided in paper form + $0 if delivered electronically", under ORS 21.258 and Chief Justice Order 23-016 section 2.b.(1). Those pluses are a sum, so the $5 certification is charged even when the copy arrives electronically. The separate "Supplying official certificate" row, at $5 plus the cost of providing the document in paper form under ORS 21.258(1) and section 2.b.(3), is a different service. Read the first line of that section: it lets "a circuit court" collect the fees the Chief Justice establishes for a service with no fee provided by law. Subsection (2) bars any fee at all for locating or inspecting court records. In a county-court county, ask that county what a certified copy of letters costs before you budget for one.

What the Personal Representative Earns

Oregon pays a commission on a sliding scale rather than an hourly rate, and it is claimed on application to the court.

ORS 116.173(1) defines the property the commission runs on, which is wider than the inventory: everything owned at death and subject to administration, income received during administration, realized gains beyond an asset's stated value, unrealized gains on assets bought during administration, and wrongful death proceeds. Subsection (4) lets the court allow more for extraordinary and unusual services. Subsection (5) makes a compensation clause in the will control, unless the personal representative signs and files a written renunciation of it before being appointed.

The Simple Estate Affidavit

Oregon calls its shortcut the simple estate affidavit. The 2023 legislature retired the old name, and ORS 114.510 is now captioned "Simple estate criteria." Two limits apply at once: no more than $75,000 of the fair market value of the estate from personal property other than manufactured homes, and no more than $200,000 from real property and manufactured homes combined. There is no $275,000 total figure in current law, values are taken without reduction for liens or debts under subsection (2)(b), and the affidavit may be filed 30 days after the death under ORS 114.515(3) for $124.

That route reaches Oregon real estate, which most states' affidavits do not, and it stays open when there is a will. Work the numbers on the Oregon simple estate affidavit guide before paying a full filing fee.

When There Is No Will

The surviving spouse takes the whole net intestate estate if there are no descendants, under ORS 112.035, and also takes the whole of it under ORS 112.025(1) when every surviving descendant of the decedent is a descendant of that spouse too. Where even one surviving descendant is not the spouse's, subsection (2) cuts the spouse to one-half.

Watch what happens to the other half, because this is the point Oregon summaries get backwards. ORS 112.045(1) passes it "to the descendants of the decedent by representation," meaning all of the decedent's descendants, not only the ones outside the marriage. Two children, one of them the spouse's stepchild, take 25 percent each. The Oregon intestate succession guide works the shares past that first rung.

Closing the Estate

Accounting is periodic and then final. ORS 116.083(1) requires an account annually within 60 days after each anniversary of appointment unless the court orders otherwise, within 30 days of a resignation or removal, and when the estate is ready for final settlement. Subsection (3) lets a personal representative file a shorter statement instead of an annual account when the distributees consent in writing, and subsection (5) allows the same substitution for the final account when the distributees consent and every creditor outside administrative expenses has been paid in full.

The final account carries the closing statements: that any required estate tax return has been filed, that Oregon income taxes, estate taxes and personal property taxes are paid or secured by bond or deposit, how the personal representative's compensation was determined, and a petition for a judgment authorizing distribution.

Notice comes next. ORS 116.093(1) has the personal representative set a date for objections and mail the final account, the petition and that date to every distributee and to every creditor who has not been paid in full and is not otherwise barred, at least 20 days before the date. ORS 116.113 then enters a general judgment of final distribution naming who takes what, and subsection (3) makes that judgment a conclusive determination of the successors and their interests, subject to appeal and to the court's power to vacate. ORS 116.213 closes the file: once receipts show distribution happened, the court enters a supplemental judgment of discharge that releases the personal representative and the surety.

Oregon's Estate Tax

Oregon levies its own estate tax and it starts far below the federal threshold. ORS 118.160(1)(c) requires an estate tax return for a decedent who died on or after January 1, 2012 when the gross estate is $1 million or more. ORS 118.010(4) sets the rate table, which opens at $1,000,000 of Oregon taxable estate at 10 percent and reaches 16 percent at $9,500,000. The tax reaches an Oregon resident's estate and a nonresident's Oregon real property or tangible personal property.

ORS 118.100(1) sets one deadline for both the return and the payment: no later than 12 months after the date of death. That 12-month rule came from 2021 Oregon Laws chapter 372, whose section 2 applies it to estates of decedents dying on or after January 1, 2022, and the Department of Revenue confirms that deaths before that date ran on nine months. The form is Oregon Form OR-706 for the year of death, and Form OR-706-EXT buys six more months to file without extending the time to pay.

Handling It Yourself

One Oregon packet is worth knowing by name. The Oregon Judicial Department puts a seven-page Simple Estate Affidavit instructions document on its Forms Center, stamped "OJD OFFICIAL" and revised June 2026, and it walks the two value limits, the notarization and the search of court records for an estate already open. The Forms Center states its own reach in one sentence: "This website lists forms available for use statewide. Any form on this site will be accepted in all circuit courts. Statewide forms are not available for all circumstances. Additional forms may be available through local courts." Note the word circuit. That promise does not speak for the six county courts, so ask them directly.

A full administration is heavier than an affidavit, and the deadlines above are the reason. Read Oregon probate without a lawyer for the decision points that usually send people to counsel.

An Out-of-State Decedent Who Owned Oregon Property

Oregon will take the case. ORS 113.015(1)(b) puts venue in any county where estate property sat at death or sits when the proceeding starts, so Oregon land supports a filing here even when the decedent lived elsewhere. ORS 113.065 then admits the will of a testator domiciled outside Oregon on a petition supported by a certified copy of the will and a certified copy of the order admitting it where the testator lived. That will can still be contested here on the same grounds as an Oregon will. The Oregon ancillary probate guide covers what an out-of-state personal representative has to do to clear title to Oregon land.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which court handles probate in Oregon?

It depends on the county. ORS 111.075 vests jurisdiction of all probate matters in the county courts of Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman and Wheeler Counties, and in the circuit court for every other county. So 30 Oregon counties file probate with the circuit court and six file with the county court, before a county judge. Those six counties also have a circuit court, and it does not hear their probate cases. ORS 111.115 lets a county court transfer an estate proceeding to the circuit court at any time, and requires the transfer when the county judge is a party or directly interested.

How much does it cost to file probate in Oregon?

The fee is statewide and it steps up with the value of the estate. Under ORS 21.170(1) a petition for appointment of a personal representative costs $278 if the estate is worth less than $50,000, $591 from $50,000 to under $1 million, $882 from $1 million to under $10 million, and $1,176 at $10 million or more. Each annual or final accounting costs $35, $298, $591 or $1,176 on the same four bands under ORS 21.170(2). ORS 21.170(5) applies the same schedule to the six county courts, so no Oregon county charges its own number.

How long do creditors have to make a claim in an Oregon estate?

Four months from publication, with a second window for anyone the personal representative writes to. ORS 113.155 requires a notice to interested persons published once in a newspaper in the county where the proceeding is pending, stating that claims must be presented within four months after the date of publication. ORS 115.005(2) then bars a claim not presented before the later of four months after publication and 45 days after a written notice under ORS 115.003 reaches the claimant. Claims go to the personal representative, not to the court file.

Does Oregon have a small estate affidavit?

Oregon retired that name in 2023. The route is now the simple estate affidavit, and ORS 114.510 sets two limits that must both hold: no more than $75,000 of the fair market value of the estate from personal property other than manufactured homes, and no more than $200,000 from real property and manufactured homes combined. There is no $275,000 total, and values are counted without reduction for liens or debts. The affidavit may be filed 30 days after the death under ORS 114.515(3) and costs $124.

How long does Oregon probate take?

The floor is set by the creditor window. Nothing distributes safely until four months have run from the date the notice to interested persons is published under ORS 113.155, and the inventory is due 90 days after appointment under ORS 113.165. Past the one-year mark ORS 116.083(1)(a) expects an annual account within 60 days of each anniversary of appointment, which is a sign that Oregon anticipates estates running longer than a year. No single number describes an Oregon estate, because the work that sets the pace is selling property, answering claims and clearing taxes, so treat any figure you read as an estimate.

Sources:

• Title: ORS Chapter 111, General Provisions (probate jurisdiction, ORS 111.005, 111.075, 111.085, 111.115). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors111.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 113, Initiation of Estate Proceedings (ORS 113.015, 113.035, 113.065, 113.075, 113.085, 113.105, 113.125, 113.145, 113.155, 113.165). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors113.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 114, Administration of Estates Generally (ORS 114.510 Simple estate criteria; ORS 114.515). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors114.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 115, Claims; Actions and Suits (ORS 115.003, 115.005, 115.125, 115.135, 115.145). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors115.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 116, Accounting, Distribution and Closing (ORS 116.083, 116.093, 116.113, 116.173, 116.213). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors116.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 21, State Court Fees (ORS 21.135, 21.145, 21.170, 21.258). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors021.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 118, Estate Tax (ORS 118.010, 118.100, 118.160). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors118.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 112, Intestate Succession and Wills (ORS 112.025, 112.035, 112.045). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2025 Edition. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors112.html
• Title: Oregon Laws 2021, Chapter 372 (HB 3138, due date of estate tax return). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: 2021. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2021orLaw0372.pdf
• Title: Circuit Court Fee Schedule. Publisher: Oregon Judicial Department. Publication Date: Effective January 1, 2026. URL: https://www.courts.oregon.gov/Documents/2026_CircuitFeeSchedule_public_eff-2026-01-01.pdf
• Title: Simple Estate Affidavit Instructions. Publisher: Oregon Judicial Department. Publication Date: June 2026. URL: https://www.courts.oregon.gov/forms/Documents/ProbateSimpleEstate.pdf
• Title: Forms Center. Publisher: Oregon Judicial Department. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.courts.oregon.gov/forms/Pages/default.aspx
• Title: Find a Court. Publisher: Oregon Judicial Department. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.courts.oregon.gov/courts/Pages/default.aspx
• Title: Estate Transfer and Fiduciary Income Taxes. Publisher: Oregon Department of Revenue. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://www.oregon.gov/dor/programs/businesses/Pages/estate.aspx
• Title: Probate, Grant County Clerk. Publisher: Grant County, Oregon. Publication Date: Not listed. URL: https://grantcountyoregon.net/162/Probate

It is not legal advice.