Oregon Probate Timeline

An Oregon probate usually takes nine to eighteen months when a personal representative is appointed, and about five to six months on the simple estate affidavit route. A four-month creditor window sits under both. In a full administration it runs from the date the notice to interested persons is published, not from the death.

Most descriptions of Oregon probate put that clock in the wrong place. The four months do not run from the death, and they do not run from the day letters issue. They run from the date of publication, and publication happens on appointment, so every week between the death and the letters is a week added to the far end of the estate. This page covers how long each Oregon route actually takes and what moves the finish line. For the dated duties themselves, in a working list with the day each one falls due, read the dated duties behind the schedule. It is general information about Oregon law rather than advice about one estate, so confirm your own dates with the court handling the file or a licensed Oregon attorney.

Four Routes, Four Durations

Oregon does not have one probate timeline. It has four, and the route settles the duration before anything else does.

The first three are exits. The fourth is what happens when none of them fits.

Ruling the affidavit in or out belongs at the top of the list, because it reaches real property as well as personal property and it never appoints a personal representative. The simple estate affidavit applies two caps that must both hold under ORS 114.510: no more than $75,000 of fair market value attributable to personal property other than manufactured homes, and no more than $200,000 attributable to real property and manufactured homes combined. There is no single $275,000 test in current law, and treating the two caps as one number qualifies estates that are actually shut out.

Where the petition gets filed does not change any of these clocks, but it does change the counter. ORS 111.075 vests probate jurisdiction in the county courts of Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman and Wheeler counties, and in the circuit court for every other county. Those six counties also have a circuit court, and it does not hear probate. Your county's probate court sets out which forum takes the petition.

Publication Is the Floor, and It Is Not Optional

Everything else in an Oregon administration can be compressed. The claim window cannot.

ORS 113.155(1) says that upon appointment the personal representative shall cause a notice to interested persons to be published once, in a newspaper published in the county where the proceeding is pending or in a newspaper the court designates if none is published there. ORS 113.155(2)(d) requires that notice to tell every person holding a claim to present it within four months after the date of publication. ORS 115.005(2)(a) then makes that the bar.

Two features of the Oregon design are worth holding onto.

• There is no slower alternative bar. Failing to publish is a breach of duty to the persons concerned, and ORS 113.155(3) says it does not affect the validity of the appointment or of the powers. What it does is leave claims unbarred, so a personal representative who skips publication has no date on which exposure ends and no way to shorten it later.
• The one exception is a no-asset petition. ORS 113.155(5)(a) turns publication off only where BOTH halves hold: the petition states that no assets of the estate are known to the petitioner, AND no assets have come into the personal representative's possession or knowledge. If assets later come into the personal representative's hands, ORS 113.155(5)(b) requires publication to begin within 30 days after the inventory or supplemental inventory that first shows them.

So the fastest lawful full administration is roughly the four months plus the time it takes to get appointed at the front and to close the file at the back. When the creditor clock starts is worth reading before the notice runs, because the same chapter decides which creditors have to be written to individually.

The Later-Of Rule Decides the Real Date

The published four months is the headline. ORS 115.005(2) is the arithmetic, and it bars a claim only after the later of two dates: four months after publication, or, for a creditor the personal representative was required to notify under ORS 115.003(2), 45 days after that individual notice was delivered or mailed.

Now put the search schedule beside it. ORS 115.003(1) gives the personal representative three months after appointment to make reasonably diligent efforts to investigate the decedent's financial records and affairs and identify everyone holding a claim. ORS 115.003(2) then allows until 30 days after that period expires to mail each known claimant a notice, and ORS 115.003(3)(d) makes that notice warn the creditor that a claim not presented within 45 days may be barred. Proof of compliance is filed not later than 60 days after the search period expires, under ORS 115.003(4).

Run the two schedules together on an estate where publication happened on the day of appointment.

A personal representative who uses every day the statute allows pushes the real claim bar out roughly six weeks past the published date. One who writes to known creditors during the search period instead keeps the whole estate on the publication clock. That single scheduling choice is the cheapest month available in an Oregon estate.

One more window stays open behind both of these. ORS 115.005(3) still pays a late claim where it is presented before the applicable statute of limitations runs and before the final account is filed, by someone who did not receive an ORS 115.003 notice more than 30 days earlier, and then only after everything with priority under ORS 115.125 has been paid. Filing the final account is what shuts that door.

The First 90 Days

The front of an Oregon estate is dense, and almost all of it is front-loaded on purpose.

Letters come first, and bond usually comes before letters. ORS 113.105(1) says the personal representative may not act, and letters may not issue, until bond is provided in an amount the court sets. ORS 113.105(2) lifts that where the will provides no bond is required, where the personal representative is the sole heir or devisee, where a named public office or approved person is serving, or where the petition states no assets are known. The court can still require a bond for good cause. Getting your letters covers the petition and the ORS 113.085 preference order the court appoints from.

Once letters issue, three clocks start together.

1. Information to devisees, heirs and interested persons, upon appointment. ORS 113.145(1) lists what has to go out: the court and file number, the decedent's name and place and date of death, whether a will has been admitted, the personal representative's and attorney's names and addresses, the date of appointment, and a statement that the recipient's rights may be affected. The statute puts no day count on the delivery itself. It puts one on the paperwork: ORS 113.145(4) requires proof of the delivery or mailing, or a waiver, to be filed within 30 days after the date of appointment.
2. Notice to the Department of Human Services and the Oregon Health Authority, within 30 days. ORS 113.145(6) requires the same information plus a copy of the death record to reach both agencies within 30 days after appointment. Order an extra certified copy at the start, because the statute asks for the record itself rather than a recital of the death.
3. Publication. Covered above, and the one that sets the finish line.

The inventory lands at 90 days. ORS 113.165 gives the personal representative 90 days after the date of appointment, unless the court grants longer, to file an inventory of all estate property that has come into their possession or knowledge, at estimated fair market values as of the date of death. Ninety days, not sixty. Where nothing has come in, an inventory saying so is still filed. Property found later goes into a supplemental inventory within 30 days of discovery, or into the next accounting, under ORS 113.175.

An estate that cannot wait for any of this has one early tool. ORS 113.005 lets the court appoint a special administrator before a personal representative is appointed and qualified, where property is in danger of loss, injury or deterioration, or where disposition of the decedent's remains is required.

How an Oregon Estate Actually Ends

A full administration closes on a judgment, and the last stretch has its own schedule.

The personal representative files an account when the estate is ready for final settlement and distribution, under ORS 116.083(1)(d). ORS 116.083(4) adds what a final account has to carry that an annual one does not: a statement that any required estate tax return has been filed, a statement that Oregon income, estate and personal property taxes are paid or secured, any request to hold a reserve for later tax, a statement of how the personal representative's compensation was determined, and the petition for a judgment authorizing distribution.

Then the objection window opens. Under ORS 116.093(1) the personal representative sets a time for filing objections and, not less than 20 days before that time, mails the final account, the petition and notice of the objection date to each distributee at their last-known address and to each creditor not paid in full whose claim is not barred. The Attorney General is added where a charitable trust, public benefit corporation or religious organization is a residuary beneficiary or takes less than a specific devise to it. An unpaid agency claimant gets a copy of the final account at the same time. Objections are filed under ORS 116.103, and the court then fixes a hearing.

If nobody objects, ORS 116.113 has the court enter a general judgment of final distribution naming who takes and in what portions. That judgment is the end of the administration. ORS 116.213 adds the last step: once receipts showing distribution are filed, the court enters a supplemental judgment of discharge releasing the personal representative and the surety.

There is a shorter ending, and it is underused. ORS 116.083(5) lets the personal representative file a statement in lieu of the final account where the distributees consent in writing, other than distributees whose only distribution is a cash or specific bequest that will be paid in full, and where every creditor other than one owed administrative expenses that require court approval has been paid. ORS 116.083(6) then says notice of the time for filing objections is not required at all. An estate that qualifies skips the 20-day window entirely. How the accounts work sets out what has to be in each one.

Any estate still open on its first anniversary owes an annual account within 60 days after that anniversary, under ORS 116.083(1)(a). Each annual or final account carries its own filing fee under ORS 21.170(2), between $35 and $1,176 depending on the value of the estate, so a file that drifts pays for the drift more than once.

The Affidavit Route Trades a Shorter Front for a Longer Tail

Oregon's simplified route reaches distribution far sooner and stays reviewable far longer.

ORS 114.515(3) blocks filing until 30 days after the death. Claims are then presented to the affiant, not to a court, within four months after the affidavit was filed under ORS 114.540(1)(a), and a further four months runs from any amended affidavit. There is no publication on this route at all, which is why the clock hangs off the filing date instead. Within 30 days after filing, ORS 114.545(1)(d) requires the affiant to mail or deliver each instrument the affidavit says will be sent.

Distribution comes next. ORS 114.555(1)(a) has the affiant transfer the decedent's interest in the remaining property once the four-month window has closed, once unsecured creditors have been paid to the extent of the estate, and before the two-year period in ORS 114.550 ends. Real property is conveyed by a bargain and sale deed recorded in the county where it sits, under ORS 114.555(3).

Then the tail. ORS 114.555(2) keeps the conveyed property subject to the rights of the decedent's creditors until that two-year period expires, and ORS 114.550(1) lets the affiant or an unpaid claiming successor petition for summary review of the administration within the same two years. A family can hold clear possession at month six and still be inside the review window at month twenty-three.

What Pushes an Oregon Estate Past a Year

Seven things stretch an Oregon administration, and the first two are the ones a personal representative controls.

1. A late publication date. The four months start when the notice runs, so a delay here moves the close one day for one day.
2. Waiting the full statutory time to write to known creditors. Mailing on the last allowable day pushes those creditors' bar about six weeks past the published date.
3. Real property that has to be sold. The market sets this pace, not the statute.
4. A will contest. ORS 113.075(3) gives an interested person four months, running from the later of the date the ORS 113.145 information was delivered or mailed to them, or the date of publication where they were not required to be named in the petition. Contesting an Oregon will freezes distribution while it runs.
5. An elective share motion. ORS 114.610 requires a surviving spouse to file within nine months after the death, and that clock runs from the death rather than from appointment. What a surviving spouse can claim covers the augmented estate the percentage is measured against.
6. An Oregon estate tax return. ORS 118.160(1)(c) requires a return where the gross estate is $1 million or more for deaths on or after January 1, 2012, and ORS 118.100(1) makes the return and the payment both due no later than 12 months following the date of death. A taxable estate cannot close until the Department of Revenue has been settled with, and the federal side of the same question runs on its own calendar.
7. An accounting cycle. Every year the file stays open adds an annual account, its 60-day filing window and its fee.

The first two are decided in the opening weeks, which is why the front of an Oregon estate deserves more attention than the back. How Oregon probate works sets the process out end to end, and what the personal representative has to do covers the duties the calendar hangs from.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does probate take in Oregon?

Nine to eighteen months for a full administration. The personal representative is appointed, publishes notice to interested persons once, waits out the four-month claim period that runs from the date of publication, files an inventory at 90 days, settles taxes and claims, then files a final account and petition for a judgment of distribution. An estate settled by simple estate affidavit instead of by a personal representative usually finishes in about five to six months.

When does the four-month creditor clock start in Oregon?

At the date of publication of the notice to interested persons, not at the death and not at the appointment. ORS 113.155(1) requires the personal representative to publish that notice once upon appointment, and ORS 115.005(2)(a) bars a claim that is not presented before four months after the date of publication. A creditor the personal representative was required to notify individually under ORS 115.003(2) gets the later of those four months and 45 days after that individual notice was delivered or mailed.

What is the shortest an Oregon estate can take?

About two months, and only where no probate is opened at all. Under ORS 708A.430 a bank may pay a deposit of $25,000 or less on an affidavit, and ORS 723.466 does the same for a credit union. A surviving spouse may demand payment at any time after the death. Everyone else in the statutory order waits at least 46 days, and at least 76 days unless the bank first gets authorization from the Oregon Health Authority and the Department of Human Services.

Is there a deadline for opening probate in Oregon?

No. Nothing in ORS chapter 113 sets a date by which a petition for appointment of a personal representative must be filed. The pressure runs the other way: every later clock in an Oregon estate starts at appointment or at publication, so a month of delay at the front adds a month at the back. The one outer marker is ORS 113.027, which bars admitting a will to probate more than one year after the estate has been administered in Oregon and closed.

Can an Oregon estate close without a final accounting?

Yes. ORS 116.083(5) lets the personal representative file a statement in lieu of the final account where the distributees consent in writing and every creditor other than one owed administrative expenses that require court approval has been paid in full. ORS 116.083(6) then removes the notice of the time for filing objections, so the 20-day window under ORS 116.093 never opens. That is the fastest honest way to end an Oregon administration.

How long is a family exposed after an Oregon simple estate affidavit?

Two years. The affiant may transfer the property once the four-month claim window under ORS 114.540 closes and unsecured creditors have been paid, but ORS 114.555(2) keeps the transferred property subject to the rights of the decedent's creditors until the two-year period in ORS 114.550 expires. The affidavit route reaches distribution faster than a full administration and stays open to review longer.

Related Guides

• Oregon Probate Guide
• Oregon Probate Deadlines
• Oregon Creditor Claims
• Oregon Simple Estate Affidavit
• Oregon Probate Courts by County

Sources:

• Title: ORS Chapter 111, General Provisions, 2025 Edition, including ORS 111.075 (probate jurisdiction vested). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors111.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 113, Initiation of Estate Proceedings, 2025 Edition, including ORS 113.005, 113.027, 113.035, 113.075, 113.105, 113.145, 113.155, 113.165 and 113.175. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors113.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 114, Administration of Estates Generally, 2025 Edition, including ORS 114.085, 114.510, 114.515, 114.540, 114.545, 114.550, 114.555 and 114.610. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors114.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 115, Claims, Actions and Suits, 2025 Edition, including ORS 115.003, 115.005 and 115.125. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors115.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 116, Accounting, Distribution and Closing, 2025 Edition, including ORS 116.083, 116.093, 116.103, 116.113 and 116.213. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors116.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 118, Estate Tax, 2025 Edition, including ORS 118.100 and 118.160. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors118.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 21, State Court Fees, 2025 Edition, including ORS 21.170 (probate filing fees and accounting fees). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors021.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 708A, Regulation of Institutions Generally, 2025 Edition, including ORS 708A.430 (disposition of deposit on death of depositor). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors708A.html
• Title: Oregon Laws 2025, Chapter 463 (Senate Bill 146), Relating to trust property; creating new provisions; and amending ORS 98.302, 98.308, 98.352, 98.382, 98.384, 112.055, 114.555, 116.083, 116.193 and 116.203. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: June 26, 2025. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2025orLaw0463.pdf
• Title: ORS Chapter 723, Credit Unions, 2025 Edition, including ORS 723.466 (disposition of deposit on death of depositor). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors723.html
• Title: Oregon Laws 2025, Chapter 65 (House Bill 3370), Relating to financial institutions; amending ORS 192.589, 708A.430, 723.202, 723.252 and 723.466. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: May 12, 2025. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2025orLaw0065.pdf

It is not legal advice.