Indiana probate laws, set out in Title 29 of the Indiana Code, govern how a deceased person’s estate is collected, debts are paid, and remaining property is transferred to heirs or beneficiaries. A case typically starts when someone files a petition in the circuit or superior court of the county where the person lived, and the court appoints a personal representative to run the estate. Most straightforward estates close in roughly six to twelve months; contested or complex ones can take longer.
Which Probate Track Applies to Your Estate
Before doing anything else, figure out which of Indiana’s three probate paths fits the situation. The choice depends on the estate’s size, whether the will addresses the question, and whether the heirs agree.
Small Estate Affidavit
If the gross probate estate, minus liens, encumbrances, and reasonable funeral expenses, is $100,000 or less, no court case is needed. A distributee can collect the assets using a sworn affidavit starting 45 days after the death.1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 29-1-8-1 – Small Estates Payment Upon Presentation of Affidavit The affidavit has to state that no probate petition is pending, identify every distributee entitled to a share, and confirm the estate falls under the threshold. Banks, brokerages, and other holders of the assets are required by law to release funds when they receive a valid affidavit. This route works best when the estate is mostly cash and personal property and the heirs are not fighting.
Unsupervised Administration
This is the most common route for Indiana estates that don’t qualify for the affidavit. The personal representative handles debts, asset sales, and distributions without seeking court permission at each step. To qualify, the estate must be solvent, the representative must be qualified, and all heirs or beneficiaries must freely consent. If the will itself authorizes unsupervised administration, the court can grant it without individual consent from each beneficiary, provided the will does not request supervision.2Justia Law. Indiana Code 29-1-7.5 – Unsupervised Administration and Claims Against Personal Representatives and Distributees
One practical benefit: under unsupervised administration, the representative is generally not required to post a bond.3Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 29-1-7.5-2.5 – Personal Representatives Bond Bond premiums can be significant on larger estates. The inventory still has to be filed, and beneficiaries can still demand an accounting, but the case moves faster without constant court filings.
Supervised Administration
When beneficiaries disagree, the estate is insolvent, or the will requests it, the court runs a supervised administration. The representative must get court approval before major actions such as selling real estate or making distributions. The oversight protects beneficiaries but pushes up legal fees and lengthens the timeline. A beneficiary who suspects mismanagement in an unsupervised case can petition the court to convert it to supervised status.
The Steps Once an Estate Is Opened
After the petition is filed and the court appoints the personal representative, it issues either letters testamentary (when there is a valid will) or letters of administration (when there isn’t). Those letters give the representative legal authority to act for the estate, including accessing bank accounts and selling property.
The representative’s first big task is finding and cataloging everything the deceased person owned. Indiana law requires a verified inventory, filed with the court within two months of appointment, listing each asset at fair market value along with any liens or debts attached to it.4Justia Law. Indiana Code Title 29 Article 1 Chapter 12 – Inventory
Next comes creditors. After the letters issue, the representative publishes a notice of administration. Creditors then have three months from the date of that first published notice to file claims.5Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 29-1-7-7 – Notice of Administration Any claim not filed within nine months of the death is permanently barred, regardless of when notice was published. The representative reviews each claim and pays only what is legitimate.
Once debts, taxes, and administrative expenses are settled, whatever is left is distributed according to the will or, if there is no will, under Indiana’s intestacy rules. The representative then files a final accounting and asks the court for discharge. In an unsupervised case, the representative files a closing statement instead of seeking a formal court order, but the checklist is the same: creditor period expired, tax clearances obtained, distributions made, receipts or waivers signed. The discharge releases the representative from further duties and generally bars later lawsuits over the administration, with an exception for claims based on mistake, fraud, or willful misconduct, which must be brought within one year of discharge.
What Happens When There Is No Will
When someone dies without a will in Indiana, the estate passes under the state’s intestacy statute. If there is a surviving spouse and children, the spouse generally receives one-half of the net estate, with the remainder divided equally among the children. If the deceased person left a spouse but no children, parents, or siblings, the spouse inherits everything.
With no surviving spouse, the estate goes to the children in equal shares. If a child died before the parent, that child’s own descendants inherit the deceased child’s share. When neither spouse nor children survive, the estate passes to parents, then siblings, and further down the family tree. If no heirs can be found, the estate escheats to the State of Indiana.
Surviving Spouse Elective Share
Indiana law prevents a spouse from being completely disinherited. If a will leaves the surviving spouse less than the statute provides, or nothing at all, the spouse can elect to take against the will. The general rule gives the surviving spouse one-half of the net personal and real estate of the deceased spouse.6Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 29-1-3-1
A different formula applies in blended families. If the surviving spouse is a second or subsequent spouse who never had children with the deceased person, and the deceased person left children from a prior marriage, the elective share is reduced to one-third of the net personal estate plus 25 percent of the net equity in the real estate.6Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 29-1-3-1 The election has to be made promptly after the will is admitted to probate, so a spouse considering it should talk to an attorney as soon as the estate is opened.
Assets That Skip Probate Entirely
Not everything a person owned goes through probate. Several common asset types transfer directly to a named beneficiary:
- Real estate or bank accounts held as joint tenants with right of survivorship pass automatically to the surviving co-owner.
- Life insurance proceeds go directly to the beneficiary named on the policy.
- Retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k)s transfer to the designated beneficiary.
- Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death bank and brokerage accounts pass to the named person on death.
These assets don’t appear in the probate inventory and, with limited exceptions, aren’t available to pay estate debts. They can also override the will: if the will leaves “all my assets” to one child but a life insurance policy names a different child, the policy controls. Identify probate versus non-probate assets early so nothing gets distributed that the representative doesn’t actually control.
Executor Duties, Liability, and Pay
Serving as a personal representative is a fiduciary role, meaning the law holds you to a high standard of loyalty and care toward the estate and its beneficiaries. The core duties are:
- Locate and protect assets: bank accounts, investments, real estate deeds, vehicles, and personal property, secured against loss until distribution.
- File the verified inventory within two months of appointment.
- Publish notice to creditors, review the claims filed within the three-month window, and pay legitimate debts.
- Handle taxes: the deceased person’s final individual return and, when applicable, the estate’s income tax return.
- Distribute what remains and keep detailed records of every transaction.
Beneficiaries can request a full accounting at any time, and the representative must provide one. Being transparent from the start prevents disputes and shields the representative from later accusations of mismanagement.
Where Representatives Get Into Trouble
A representative who mishandles the estate can face personal financial liability. Common pitfalls include self-dealing (buying estate property at a discount or borrowing from estate funds), mixing estate money with personal accounts, missing tax filing deadlines, and reckless investing. A court that finds a breach of fiduciary duty can order the representative to make the estate whole. Outright theft or fraud can bring criminal charges.
Even well-meaning representatives get burned by distributing too early. Pay beneficiaries before a valid creditor surfaces, and you can end up personally on the hook for that debt. Wait until the creditor claim period runs out and tax returns are filed and accepted before making final distributions.
Compensation
Indiana does not fix a percentage. The representative is entitled to reasonable compensation, subject to court review if a beneficiary objects.7Justia Law. Indiana Code Title 29 Article 1 Chapter 10 – Personal Representatives What counts as reasonable turns on the estate’s size, the complexity of the work, the time invested, and the representative’s skill. Fees in the range of two to five percent of the estate’s value are common in practice, with larger estates usually justifying a lower percentage. The fee is taxable income to the representative.
Taxes
Indiana repealed its state inheritance tax in 2013, and no inheritance tax returns should be filed for Indiana decedents.8Indiana Department of Revenue. Inheritance Tax Information Federal obligations still apply.
The federal estate tax exemption for 2026 is $15,000,000 per individual, following the increase enacted by the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act signed in July 2025.9Internal Revenue Service. Whats New – Estate and Gift Tax Estates below the threshold owe no federal estate tax. For married couples, the unused portion of one spouse’s exemption can be transferred to the surviving spouse through a portability election, potentially letting up to $30,000,000 pass tax-free. That election requires filing a federal estate tax return (IRS Form 706) even when the estate is below the exemption.
If the estate earns income during administration (interest, rent, dividends), the representative must file IRS Form 1041 once that income reaches $600.10Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1041 and Schedules A, B, G, J, and K-1 The representative also files the deceased person’s final individual income tax return for the year of death.
Contesting a Will
Any interested person can challenge a will by filing a written, verified objection with the probate court. The deadline is short: the contest must be filed within three months after the court order admitting the will to probate.11Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 29-1-7-17 Miss it, and the challenge is barred permanently.
Indiana recognizes four grounds:
- Unsoundness of mind: the person lacked the mental capacity to understand what they owned, who their natural heirs were, and the effect of signing the will.
- Undue execution: the will was not signed or witnessed according to Indiana’s formal requirements.
- Duress or fraud: someone pressured or tricked the person into signing the will or into including specific provisions.
- Any other valid objection, a catch-all that covers situations like a later will revoking the one being probated, or forgery.
A contest is filed as a separate lawsuit within the same court handling the estate, and the contestant carries the burden of proof. Many wills include a no-contest clause that disinherits anyone who challenges the will and loses. Indiana courts generally enforce these clauses unless the person contesting had probable cause.
Out-of-State Real Estate
Real estate is governed by the law of the state where it sits, not the state where the owner lived. If the deceased person owned property in another state, the representative may need to open an ancillary probate proceeding there. An Indiana resident with a vacation home in Florida, for example, would need probate in both states.
The reverse is easier. When someone who lived in another state owned property in Indiana, Indiana lets a foreign executor file the letters of authority issued by the home-state court in the Indiana county where the property sits, gaining Indiana personal representative powers without a full new case. When planning ahead, placing out-of-state real estate in a revocable living trust is one of the most effective ways to avoid ancillary probate.