Maine Inheritance Laws: Intestacy, Probate, and Estate Tax

Maine inheritance laws, set out in Title 18-C of the Maine Revised Statutes, govern who receives a deceased person’s property, how wills are validated, how estates move through probate court, and when a state estate tax applies. If there’s a valid will, the estate generally passes according to its terms. If not, a fixed order of relatives inherits under the state’s intestate succession rules. And Maine imposes its own estate tax on estates above $7,160,000, a threshold well below the federal one.

Who Inherits When There Is No Will

When a Maine resident dies without a valid will, intestate succession controls how the probate estate is divided. Only assets that would have passed through probate are affected. Jointly held property, life insurance, retirement accounts with named beneficiaries, and other non-probate assets follow their own transfer rules regardless of what the intestacy statute says.

The Surviving Spouse’s Share

How much a surviving spouse inherits depends on who else survives the deceased. A spouse takes the entire estate if the deceased left no descendants and no surviving parents.¹ The spouse also inherits everything if all of the deceased’s surviving descendants are also descendants of the spouse and the spouse has no other descendants from a different relationship.

When all of the deceased’s descendants are also descendants of the spouse, but the spouse has one or more children from a different relationship, the spouse receives the first $100,000 plus half of the remaining balance.¹ If any of the deceased’s surviving descendants are not descendants of the spouse, the spouse’s share is one-half of the estate with no guaranteed minimum.

Children and Other Descendants

Whatever does not go to the surviving spouse passes to the deceased’s descendants. If there is no spouse, the descendants take everything.² Maine distributes these shares “per capita at each generation.” If all of the deceased’s children are alive, they share equally. If a child died before the parent and left children of their own, the shares of all deceased members at that generation are pooled and split equally among the next generation. Grandchildren in the same generation are treated equally with each other rather than being limited to whatever their deceased parent would have received.

Parents, Siblings, and More Distant Relatives

If the deceased left no descendants, the estate goes to surviving parents, split equally between them or entirely to a sole surviving parent.² If neither parent survives, the estate passes to the descendants of the parents (siblings, nieces, and nephews), again per capita at each generation.

If no siblings or their descendants survive, the estate is split between the paternal and maternal sides, passing to grandparents or their descendants on each side. If only one side has surviving relatives, that side takes everything. The chain continues to great-grandparents and their descendants before it runs out.² If no relatives can be found, the estate escheats to the state.

Requirements for a Valid Will

A will in Maine must meet several requirements. The person making it must be at least 18 and of sound mind. The document must be in writing and signed by that person, or by someone else in their conscious presence and at their direction.³

Two witnesses must also sign. Each witness needs to have seen either the actual signing or the person’s acknowledgment of the signature or the will itself, and must sign within a reasonable time after that observation. Maine does not require the witnesses to sign at the same time or in each other’s presence. The statute does not automatically disqualify a beneficiary from serving as a witness, though using disinterested witnesses avoids problems later.

Holographic Wills

Maine recognizes holographic wills. A holographic will needs no witnesses at all, as long as the signature and the material portions of the document are in the handwriting of the person making it.³ “Material portions” means the key provisions describing who gets what. Some typed or printed language can appear on the page as long as the essential dispositive content is handwritten. Courts can consider extrinsic evidence, including non-handwritten portions of the document, to determine whether the person intended it to serve as a will. Holographic wills are valid, but they attract more challenges than properly witnessed ones because there are no witnesses to confirm the circumstances of signing.

Self-Proving Affidavit

A will can be made self-proving at the time it is signed. The person making the will and the witnesses sign an affidavit before a notary confirming that all execution requirements were met.⁴ The affidavit substitutes for witness testimony during probate, so nobody has to track down witnesses years later. If you’re having a will prepared, this is a simple addition that can save significant time and expense.

A Surviving Spouse Cannot Be Fully Disinherited

Even when a will exists, a surviving spouse cannot be completely written out. The elective share gives the spouse the right to claim 50% of the marital-property portion of the augmented estate, regardless of what the will says.⁵ The augmented estate is broader than the probate estate. It pulls in both spouses’ assets, including non-probate transfers like life insurance, joint accounts, and retirement benefits. The marital-property portion grows with the length of the marriage, so a spouse married for decades will generally have a larger elective share than one married for only a few years.

The spouse must affirmatively elect to take the share; it doesn’t happen automatically. The election has to be filed within a specific window after the will enters probate, so a spouse considering it should act quickly.

Contesting a Will

A will contest is a court proceeding arguing that the will should not be enforced. The most common grounds are that the person making the will lacked mental capacity, was subjected to undue influence, or that the will was not properly signed. Fraud and forgery are also valid grounds but arise less often.

To have testamentary capacity, a person generally must understand what property they own, know who their natural heirs are, grasp what the will does, and connect those elements into a coherent plan. A diagnosis of dementia or another cognitive condition does not automatically mean the person lacked capacity; what matters is their understanding at the time the will was signed. The person challenging the will carries the burden of proof.

Maine’s probate code also addresses no-contest clauses (sometimes called in terrorem clauses), which penalize anyone who challenges a will. These clauses are unenforceable in Maine if the person contesting the will had probable cause to bring the challenge.⁶ A no-contest clause won’t scare off someone with a legitimate legal claim.

What Skips Probate

Not everything goes through probate. Several common types of property transfer directly to a surviving owner or named beneficiary, no matter what the will or intestacy statute says:

Real estate, bank accounts, or other property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship passes directly to the surviving owner on presentation of a death certificate.
Life insurance proceeds and retirement accounts pay out to whichever beneficiary is named on the policy or account.
Maine allows a property owner to record a transfer-on-death deed naming a beneficiary for real estate. It has no effect during the owner’s lifetime and can be revoked at any time, but at death the property transfers automatically.⁷
Bank and brokerage accounts with a payable-on-death or transfer-on-death designation go to the named beneficiary outside probate.
Property held in a revocable trust passes according to the trust terms.

One caveat: these assets skip probate but still count toward the estate for tax purposes. A life insurance payout that bypasses probate can still push an estate over the Maine estate tax threshold.

How Probate Works in Maine

Probate is the court-supervised process of validating a will (if one exists), appointing someone to manage the estate, paying debts, and distributing what remains. Maine offers two tracks.

Informal probate is faster and cheaper. It works when nobody disputes the will, there are no creditor conflicts, and the administration is straightforward. The court appoints a personal representative without a hearing, and the case moves forward with minimal judicial oversight. Most uncontested estates go this route.

Formal probate involves court hearings and is required when there is a dispute over the will’s validity, a contested appointment, or other conflicts. If a will contest is filed, the case moves to formal probate automatically.

Personal Representative Duties

The personal representative (called an executor in many other states) manages the estate through probate. Core duties include:

Locating and cataloging everything the deceased owned, from accounts to real estate to personal belongings.
Keeping assets safe during administration, including maintaining insurance, paying mortgages, and managing investments.
Publishing a notice to creditors and sending direct written notice to known creditors where appropriate.
Paying valid claims, filing income tax returns for the year of death, and handling any estate tax obligations.
Transferring remaining assets to the beneficiaries named in the will or to the heirs identified by the intestacy statute.

Maine law entitles the personal representative to reasonable compensation.⁸ The statute sets no fixed percentage; courts evaluate what is reasonable given the size and complexity of the estate. If the will specifies compensation, the personal representative can accept that or renounce it in favor of a court-determined amount.

Creditor Claims and Deadlines

Once appointed, the personal representative must publish a notice to creditors in a local newspaper once a week for two consecutive weeks. Creditors then have four months from the date of first publication to file their claims or lose the right to collect.⁹ For creditors who receive direct written notice by mail, the deadline is four months from the published notice or 60 days from the mailing, whichever is later.

Regardless of how notice is given, all claims that arose before death are barred if not presented within nine months of the date of death.¹⁰ Personal representatives should not distribute the bulk of estate assets until the creditor period expires, because they can be held personally liable for claims they should have anticipated.

Filing Fees

Probate filing fees are based on the value of the estate. They start at $40 for estates valued at $10,000 or less and rise to $1,200 for estates over $2,000,000, with additional increments of $250 for every $500,000 above $2,500,000.¹¹ Filing a will without opening a probate case costs $15, and filing a will for probate without requesting appointment of a personal representative costs $20. These are court fees only. Attorney costs typically make up the larger share of probate expense.

The Small Estate Shortcut

Maine offers a simplified procedure for small estates. If the total value of the estate, after subtracting liens and encumbrances, falls below the threshold set in Title 18-C, Section 3-1201 (adjusted annually for inflation), an heir or beneficiary can collect property using a small estate affidavit rather than opening a full probate case. The affidavit can be used to collect bank accounts, vehicle titles, and other personal property without formal or informal probate. Check with your county’s probate court for the current dollar threshold, since the inflation adjustment changes the figure periodically.

Maine Estate Tax and the Federal Threshold

Maine is one of a handful of states that imposes its own estate tax, and the exemption is well below the federal one. For 2026, Maine’s estate tax exemption is $7,160,000. Estates below that owe nothing. Above it, graduated rates apply:¹²

$7,160,001 to $10,160,000: 8% on the amount over $7,160,000.
$10,160,001 to $13,160,000: $240,000 plus 10% on the amount over $10,160,000.
Over $13,160,000: $540,000 plus 12% on the amount over $13,160,000.

Maine does not impose a separate inheritance tax, so beneficiaries are not taxed on what they receive. The estate itself bears the tax liability before distributions.

At the federal level, the estate tax exemption for 2026 is $15,000,000 per person, or effectively $30,000,000 for a married couple using portability.¹³ Most Maine families will hit the state estate tax long before the federal one becomes relevant. An estate worth $10,000,000, for example, would owe Maine estate tax but nothing to the IRS. The annual gift tax exclusion for 2026 remains $19,000 per recipient, which allows gradual wealth transfers that reduce the size of the taxable estate over time.¹⁴

1
Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 18-C 2-102 – Share of Spouse
2
Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 18-C 2-103 – Share of Heirs Other Than Surviving Spouse
3
Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 18-C 2-502 – Execution; Holographic Wills
4
Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 18-C 2-503 – Self-Proved Will
5
Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 18-C 2-202 – Elective Share
6
Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 18-C 3-905 – Penalty Clause for Contest
7
Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 18-C 6-417 – Optional Template for Transfer on Death Deed
8
Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 18-C 3-719 – Compensation of Personal Representative
9
Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 18-C 3-801 – Notice to Creditors
10
Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 18-C 3-803 – Limitations on Presentation of Claims
11
Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 18-C 1-602 – Filing and Certification Fees
12
Maine Revenue Services. Estate Tax (706ME)
13
Internal Revenue Service. What’s New — Estate and Gift Tax
14
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026