Probate in Indiana: do you need a lawyer, and what it costs

Settling an estate in Indiana

What an executor deals with after the funeral: the will, the court, creditors, tax and closing the estate. Each fact links to the statute it comes from and shows the date we last read it.

Filing the original will

In Indiana, if you have the original will, you may deliver it to the probate court after the death, and you must deliver it if the executor or administrator asks in writing or the court orders it. The law sets no fixed number of days.

Ind. Code § 29-1-7-3Read the statute text · codes.findlaw.comchecked Oct 5, 2026

Which court handles probate

In Indiana, a will is probated and the estate handled by the court with probate jurisdiction in the county where the person who died lived. If they lived out of state, the case can be opened in any Indiana county where they left property.

Ind. Code §§ 29-1-7-1, 29-1-1-3; §§ 33-28-1-2, 33-29-1-1.5, 33-31-1-1Read the statute text · codes.findlaw.comchecked Oct 5, 2026

Creditors' deadline to make claims

In Indiana, once letters are issued, a notice of the estate is published in a local newspaper once a week for two weeks and sent to known creditors. Creditors must file claims with the court within 3 months after the first publication, and in any case no later than 9 months after the death.

Ind. Code §§ 29-1-14-1, 29-1-7-7Read the statute text · codes.findlaw.comchecked Oct 5, 2026

Estate inventory

In Indiana, the executor or administrator (the law calls them the personal representative) must prepare a sworn inventory of the probate estate, with fair market values, within 2 months after being appointed unless the court allows more time. They give a copy to interested people who ask, unless they have filed it with the court.

Ind. Code § 29-1-12-1Read the statute text · codes.findlaw.comchecked Oct 5, 2026

The order estate debts are paid

In Indiana, if the estate can't pay every bill, the executor or administrator pays them in a set order: administration costs, then funeral, tombstone and burial costs, then the surviving spouse or child allowance, then federal priority debts and taxes, then last illness medical bills, then state priority debts and taxes, and finally everything else.

Ind. Code § 29-1-14-9Read the statute text · codes.findlaw.comchecked Oct 5, 2026

State estate and inheritance tax

Indiana has no inheritance tax or estate tax for deaths after December 31, 2012. Both were repealed in 2013.

Ind. Code § 6-4.1-1-0.5 (HEA 1001-2013)Read the statute · in.govchecked Oct 5, 2026effective Jan 1, 2013

Closing an estate

In Indiana, an unsupervised estate is usually closed by the executor or administrator filing a sworn closing statement with the court, no earlier than 3 months after the first published creditor notice, once debts are paid, any real estate deeded, everything distributed and the heirs given a written account. If nothing is pending 3 months later, the estate closes automatically.

Ind. Code § 29-1-7.5-4Read the statute text · codes.findlaw.comchecked Oct 5, 2026