Estate Inventory and Appraisement Requirements in Indiana

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Two administration tracks

Ind. Code § 29-1-12-1 gives the general inventory rule: a verified inventory within two months after appointment, unless the court grants a longer time. A requesting interested person receives a copy unless the representative filed the original with the court.

Unsupervised administration uses Ind. Code § 29-1-7.5-3.2. It keeps the same two-month preparation clock but states no extension route. The representative may certify that the inventory is prepared and available, and the court may not require a copy to be filed. A distributee may request a copy.

The notice required by § 29-1-7.5-1.5(b)(4) narrows that unsupervised access for a person who does not share in the residue and receives only a specific money or personal-property bequest that will be paid: that person receives information about the specific bequest, not the whole estate.

Verification, property classes, and separate instruments

Both tracks call the inventory “verified,” but the inventory sections do not prescribe an oath, penalties-of-perjury clause, notary, witness, or particular signature block.

Ind. Code § 29-1-12-1 requires at least one written instrument and seven property classes: real property with plat or survey description and homestead designation; furniture and household goods; emblements and annual crops; corporate stock details; mortgages, bonds, notes, and other debt or ownership evidence; bank accounts, money, and insurance payable to the estate or representative; and other accurately identified personal property, including the decedent's partnership share. The partnership's own property is not inventoried.

If property is distant or of different types, § 29-1-12-3 permits separate instruments for each place or type.

Values, liens, and optional appraisers

Every item receives a fair market value and a statement of known liens and other charges. The inventory sections expressly set the decedent's date of death as the valuation date when an optional appraiser values an asset subject to reasonable doubt. They do not separately say that the same date controls an item valued without an appraiser.

The appraiser must be disinterested. Different appraisers may value different asset kinds, and each appraiser's name and address appears with the appraised items. The statute states no license, profession, written report, certificate, or appraiser signature requirement.

Supplements, later property, and removal

Sections 29-1-12-1(d) and 29-1-7.5-3.2(d)-(e) expressly recognize an inventory supplement or amendment and apply the relevant copy, certification, and filing route to it. Neither section supplies a general event that triggers correction or a number of days for completing it.

For an unsupervised estate, Ind. Code § 29-1-7.5-8 provides a separate post- closing route. If other estate property is discovered after settlement and discharge or three months after a closing statement, an interested person may petition for appointment of the same or a successor representative to administer the later property.

Under Ind. Code § 29-1-10-6, failure to perform a legal or court-ordered duty is one ground for removal. An interested person's petition ordinarily produces an order to appear and show cause; an emergency permits immediate removal without notice or citation.

What trips people up

“Verified” does not itself supply the wording of a perjury declaration or require notarization. The inventory statutes leave the verification form unstated.

The court-extension language appears in the general § 29-1-12-1 rule. The unsupervised § 29-1-7.5-3.2 independently says “not more than two (2) months” and states no extension.

An unsupervised court cannot require filing the inventory. Certification that it is ready does not turn the private inventory into a court-filed document.

Common questions

Must every item use its date-of-death value?

The statutes require fair market value for every item. They expressly name the date of death for an item valued with the optional appraiser, but do not state a valuation date for representative-valued property.

Does the appraiser need an Indiana license?

The inventory provisions require disinterest, not a named license or profession. The value must be reasonably doubtful before this optional statutory appraisal route is relevant.

Does every requester receive the whole unsupervised inventory?

No. A distributee may request it, but § 29-1-7.5-1.5(b)(4) limits a paid specific money or personal-property beneficiary who does not share in the residue to information about that bequest.

Statutes and sources

• Ind. Code §§ 29-1-12-1, 29-1-12-3 — general deadline and extension, verification, property classes, values, liens, appraisers, requester copies, and separate instruments: https://iga.in.gov/ic/2026/Title_29/Article_1/Chapter_12.pdf (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Ind. Code §§ 29-1-7.5-1.5(b)(4), 29-1-7.5-3.2, 29-1-7.5-8 — unsupervised notice and access, private inventory route, supplements and amendments, and later-discovered property: https://iga.in.gov/ic/2026/Title_29/Article_1/Chapter_7.5.pdf (accessed 2026-08-10).
• Ind. Code § 29-1-10-6 — removal grounds and procedure: https://iga.in.gov/ic/2026/Title_29/Article_1/Chapter_10.pdf (accessed 2026-08-10).