Estate Inventory and Appraisement Requirements in Mississippi

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Filing, waiver, and deadline

Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-93 requires an executor or administrator to file an oath-verified inventory within 90 days after letters are granted, unless the court or clerk allows further time. The inventory covers money and property the decedent owned at death, lists each item with reasonable detail, states its death-date market value, and identifies the type and amount of any encumbrance.

A will may waive the filing requirement. In an intestate estate, the administrator may petition the court or chancellor for a waiver. Neither route is final if a beneficiary or other interested party later petitions and the court finds filing necessary or advisable.

People responsible and successor route

Miss. Code Ann. §§ 91-7-97, 91-7-99, and 91-7-101 add three duties not apparent from the basic 90-day rule. A successor after a temporary administrator has 90 days after the successor's letters to file a new inventory or acknowledge receipt of the first inventory's articles and accept responsibility for them.

All coexecutors, coadministrators, or temporary coadministrators must join in returning inventories. If one refuses, the others may file and the refuser's authority ceases unless, within 60 days, that person gives a reasonable excuse the court accepts. A claim the decedent held against the executor or administrator must also be disclosed rather than extinguished by the appointment.

Valuation and optional appraisers

The representative supplies the item values. Under Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-109, a qualified and disinterested appraiser may assist only when an asset's value may be reasonably doubtful. Different specialists may handle different asset types, and the inventory must pair each appraised item with that appraiser's name and address.

The 2019 reform repealed the prior provisions for standing court appraisers, their warrants, reports, and extension sanctions. A professional appraiser is therefore not a universal prerequisite to the current inventory.

Supplements and enforcement

Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-95 requires a supplementary inventory or appraisement for newly known property or an original value or description that is erroneous or misleading. The supplement uses the death-date market value, states the revised value or description, and identifies any appraisers or other data relied on. It is filed when the original was filed; otherwise copies or information go to persons interested in the new information. The section states no fixed correction deadline.

Miss. Code Ann. §§ 91-7-105 and 91-7-107 provide separate enforcement. An interested person may obtain a show-cause summons returnable in at least five days for a missing timely inventory; failure to appear or show good cause requires revocation of letters and a new administration. An interested person may also seek a fuller inventory, and disobedience of an order for a new one can revoke letters. Disputed-title property may be reported and held out until title is resolved, while increases in estate property require an additional inventory at least annually.

What trips people up

A waived original inventory changes the supplement route. Section 91-7-95 says to file a supplement if the original was filed, but otherwise to furnish copies or information to people interested in the new information.

The current appraiser statute authorizes assistance; it does not revive the pre-2019 system of mandatory court-selected appraisers. The inventory must identify any appraiser actually used with that person's item or items.

Common questions

Is the filing deadline measured from death?

No. The 90 days run from the grant of letters, subject to additional time allowed by the court or clerk.

Does a later valuation error require correction?

Yes. Section 91-7-95 reaches an erroneous or misleading value or description, not only newly found property.

Can one coexecutor refuse to sign without consequence?

The others may return the inventory, but the refusing fiduciary's authority ceases unless that person supplies a reasonable excuse within 60 days that the court accepts.

Statutes and sources

• Miss. Code Ann. §§ 91-7-93 and 91-7-95 — initial inventory, waiver, values, encumbrances, and supplements. Official 2019 H.B. 1375 as sent to the Governor (accessed August 10, 2026).
• Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-109 — optional qualified, disinterested appraisers. The same official act supplies the current post-reform text and repeals the former standing-appraiser provisions (accessed August 10, 2026).
• Miss. Code Ann. §§ 91-7-97, 91-7-99, and 91-7-101 — successor inventory, cofiduciaries, and debts owed by the fiduciary. Public.Resource.Org/UniCourt Title 91 transform (accessed August 10, 2026).
• Miss. Code Ann. §§ 91-7-105 and 91-7-107 — show cause, revocation, fuller inventories, disputed title, and annual increases. Same Title 91 current-law reconstruction source (accessed August 10, 2026).