Petition to Probate a Will Requirements in Maryland

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and proceeding type

Md. Code, Estates and Trusts § 5-101 lets one petition address both probate of the will and the grant of letters. Under § 5-301, the ordinary administrative route is filed before the register of wills by an interested person and seeks both admission and appointment. Judicial probate under § 5-401 is a court proceeding and follows notice.

Court and venue

For estates opened on or after July 1, 2026, § 1 of 2026 Maryland Laws chapter 504 supplies the current § 5-103 venue hierarchy. A Maryland domiciliary's estate uses the county of domicile. A decedent domiciled elsewhere in the United States uses the county where the petitioner believes the largest part by value of the decedent's Maryland property was located.

For a decedent domiciled outside the United States, prior Maryland residence points to the last Maryland county of residence. If the decedent never resided in Maryland, the enacted alternatives look to Maryland property, a cause of action, the personal representative's residence or principal business, specified interested persons or beneficiaries, or a qualifying financial institution. A residual forum may be selected when necessary, reasonable, or in the interest of justice. If proceedings begin in more than one county, the first court determines venue and transfers the papers if another county is proper.

Who may petition

Section 1-101(j) includes the named executor, serving personal representative, legatees, heirs, a timely electing surviving spouse, and a timely caveator within its defined interested-person categories. An interested person may file either route. Section 5-402 also allows a creditor to institute judicial probate when there has been no administrative probate, and requires judicial probate for specified defects, alterations, or lost-or-destroyed-will allegations.

Petition contents

Section 5-206 prescribes a verified statewide form. It asks about petitioner eligibility; death, domicile, venue, appointment priority, and disqualification; the diligent will search, will and codicil dates, how the instrument arrived, and witness addresses; other proceedings; and any missing information. The petitioner accepts office and Maryland jurisdiction, selects administrative or judicial probate or filing only, requests appointment and other relief, and supplies the regular-estate value and unsecured-debt schedule when applicable.

Original will, copy, and lodging

After death, § 4-203 directs the custodian to deliver the will to the register for the county where administration should occur. The § 5-206 petition identifies the will accompanying the filing, how it came into the petitioner's hands, its codicils, and the witnesses.

For an electronic or remotely witnessed will, § 4-102(c) describes one certified paper-will route, and § 4-102(e) treats a certified will created under subsection (c) or (d) as the original for all purposes. That certified document, rather than an ordinary printout of an electronic file, fits the original-will route.

The narrow pre-probate copy route begins at § 5-801. Under § 5-802, the offered duplicate must reproduce the decedent's and witnesses' original signatures, and all heirs at law and every legatee named in the offered will must execute the statutory consent. Under § 5-804, the court may authorize administrative probate of the copy without a hearing or require judicial probate.

Filing or production deadline

Section 4-203 says the custodian must deliver the will after death but states no number of days. The ordinary petition provisions likewise state no fixed filing period. The distinct copy route in § 5-802 remains available only before administrative or judicial probate. Do not mistake the later six-month objection period for a petition deadline.

Proof and self-proving route

Administrative proof turns on § 5-303. The register assumes due execution when the instrument appears duly executed and contains the attesting witnesses' recital of the facts constituting due execution. If either feature is absent, a verified statement from someone with personal knowledge of the execution may supply the proof; that person need not have been an attesting witness. Section 5-302 separately permits the register to demand additional verified proof.

Notice, hearing, and objections

Administrative probate generally may proceed without prior notice under § 5-301. Judicial probate is different: § 5-403 requires prompt notice to known interested persons and publication once weekly for two successive weeks, and § 5-404 requires a plenary hearing.

After appointment, § 7-103 requires publication once weekly for three successive weeks. Its notice warns that objections to the appointment or probate must be filed within six months after appointment. A verified caveat under § 5-207 also uses the six months following the first appointment under a will, subject to the statute's later-will rule.

Executor, bond, and letters

The named personal representative has first priority under § 5-104, followed by a nominee selected under a power in the admitted will. The disqualifications in § 5-105 bar or condition appointment for the listed age, competence, serious-crime, citizenship, officeholding, and nonresident circumstances.

Before appointment, § 6-101 requires acceptance, any required bond, and written consent to Maryland personal jurisdiction. Under § 6-102, the will or every interested person's written waiver may excuse the general bond, but the register or court still sets a bond sufficient for debts and Maryland inheritance taxes. A qualifying national bank or trust company is exempt. On an administrative petition, § 5-302 permits admission and directs the register to appoint on the petition's allegations, subject to these requirements.

What trips people up

Maryland's online compiled § 5-103 had not yet incorporated chapter 504 when this page was verified. The signed act took effect July 1, 2026 and applies its venue amendment to estates opened on or after that date. For those estates, the act's expanded nonresident hierarchy controls even while the compiled viewer still displays the earlier rule.

The copy procedure is not permission to attach any scan when the original is missing. It requires a duplicate reproduction showing the original signatures and the consent of all heirs and named legatees; otherwise the lost-or-destroyed allegation triggers judicial probate under § 5-402.

Common questions

Does every Maryland probate petition require a hearing?

No. Administrative probate generally can proceed without prior notice. Judicial probate requires the noticed plenary hearing, and the court can also require that route for an incomplete petition, a materially altered instrument, or an alleged lost or destroyed will.

Must the petitioner be the executor named in the will?

No. Filing eligibility follows the interested-person definition, while the separate appointment rules give the named personal representative first priority and require the person actually appointed to qualify.

Does a will's no-bond clause eliminate every bond amount?

No. It can excuse the general bond, but § 6-102 still requires an amount the register or court considers sufficient to secure debts and Maryland inheritance taxes payable by the personal representative.

Statutes and sources

• Md. Code, Estates and Trusts §§ 2-101, 5-101, 5-301, and 5-401 — court and administrative and judicial routes (accessed August 4, 2026).
• 2026 Maryland Laws chapter 504, §§ 1, 3, and 5 — current venue hierarchy, transfer, retroactivity, and July 1, 2026 effective date (accessed August 4, 2026).
• Md. Code, Estates and Trusts §§ 1-101(j) and 5-402 — interested persons and judicial-probate triggers (accessed August 4, 2026).
• Md. Code, Estates and Trusts § 5-206 — petition and schedules (accessed August 4, 2026).
• Md. Code, Estates and Trusts §§ 4-102, 4-203, and 5-801 through 5-804 — certified electronic wills, will delivery, and copy procedure (accessed August 4, 2026).
• Md. Code, Estates and Trusts §§ 5-302 and 5-303 — administrative admission, appointment, and proof (accessed August 4, 2026).
• Md. Code, Estates and Trusts §§ 5-207, 5-403, 5-404, and 7-103 — notice, hearing, caveat, and objection timing (accessed August 4, 2026).
• Md. Code, Estates and Trusts §§ 5-104, 5-105, 6-101, and 6-102 — priority, qualification, acceptance, jurisdiction consent, and bond (accessed August 4, 2026).