Petition to Probate a Will Requirements in Nebraska

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Informal application or formal petition

Nebraska's county court handles both routes. An informal filing is a verified application to the registrar. It may produce a written probate statement without a hearing. A formal filing is litigation by an interested person seeking an order after notice and hearing. Probate and appointment may be combined, but a formal testacy petition does not have to request a personal representative.

Venue is the county of domicile at death. For a person domiciled elsewhere, any Nebraska county containing the decedent's property may hear the first case. If the first proceeding was informal and another county is proper, § 30-2410(c) permits transfer after notice to the proponent.

Filing facts and the will

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2414 requires the informal applicant's interest; the decedent's name, death, age, and domicile; reasonably ascertainable spouse, children, heirs, and devisees, including minor ages; nonresident venue; existing representatives; and notice demands. Will probate adds execution and revocation beliefs. A combined appointment application adds the proposed appointee's name, address, and priority.

The original-document routes are not identical. An informal applicant who holds the original or authenticated foreign-probate copy may file a true copy and deliver the held document within 10 days. A formal petition instead states that the original is already with the court, accompanies the petition, or was filed electronically and will be delivered within 10 days. If the formal filing lacks the original or an authenticated foreign-probate copy and does not use that electronic route, § 30-2426 requires the will's contents and why it is unavailable.

Delivery and outside limit

A will custodian's clock starts only after death and an interested person's request. Section 30-2356 requires delivery “with reasonable promptness” to someone able to secure probate or, if no such person is known, to an appropriate court. It does not set a universal number of days.

The ordinary outside limit is three years after death. Section 30-2408 contains specific exceptions, including a restricted late route when no probate, succession, or administration proceeding occurred during the three-year period; that late route bars claims other than administration expenses.

Proof

For informal probate, an apparently signed will with an attestation clause showing statutory execution may be admitted without further proof. Otherwise the registrar may presume execution from the document or accept a sworn statement or affidavit from any knowledgeable person, even a nonwitness (§ 30-2416(c)).

An unopposed formal case may be decided on the pleadings if the statutory findings are satisfied. If execution evidence is needed, one attesting witness's affidavit or testimony is enough, with other evidence available if that witness proof is unavailable. In a contested case, at least one competent, available in-state attesting witness must testify when proof of a non-self-proved attested will is necessary. A self-proved will instead receives the signature and execution presumptions stated in § 30-2430(b), subject to fraud or forgery.

Notice and objections

Informal probate does not require general advance service. The applicant gives advance notice to a person who demanded it and to an existing personal representative. After the registrar acts, the clerk publishes notice for three weeks—either notice of probate when no representative was appointed at the same time, or notice of appointment and probate when one was appointed (§§ 30-2415, 30-2420).

Formal probate requires a scheduled hearing under § 30-2427. Notice reaches the spouse, children, other heirs, devisees and executors named in relevant wills, any unterminated representative, and demandants. The clerk publishes for unknown people and known people whose addresses are unknown. Ordinary § 30-2220 notice uses mail or personal delivery at least 14 days before hearing and three weekly publications, with the last at least three days before hearing. An opponent states the objections in the pleadings (§ 30-2428).

Nominee, qualification, bond, and letters

The person given priority by a probated will ranks first. A person under 19 is unqualified, and a court may find a person unsuitable in a formal proceeding. The court resolves disputed priority or qualification after notice (§ 30-2438).

Before letters, the appointee files a statement accepting the office and any required bond. Nebraska's default is that bond is required unless § 30-2446's will waiver, devisee waiver, institutional-fiduciary, summary-estate, or other listed exception applies. Even after an exception, the court may require bond to protect an endangered interest. An interested person or creditor over the statutory $1,000 threshold also may demand bond; failure to supply it within 30 days after notice is cause for removal (§ 30-2448).

What trips people up

A true-copy-plus-delivery filing is route-specific. Section 30-2414 expressly allows that method for an informal application. Section 30-2426 describes the formal ten-day route as electronic filing followed by delivery; it should not be rewritten as the informal copy option.

Bond is not presumed away. Section 30-2446 begins with “A bond shall be required” and then lists exceptions. A will waiver can fit an exception, but an interested person may still ask the court for protective bond on reasonable proof.

A filing does not by itself create representative authority. Section 30-2403 requires appointment, qualification, and issuance of letters before the person has the office's powers and duties.

Common questions

Can the registrar issue informal probate immediately after death?

No. Section 30-2415 requires at least 120 hours after death before the registrar issues the written statement of informal probate.

What happens if the registrar declines informal probate?

The declination is not a decision that the will is invalid. Section 30-2418 says it is not an adjudication and does not prevent a formal probate proceeding.

Statutes and sources

• Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 30-2209 and 30-2211 — definitions, county court, and probate jurisdiction.
• Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 30-2403, 30-2407, 30-2408, and 30-2410 — letters, combined proceedings, outside limit, and venue.
• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2356 — will-custodian delivery.
• Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 30-2412 to 30-2420 — priority, informal application, original, proof, notice, publication, appointment, and declination.
• Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 30-2425 to 30-2430 — formal petition, hearing, notice, objections, and proof.
• Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2220 — hearing-notice methods and timing.
• Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 30-2438, 30-2444, and 30-2446 to 30-2448 — formal appointment, qualification, bond, and bond demand.

All quoted sections are from the official Nebraska Legislature statute pages, accessed 2026-08-08.