Probate Notice to Creditors and Claim Deadlines in Mississippi

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Search, mailing, and an affidavit come before publication

The executor or administrator must make reasonably diligent efforts to identify people with estate claims. Every person identified receives mailed notice at the last-known address. The notice warns that the claim must be probated and registered by the clerk within 90 days after first publication.

The representative then files an affidavit stating that the search was made and notice mailed to every identified creditor. The statute places publication after that affidavit filing. It states no fixed number of days after qualification for completing this sequence.

Publication runs for three consecutive weeks

Publication is in a newspaper in the county for three consecutive weeks. The notice states when letters were granted and warns that failure to probate and register within 90 days after first publication bars the claim.

If no newspaper is published in the county, posting at the courthouse door and three other public-resort locations is sufficient. Proof of publication or posting is filed with the clerk. Proof need not be filed to start the clock, but it must be filed before final discharge.

An estate worth no more than $500 uses a different small-estate route: 30 days of posting at the courthouse and two other public places. Claims are due 90 days after the posting date.

The chancery clerk probates, allows, and registers the claim

The creditor presents the claim to the clerk of the court that granted letters. A written claim, judgment, decree, or itemized account is accompanied by an affidavit stating that the debt is just, correct, owing, nonusurious, properly credited for payment, and secured only as disclosed.

For a note or other decedent-signed instrument, the creditor may file the original or a duplicate. The original is required only when authenticity is challenged or fairness requires inspection. Probate, allowance, and registration are sufficient presentation to the representative.

The claim bar is 90 days after first publication

The claimant must complete probate, allowance, and registration within 90 days after first publication. Section 91-7-151 says the bar applies even if the executor or administrator knew the claim existed, and a suit may not be maintained on the barred claim.

When the affidavit was made in good faith and the claim was timely registered, probated, and allowed, the court may permit correction of a defective or insufficient affidavit before final settlement.

Mississippi states no separate death-based nonclaim bar here

The researched probate-claim sections do not add an outside nonclaim or repose period measured from death. Other limitation rules still matter. Section 15-1-55 can permit a personal action within one year after death when death occurred before its ordinary limitation expired, and § 15-1-25 states a four-year-after-qualification limit for actions against an executor or administrator.

Those provisions do not replace the 90-day probate-registration requirement for a covered claim against estate assets.

Exceptions and boundaries need separate analysis

Title, lien, administration-expense, funeral, tax, and similar matters can follow separate rules. Section § 91-7-155 bars the representative from paying an ordinary decedent debt unless it was probated, allowed, and registered.

The Division of Medicaid must be noticed as an identified creditor of a deceased Medicaid recipient. Current § 43-13-317, as amended in 2025, excludes Mississippi ABLE-account amounts unless federal law requires otherwise.

What trips people up

Mailing a creditor does not start a separate claim period. The ordinary 90-day clock still runs from first publication, and the researched statute states no mailed-notice extension.

The claim is not merely delivered to the representative. It is probated, allowed, and registered by the chancery clerk using the statutory affidavit.

Proof of publication can be filed after the 90-day period, so long as it is filed before final discharge. Delayed proof filing does not delay the claim clock.

Common questions

Must the representative search for creditors?

Yes. Section 91-7-145 requires reasonably diligent efforts, mailed notice to the people identified, and an affidavit documenting compliance before publication.

Does actual knowledge save a late claim?

No. Section 91-7-151 expressly applies the bar even when the executor or administrator knew the claim existed.

Can a defective affidavit be fixed?

Yes, if it was made in good faith and the claim itself was timely registered, probated, and allowed. The court may permit amendment before final settlement.

Statutes and sources

• Miss. Code § 91-7-145 — search, mailed notice, affidavit, publication, posting, contents, and proof. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicourt/cic-code-ms/master/transforms/ms/ocms/r78/gov.ms.code.title.91.html (accessed 2026-08-12)
• Miss. Code §§ 91-7-147 and 91-7-151 — small-estate posting, 90-day bar, actual knowledge, and affidavit cure. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicourt/cic-code-ms/master/transforms/ms/ocms/r78/gov.ms.code.title.91.html (accessed 2026-08-12)
• Miss. Code §§ 91-7-149 and 91-7-155 — claim evidence, affidavit, clerk registration, and payment restriction. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicourt/cic-code-ms/master/transforms/ms/ocms/r78/gov.ms.code.title.91.html (accessed 2026-08-12)
• Miss. Code §§ 15-1-25 and 15-1-55 — action limitations after qualification and death. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/unicourt/cic-code-ms/master/transforms/ms/ocms/r78/gov.ms.code.title.15.html (accessed 2026-08-12)
• Miss. Code § 43-13-317, 2025 SB 2396 — Medicaid identified-creditor notice and ABLE-account exclusion. https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2025/pdf/SB/2300-2399/SB2396SG.pdf (accessed 2026-08-12)