DC Probate Rules: Personal Representative, Bond, and Claims

Probate in the District of Columbia runs through the Superior Court’s Probate Division, and the DC probate rules sort every estate into one of two tracks based on value: a simplified small-estate proceeding for estates of $80,000 or less, and standard administration for everything above that line. Standard estates are then handled either under continuing court supervision or independently, with a personal representative who gives notice to creditors, inventories assets, pays claims in a statutory order, honors specific protections for a surviving spouse or domestic partner, and closes the estate by certificate or court order.

Small Estate or Standard Administration

The dividing line is $80,000. Under D.C. Code § 20-351, an estate at or below that value qualifies as a small estate and can be handled through a simplified proceeding.¹ The threshold was raised from $40,000 by the Strengthening Probate Administration Amendment Act.²

A small estate petition must include a statement that the filer has conducted a diligent search for property and debts, a list of known creditors with claim amounts, and disclosure of any pending lawsuits involving the decedent.³ Filing fees are minimal at this level: no fee for estates under $500, and $15 for estates valued between $500 and $2,500.⁴

Anything above $80,000 goes through standard administration, with more detailed reporting, more oversight, and a sliding-scale fee. Get the valuation right at the outset. It controls almost everything that follows.

Supervised vs. Unsupervised Administration

Standard estates run in one of two modes. In supervised administration, the court keeps continuing authority over the case. The personal representative cannot distribute assets without a court order approving the distribution, and the court can direct the representative’s actions at any point.⁵ Supervised representatives file verified written accounts of how they have managed and distributed estate property.⁶

In unsupervised administration, the representative is not required to file inventories or accounts with the court and generally operates without ongoing court involvement.⁵ The court can intervene if the representative misses a filing requirement or if an interested person raises a specific problem.

Any interested person, or the representative, can petition to convert an unsupervised case to supervised administration at any time before the estate closes, and the court can order supervision on its own for good cause.⁷ That option is the safety valve when beneficiaries lose confidence in how the estate is being run.

Who Can Serve as Personal Representative

The court appoints a personal representative in a set priority order:

The executor named in the will.
The surviving spouse, domestic partner, or children, when there is no will or the will names no executor.
Residuary legatees under the will.
Other descendants of the decedent, then parents.
Brothers and sisters, then other next of kin.
The largest creditor who applies, or any other person willing to serve.

Within a class, relations of whole blood are preferred over half-blood of equal degree, and descendants are preferred over ascending relatives in a collateral line.⁸

Who Is Disqualified

Regardless of priority, the court will not grant letters to anyone who is under 18; has a mental illness as defined under DC law or is under conservatorship; has been convicted of a felony (in DC or an equivalent offense elsewhere) where the sentence has not expired or expired within the past 10 years, unless pardoned on the basis of innocence; is a noncitizen who has not been lawfully admitted for permanent residence; or is a judge or court employee, unless they are the decedent’s surviving spouse, domestic partner, or a relative within the third degree.⁸

The felony bar is narrower than people often assume. It only applies while the sentence is active or for 10 years after it expires, and an innocence-based pardon removes it.

Nonresident Representatives

Someone who lives outside DC can still serve. They must file an irrevocable power of attorney with the Register of Wills designating a DC resident as agent for service of process, so the court can always reach them through a local contact.⁸

Opening the Estate

Probate starts with a petition to the Register of Wills, filed with the original will (if any) and a certified copy of the death certificate. The petition identifies known beneficiaries and heirs by name and address and includes an estimated fair market value of the decedent’s property.

There is no hard statutory deadline for filing, but if no petition is filed within a reasonable time, the Register of Wills can file one with court approval.⁹ Delays create their own problems with creditor claims, asset management, and challenges from interested persons.

Filing Fees

Standard (general undertaking) fees run on a sliding scale:

Under $2,500: no fee.
$2,500 to $9,999: $12.50 plus 0.5% of the amount over $2,500.
$10,000 to $99,999: $50 plus 0.3% of the amount over $10,000.
$100,000 to $499,999: $320 plus 0.2% of the amount over $100,000.
$500,000 to $999,999: $1,120 plus 0.1% of the amount over $500,000.
$1,000,000 and over: $1,620 plus 0.5% of the amount over $1,000,000.

Fees are payable in advance to the Register of Wills.⁴

Letters of Administration

Once the court accepts the petition and appoints the representative, it issues Letters of Administration, or Letters Testamentary when there is a will. These letters are the representative’s proof of authority to act for the estate, and they specify whether the administration is supervised or unsupervised and whether the representative’s powers are limited.¹⁰

Bond

Unless the will waives it or all interested persons waive it in writing, each personal representative must post a surety bond for the benefit of beneficiaries and creditors. Even where no bond is initially required, any person with an estate interest over $1,000, or any creditor with a claim over $1,000, can demand one. The court may then hold a hearing on whether to require it.¹¹ Banks and trust companies authorized under DC law to serve as personal representatives are exempt.

Notice, Inventory, and the Creditor Claims Clock

Within 20 days of appointment, the representative must publish a notice of appointment in a legal periodical or newspaper of general circulation in DC, once a week for two successive weeks. The notice gives the representative’s name and address, states whether the administration is supervised or unsupervised, and directs creditors to present their claims. A certification of publication then goes to the Register of Wills.¹²

The representative must also prepare a verified inventory of everything the decedent owned at death, within three months of appointment.¹³ In unsupervised cases the inventory is not filed with the court but must be made available to interested persons. In supervised cases the court expects it filed.

Creditors have six months from the date of first publication to file their claims. Any claim not filed by that deadline is unenforceable.¹² Publication starts that clock, and the estate cannot close until the six months expire, so delayed publication delays the whole case.

Payment Order When Assets Fall Short

If the estate cannot pay everything in full, DC law sets a strict order:

Court costs, publication costs, and bond premiums.
Funeral expenses, up to $5,000.
Fiduciary and attorney fees, up to $1,000.
Homestead allowance and family allowance.
Exempt property.
Medical and hospital expenses of the decedent’s last illness.
Claims for rent in arrears.
Judgments and decrees from DC courts.
All other claims.

No claim within a class gets priority over another in the same class.¹⁴ Beneficiaries receive nothing until valid claims ahead of them are satisfied or resolved, and a representative who pays out of order can face personal liability.

Surviving Spouse and Domestic Partner Protections

Several protections belong to a surviving spouse or domestic partner regardless of what the will says, and they come off the top of the estate before most creditors.

Homestead Allowance

The surviving spouse or domestic partner is entitled to a $30,000 homestead allowance. If there is none, the decedent’s minor and dependent children split that $30,000. The allowance is exempt from and has priority over claims against the estate (subject to the payment order in § 20-906) and is in addition to anything the spouse or partner takes under the will or by intestacy.¹⁵

Exempt Property

On top of the homestead allowance, the surviving spouse or domestic partner can claim up to $20,000 in household furniture, automobiles, appliances, and personal effects (over any security interests). If the estate does not contain $20,000 worth of those items, the spouse or partner can take other non-real-property assets to make up the difference.¹⁶

Family Allowance

The surviving spouse, domestic partner, and the decedent’s minor or dependent children are entitled to a reasonable allowance from estate funds for maintenance during administration. It has priority over all claims except the homestead allowance and the statutory payment order, and it is not charged against any share the spouse or children receive under the will or by intestacy.¹⁷

Intestate Share

When there is no will, the surviving spouse or domestic partner’s share depends on the family structure:

No surviving children or parents: the spouse or partner takes the entire estate.
Surviving children who are also descendants of the spouse or partner, and the spouse or partner has no other descendants: two-thirds.
No surviving children but a surviving parent: three-fourths.
Surviving children who are also descendants of the spouse or partner, but the spouse or partner has other descendants who are not the decedent’s: one-half.
Any surviving children who are not the spouse’s or partner’s descendants: one-half.

These shares apply only to the intestate estate, meaning property that passes through probate rather than through beneficiary designations, joint ownership, or trusts.¹⁸

Contesting the Will or the Appointment

Anyone who wants to object to the appointment of the personal representative or to the validity of the will must file the objection with the Register of Wills within six months of the first publication of the notice of appointment.¹² For abbreviated probate proceedings, an interested person can request conversion to formal probate within the same six-month window.⁹ Miss those deadlines and your ability to challenge the estate’s administration shrinks sharply.

Closing the Estate

How the estate closes depends on which track it followed.

For unsupervised estates, the personal representative files a verified Certificate of Completion. It cannot be filed until the six-month creditor claims period has expired. Before filing, the representative sends each interested person an account of the estate together with a notice that they have 60 days to object. The certificate confirms that the claims period has expired, that all interested persons received the account and notice, that each either consented in writing or did not object within 60 days, that distribution has been completed according to the account, that all non-barred creditor claims have been satisfied or settled, and that all administration expenses and estate obligations have been paid.¹⁹

Supervised estates need a court order approving the final distribution before the representative is discharged.⁵ The court reviews the final accounting, confirms that debts and expenses have been handled, and issues an order closing the estate. The extra step takes time but ends with a judicial approval that shields the representative from later mismanagement claims.

Once all known assets have been distributed and all known claims satisfied, the bond requirement ends on its own, whichever track the estate followed.¹¹

1
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 20-351 – General
2
D.C. Law Library. D.C. Law 25-302 – Strengthening Probate Administration Amendment Act of 2024
3
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 20-352 – Petition
4
District of Columbia Courts. Probate Rule 24 – Fees
5
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 20-401 – Supervised Administration; In General
6
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 20-721 – Duty to Account; Supervised
7
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 20-403 – Supervised Administration; Changes and Effect
8
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 20-303 – Order of Priority for Appointment of Personal Representative; Persons Excluded
9
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code Title 20 Chapter 3 – Opening the Estate
10
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 20-504 – Form of Letters
11
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 20-502 – Bond; Form
12
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 20-704 – Notice of Appointment to Interested Persons, Creditors and Unknown Heirs
13
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 20-711 – Inventory; General
14
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 20-906 – Order of Payment
15
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 19-101.02 – Homestead Allowance
16
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 19-101.03 – Exempt Property
17
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 19-101.04 – Family Allowance
18
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 19-302 – Share of Spouse or Domestic Partner
19
D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 20-735 – Optional Proceedings, Terminating Unsupervised Administration; Certificate of Completion