Clackamas County, OR Probate Information

A Clackamas County personal representative carries the statewide Oregon duties, which are covered on the Oregon state page: the information to devisees, heirs and state agencies with proof filed within 30 days of appointment (ORS 113.145), publication of the notice to interested persons once in a newspaper published in the county (ORS 113.155), the inventory within 90 days valued as of the date of death (ORS 113.165), the diligent search for creditors and the notice to known claimants with proof of compliance (ORS 115.003), the claim rules (ORS 115.005), annual and final accountings (ORS 116.083), and the general judgment of final distribution (ORS 116.113). The Fifth Judicial District adds local obligations on top of those, and they are the ones that generate Clackamas Courtesy Notices.

Take the fiduciary class, and take it early. A non-professional personal representative appointed under ORS chapter 113 must register for the court-prescribed education class no later than 15 days after appointment and successfully complete a class with a curriculum prescribed by the Presiding Judge within 90 days, then file a certificate of completion with the Probate Department stating the date, time and provider (SLR 9.076). Professional fiduciaries as defined in ORS 125.240(5) and attorneys appointed as fiduciaries are exempt. The fee is a cost of administration and may be waived or deferred in the court's discretion, a waiver of the requirement itself takes a motion supported by affidavit filed within 15 days of receiving the court's notice, the court may require a fiduciary to retake the class, and failure to comply may result in removal. The court's Probate page names Guardian Partners as the non-profit that administers the class, explains that the requirement was approved by the presiding judge "after an unfortunate history of appointed fiduciaries intentionally or accidentally breaching their fiduciary obligations," says the classes are pre-recorded so you can take them when convenient, and says Guardian Partners files the certificate of completion into the case for you.

Respect the bond and restriction mechanics, because this court is conservative about them. The Probate page states that the court "generally requires any fiduciary to be bonded for the full amount of the assets to be administered plus the annual income expected to be received," that the bond protects both the beneficiaries and the creditors, and that unless a statute prescribes waiver the court requires consent and adequate assurance of protection for all interested parties, so an intestate estate needs consents from all heirs plus assurance that creditors will not be prejudiced, usually by affidavit regarding the estate's creditors. SLR 9.055 backs that up: consistent with ORS 113.105, the personal representative of an intestate estate may be required to file a bond if the court is not satisfied that creditors will be paid. If assets are restricted instead, the restriction language must appear in the judgment setting the restriction (UTCR 9.050), the acknowledgment of restriction is due within 30 days of entry of that judgment on a form substantially similar to the court's own, and court approval by order or judgment must be obtained before any disbursement, release or sale of a restricted asset or account.

File the accountings on the court's clock and in the statewide format. Accountings carry their own tiered filing fee of $35, $298, $591 or $1,176 by estate value (ORS 21.170(2); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026), the format is the one published under UTCR 9.160, and in Clackamas the due date is calculated from the initial limited judgment of appointment, or from a prior order approving a new deadline, unless the appointment judgment or a later motion, declaration and order requests a different date (SLR 9.161). The court's due dates sheet puts the first accounting at 425 days. Where the distributees consent, ORS 116.083 allows a statement in lieu of an annual account or in lieu of the final account, and Clackamas publishes checklists for both the Verified Statement in Lieu of Annual Accounting and the Final or Verified Statement.

Get court approval before money moves, and again before fees are paid. Attorney fee and fiduciary expenses under ORS 116.183 must be approved by the court, must state that they are to be paid out of the estate, and must be pre-approved; the request needs an itemized affidavit in the UTCR 5.080 form showing hours expended, hourly rate and a title for each person performing work, plus a description of normal attorney tasks with hours and, for extraordinary activities, a concise account of matters such as sales of real property, operation or sale of business interests, contested matters and disputed creditor claims (SLR 9.091). The court warns that "if tasks performed appear to be the duties of a personal representative, the court will question and possibly reduce attorney fee payments for such activities," and that the parties' consent to a fee request does not waive the rule. A partial distribution has its own checklist and its own deadline: receipts from a partial distribution are due within 30 days on the court's due dates sheet.

Two more local points. If counsel resigns after a bond has been posted, resigning counsel must notify the insurer or surety of the resignation and substitution (SLR 9.045). And when the estate is finished, the closing documents addressing the discharge of the personal representative under ORS 116.213 must be filed within 90 days of the general judgment of distribution or any amended general judgment, except for good cause shown (SLR 9.063), which is a local deadline with no statewide counterpart and the last thing a Clackamas fiduciary is likely to forget.

Oregon publishes no statewide petition to open a probate, and that surprises people who expect a fill-in packet. It follows from the statute: "No particular pleadings or forms of pleadings are required in the exercise of jurisdiction of probate courts" (ORS 111.205(2)). The Oregon Judicial Department Forms Center's Estate page publishes the Simple Estate Affidavit packet with its instructions, in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, and a single Claim Against Estate form covering presentation of a claim to a personal representative under ORS 115.005, to a simple estate affiant under ORS 114.540, to a conservator, or to a trustee. A separate statewide page publishes the probate accounting packet, a generic probate motion and order, and an acknowledgment of restriction of assets. There is no statewide petition, no statewide inventory and no statewide letters form. The Forms Center states its own rule, that any statewide form will be accepted in all circuit courts but statewide forms are not available for all circumstances, and that additional forms may be available through local courts. The Oregon Judicial Department's Guide and File interactive forms service does not cover probate or simple estates.

Clackamas County publishes a genuine local probate set, and says plainly what it does not cover. Its Probate page: "The Probate Department provides a limited number of forms for particular filings," and if the form you need is not there "you may need to consult with an attorney to draft a form of document," or look to the Clackamas County Law Library, legal forms websites or a legal document preparer, on which the court takes no position. On the question of opening an estate the court is explicit: it "does not provide forms to begin these types of cases," and "most likely, you will need to work with an attorney to file a petition and limited judgment of appointment before you are issued Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration." In the Oregon Judicial Department forms library, 14 probate forms are scoped to Clackamas County, including the Acknowledgment of Restricted Funds, the Objection and Request for Hearing, the Request for Notice, Information about Visitors, the Clackamas County Probate Visitor List, the Instructions for Electronic Filing Probate Documents, the Annual Report of Guardian, the Conservatorship Annual Report of Restricted Funds, and packets for termination of a guardianship, transfer of a protective proceeding, release of conservatorship funds to a minor reaching majority and approval of a protected person's social security funds for room and board. The Request for Notice and the Objection and Request for Hearing are both captioned for the Probate Department and are the two a family in a decedent's estate is most likely to need.

Two Clackamas rules about forms are worth following exactly. First, the court's Probate Forms page carries a tie breaker: "If there are two versions of any form, select the LOCAL version," and it adds that if you use a statewide form "you must ensure the document header references 'FOR THE COUNTY OF CLACKAMAS.'" Second, the court publishes checklists rather than petitions, and they are the closest thing to a Clackamas probate template: the Estate Petition (ORS 113.035) Checklist, the Simple Estate Checklist, the Partial Distribution Checklist, the Final or Verified Statement Checklist, the Verified Statement in Lieu of Annual Accounting Checklist, the Conservatorship Annual and Final Accounting Checklist and the Guardianship and Conservatorship Checklist, all dated March 2026, alongside the Probate Action Due Dates sheet, Clackamas County, March 2026. They are written from the clerk's side of the counter, statute cite by statute cite, which makes them the most reliable way to see what this court will look for before it sends a Courtesy Notice. Where an objection is permitted, SLR 9.081(2) adds that the court clerk will provide the objection form if you do not download it.

1. Work from the court's own deadline sheet. The Probate Action Due Dates sheet, Clackamas County, March 2026 lists, for an estate: original will 10 days, information to heirs 30 days, information to the Department of Human Services 30 days, bond 30 days, acknowledgment of restrictions 30 days, receipts from a partial distribution 30 days, affidavit of publication 60 days, inventory 90 days, the Guardian Partners class 90 days, closing 90 days, affidavit of compliance 152 days and accounting 425 days. Those track the statutes (ORS 113.145, ORS 113.155, ORS 113.165, ORS 115.003, ORS 116.083) and the local rules, and they are what the court's monitoring is set to.
2. The original will has the tightest clock, and the court states it two ways. The Probate page says the original hard copy must be submitted within seven days of acceptance of the petition; the Probate Action Due Dates sheet, Clackamas County, March 2026 lists 10 days. The statewide rule permits e-filing an image and delivering the paper original within seven business days, with the original treated as filed on the date of the image (UTCR 21.070(3)(h)). Work to seven days and confirm with the Probate Department.
3. Bond, or restriction of assets, is due within 30 days, and letters do not issue until a required bond is filed with the clerk of the court (ORS 113.125). Where assets are restricted instead of bonded, the acknowledgment of restriction must be filed within 30 days of the entry of the judgment setting the restriction, on a form substantially similar to the court's own (Probate page; UTCR 9.050).
4. The fiduciary class runs on a 15-day and 90-day pair: register no later than 15 days after appointment, successfully complete the class within 90 days, and file the certificate of completion with the Probate Department (SLR 9.076). A request to be excused from the requirement must be made by motion supported by affidavit within 15 days of receiving the court's notice.
5. Accounting due dates run from the appointment judgment, not from the filing. If the limited judgment of appointment or a later motion, declaration and order does not request a new date, the accounting due date is calculated from the initial limited judgment of appointment or the prior order approving a new deadline (SLR 9.161).
6. Miss a deadline and you get a Courtesy Notice first. The court's Probate page describes it as a notice alerting a party that a prescribed deadline for a filing or other action has been missed, containing a brief statement of what is missing and stating that if the omission has not been cured within 30 days, a citation hearing will be scheduled. The court adds that the Courtesy Notice system "should not be relied on as a substitute for an adequate case management and calendaring system."
7. If a hearing is set, you get a Notice of Scheduled Court Appearance, and you can still cure. That notice means the hearing is already on the calendar; the court states that if the omission is cured at least three judicial days before the hearing date, the hearing will be canceled. SLR 9.035 is the rule: the court schedules a citation hearing on a delinquency or deficiency in a document required by statute or court order, notice goes to the attorney or, if there is none, to the fiduciary, the personal representative and counsel of record must appear unless the matter has been corrected at least three judicial days beforehand, and sanctions may be imposed if it is still uncorrected at the hearing.
8. Those citation hearings are the one probate proceeding this court holds remotely by default. The Local Remote Hearings page lists "Probate citation hearings" first among the proceedings to be held remotely, and the court's Probate page says of the delinquency hearings that they "are generally held remotely by video, but you should closely read the notice for details on the hearing." Everything else is in person unless a motion for remote appearance is granted (SLR 7.044).
9. A contested matter picks up one more step before trial. Settlement conferences are required prior to trial in all trust litigation and will contest cases unless the court finds good cause otherwise, the parties and the attorneys must be personally present unless excused in advance, and without both parties' consent the settlement conference judge may not be the trial judge (SLR 9.065).
10. Closing has its own 90 days. Any closing documents addressing the discharge of the personal representative under ORS 116.213 must be filed within 90 days of the general judgment of distribution or any amended general judgment of distribution, except for good cause shown (SLR 9.063).

Two Clackamas-specific wrinkles are worth knowing before you choose the simple estate affidavit route under ORS 114.505 to 114.560. First, the court publishes its own Simple Estate Checklist, dated March 2026, which runs the affidavit requirement by requirement with the ORS 114.525 subsection printed beside each line: the notice-of-duty language directly under the case caption, venue, the affiant's name and address, the statement that the affiant has not been convicted of a felony, the decedent's information, the timing of filing, an itemization of personal property with items over $500 listed separately, the legal description of any real property with verification of value, the heirs and devisees, the statements about creditors and disputed claims, the notice to the Department of Human Services and the Oregon Health Authority, and a notarized signature, with the certified death certificate, the original will and the affidavit of attesting witnesses on top. It is the clearest picture available of what this court checks before it accepts an affidavit, and it also flags a deadline people miss: where a safe deposit box is involved, the inventory of its contents is due 30 days after filing.

Second, if you e-file the affidavit, the death certificate goes in separately. The court's checklist states: "If e-filed, death certificate is a separate document (not attached to the affidavit because it must be filed confidentially) - CEDT code automatically makes the document confidential if e-filed." The court's own probate e-filing instructions carry the same code list, with AFSE for the small estate itself and LWTR for the will. And the outcome trap is the same one every Oregon court flags: the affidavit produces no appointment. The court's Probate page states that "the filing of a Simple Estate Affidavit does not result in issuance of these formal letters," so if a bank, brokerage or title company has told you to bring letters testamentary or letters of administration, this route will not produce them. Court staff cannot tell you which route applies. The current statutory name is the simple estate affidavit, and the court's pages still use the older names, small estate and Simple Estate, alongside it. The value caps, the waiting period, the four-month claim window and the two-year summary review period are statewide and are covered on the Oregon state page (ORS 114.510; ORS 114.515).

Page last reviewed: July 2026.