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Columbia County, OR Probate Information
Quick facts
| Category | Current rules |
|---|---|
| Court | The Columbia County Circuit Court, Oregon's general-jurisdiction trial court, sitting as the Nineteenth Judicial District. Oregon has no separate probate court as an institution; probate jurisdiction in Columbia County is vested in the circuit court (ORS 111.075), which handles estates under Title 12 of the Oregon Revised Statutes. This is not one of the six Oregon counties where probate runs through a county court, and the Columbia County Justice Court in Vernonia has no probate jurisdiction: the county describes its work as citations for traffic, boating, weighmaster, fish and game and parks violations and for city and county ordinances |
| Filing office | The court's Office of the Trial Court Administrator. Court documents may be filed at the front counter in the Trial Court Administrator's office, receipts for filing fees mailed to the court are provided if a self-addressed stamped envelope is attached, and a document that arrives without the appropriate filing fee will not be accepted for filing and will be returned to the party (Columbia County SLR 1.161(1)). The Trial Court Administrator is Toria Fraser |
| Courthouse | Columbia County Courthouse, 230 Strand Street, St. Helens, OR 97051. The court's local rules give the same address for the Trial Court Administrator counter (SLR 9.081(1)), and the court's own local estate form prints it as the filing address |
| Mailing address | Columbia County Circuit Court, 230 Strand Street, St. Helens, OR 97051. The court publishes no post office box: the mailing address and the street address are the same |
| Phone | 503-397-2327 extension 24017 for probate. The court's own Telephone Directory lists Probate as a separate contact behind the main number, alongside Civil, Criminal, Family Law and the rest. The main line, 503-397-2327, reaches the operator for general questions |
| [email protected], the probate mailbox the court publishes in its Telephone Directory. General questions go to [email protected] | |
| Fax | None published. No fax number appears on the court's pages or in its Telephone Directory, so file electronically, at the counter, or by mail |
| Hours | Two schedules, and the difference matters on a Friday. The front counter is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday. The operator answers the phone 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, so the court can be reached by phone on Friday afternoon when the filing counter has closed (Columbia County Circuit Court home page, courts.oregon.gov/courts/columbia; SLR 1.151 points to that page as the authority on business hours). No lunch closure is published |
| Filing fee | The filing fee to open a probate is set by statute and is the same in every Oregon county, tiered by the value of the estate: $278 if the estate is worth less than $50,000, $591 from $50,000 to just under $1,000,000, $882 from $1,000,000 to just under $10,000,000, and $1,176 at $10,000,000 or more (ORS 21.170(1); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026). A simple estate affidavit is $124 (ORS 21.145(4)). The caption must state the value of the estate (ORS 21.105). Fee waivers and deferrals are available. Columbia County adds no local surcharge, and a filing that arrives without the fee is returned unfiled (SLR 1.161(1)). Confirm the current schedule with the court |
| Local forms | Yes, and one of them is for a decedent's estate, which is unusual in Oregon. Twelve Columbia County forms sit in the Oregon Judicial Department forms library under Probate. Eleven are guardianship forms, including a full adult guardianship packet and its lettered Form A through Form G series, a Duties of a Guardian sheet, a guardianship FAQ and a Request for Notice. The twelfth is the court's Simple Estate Objection and Request for Hearing, captioned for Columbia County and dated January 2024, which is the only county-scoped simple-estate objection form in the statewide library. There is no local petition form, because Oregon publishes no statewide petition either. The court's forms page adds the tie breaker: if a form has two versions, select the one labeled Columbia |
| E-filing | Mandatory for attorneys, optional for everyone else. An active licensee of the Oregon State Bar must file through the statewide electronic filing system, OJD eFile, which is Odyssey File and Serve, unless the document must be filed conventionally under UTCR 21.070(3) or the filer has a waiver (UTCR 21.140(1); Columbia County SLR 1.161(2)). A self-represented filer may register and e-file but is not required to, and may file at the counter or by mail. Columbia County has no local conventional-filing-only list, so UTCR 21.070(3) alone governs what must be on paper here, and the original will is the item that always is (UTCR 21.070(3)(h)). Ex parte orders are e-filed or presented to the administrator's office to be forwarded to the assigned judge (SLR 5.061) |
| Case search | Through the statewide Oregon Judicial Department Records and Calendar Search, which the court's own calendar page names as the way to search the Columbia County Circuit Court calendar. It is an index and register of actions: the Oregon Judicial Department states that results provide basic case information, party information, event entries and dispositions, that the display is not the official register record under ORS 7.020, and that documents are not available through it. Newer case records can be viewed on lobby kiosks at the courthouse, older paper files are retrieved on request if they have not been scanned, and copies are ordered in person or through the court's online Records Request Form, with most requests completed within 10 business days |
| Remote appearance | Available, but the hearing notice decides and there is no probate default. The court says a hearing that is open to the public may be attended in person, by video using WebEx, or by phone, and that your hearing notice will tell you which applies and carry the WebEx link and the call-in number. Where in-person appearance is required and you want to appear remotely, file the court's own Motion and Order for Telephonic or Video Appearance through OJD eFile, in person, or by mail, early enough for the judge to review it. Exhibits must reach the court by 4:00 p.m. two court days before the hearing. The court publishes standing WebEx details for Courtrooms 202, 311 and 351 |
| Website | https://www.courts.oregon.gov/courts/columbia/Pages/default.aspx |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
The first Columbia County question is not which form to use, it is what the estate holds and who is entitled to what. Oregon prescribes no pleading forms for probate, because "No particular pleadings or forms of pleadings are required in the exercise of jurisdiction of probate courts" (ORS 111.205(2)), so the petition is a document you or your attorney draft. It has to state the facts relied on to establish venue, the heirs and devisees with their addresses and the ages of any minors, a statement that reasonable efforts have been made to identify and locate all heirs, and the extent and nature of the estate's assets so the court can set the bond (ORS 113.035). Columbia County adds no local petition content rule, so the statute is the checklist.
So before you file, identify every bank and credit union account, brokerage and retirement account, life insurance policy, vehicle, business interest and parcel of Columbia County real estate, from St. Helens and Scappoose to Rainier, Clatskanie and Vernonia, along with every debt, and identify each heir and devisee by name, address and age. That inventory decides three things at once here: which Oregon route fits, which fee tier the caption must state (ORS 21.105), and whether the court will require a bond. It also decides whether you are headed to the courthouse at all, since a home held with a right of survivorship and accounts with named beneficiaries pass outside probate. Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for this step.
Which court handles jurisdiction
The Columbia County Circuit Court serves all of Columbia County, from St. Helens, Columbia City and Scappoose along the river through Rainier, Clatskanie, Prescott and Vernonia and the unincorporated county, and it hears probate for a Columbia County decedent. There is one courthouse and one filing counter: the Columbia County Courthouse at 230 Strand Street in St. Helens, where the court's local rules place the Trial Court Administrator counter (SLR 9.081(1)) and where the court's own local estate form tells filers to file. The court is the whole of the Nineteenth Judicial District, so no other county's courthouse shares it.
Two other Columbia County offices are easy to confuse with the court, and neither takes a probate filing. The Columbia County Justice Court sits at 1001 Bridge Street in Vernonia, and the county states plainly that it is not held at the county courthouse; the county describes its jurisdiction as including citations for traffic, boating, weighmaster, fish and game and parks violations and city and county ordinances, and it has no probate jurisdiction. The Columbia County Clerk is at the same street address as the court, 230 Strand Street, but in the Columbia County Courthouse Annex, and the Clerk is the recording office: deeds, mortgages, liens and other real property records, plus death certificates for deaths in Columbia County. An estate visits the Clerk to record a deed and to buy a certified death certificate, and the court to file the case.
Oregon's venue rule is unusually broad, so it is worth knowing what it does and does not permit. Oregon law allows a probate to be filed in the county where the decedent was domiciled or had a place of abode at the time of death, in any county where the decedent's property was located at death or is located when the proceeding is commenced, in the county where the decedent died, or in the county where a personal injury or wrongful death claim could be maintained (ORS 113.015(1)); filing in another county is not a jurisdictional defect (ORS 113.015(2)). In practice you file in the county where the decedent lived, because that is where the notice to interested persons is published (ORS 113.155(1)). If proceedings are commenced in more than one county, all but the first are stayed until venue is determined, and the court may transfer a proceeding where the best interest of the estate requires it (ORS 113.025). That rule matters on this stretch of the river, because Columbia County borders Multnomah, Washington and Clatsop Counties and many families hold property on both sides of a county line.
The jurisdiction process
- Confirm that Columbia County is the right county. It is the practical choice when the decedent was domiciled or kept a place of abode here at death, and the other statutory grounds are property located here, death here, or a personal injury or wrongful death claim that could be brought here (ORS 113.015(1)). Everything is filed at one place, the Columbia County Courthouse, 230 Strand Street, St. Helens.
- Choose the route. A probate proceeding is commenced by filing a petition (ORS 111.205(1)): with a will, the petitioner asks the court to admit the will and appoint a personal representative, who receives letters testamentary; with no will, the petition asks for appointment and letters of administration, and the court appoints in the statutory preference order, beginning with the personal representative named in the will and then the surviving spouse or the spouse's nominee where the spouse is a distributee (ORS 113.085(1)). For a modest estate there is the simple estate affidavit route under ORS 114.505 to 114.560, which reaches real property as well as personal property but appoints no personal representative and produces no letters. The routes and their value caps are covered on the Oregon state page.
- Draft the documents, because Oregon does not supply them. "No particular pleadings or forms of pleadings are required in the exercise of jurisdiction of probate courts" (ORS 111.205(2)), and there is no statewide petition, inventory or letters form. The statewide Oregon Judicial Department forms that do exist for estates are the Simple Estate Affidavit packet with its instructions and the Claim Against Estate form, plus a statewide probate accounting packet. Columbia County's own probate forms are guardianship forms and one estate form, the Simple Estate Objection and Request for Hearing. Every petition, inventory, report and accounting must be in writing and carry a declaration under penalty of perjury in the form required by ORCP 1 E.
- File with the Trial Court Administrator's office. An Oregon State Bar licensee must file electronically through OJD eFile, the statewide Odyssey File and Serve system, unless the document must be filed conventionally under UTCR 21.070(3) or a waiver has been granted (UTCR 21.140(1); Columbia County SLR 1.161(2)). A self-represented filer may register and e-file, or may file at the front counter or by mail to 230 Strand Street. Either way the original will goes in on paper, because a document required by law to be filed in original form cannot be e-filed (UTCR 21.070(3)(h)); where an original must accompany an e-filed document, e-file an image, note it in Filing Comments, and deliver the original within seven business days, and the original is treated as filed on the date the image was e-filed. If you mail the filing and want a receipt, attach a self-addressed stamped envelope (SLR 1.161(1)).
- Pay the fee, and send it with the filing. The fee to open a probate is tiered by the value of the estate: $278 under $50,000, $591 from $50,000 to just under $1,000,000, $882 from $1,000,000 to just under $10,000,000, and $1,176 at $10,000,000 or more (ORS 21.170(1); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026). The caption must state the value of the estate, and if an amended pleading raises the value the court collects the difference (ORS 21.105). A simple estate affidavit is $124 (ORS 21.145(4)). Fees are payable in advance and are not refundable (ORS 21.100). In Columbia County a document that arrives without the appropriate filing fee attached is not accepted and is returned to the party (SLR 1.161(1)), so a mailed petition with no check loses its filing date. If you cannot afford the fee, apply for a deferral or waiver using the Oregon Judicial Department packet.
- Watch the counter clock if you are filing in person. The front counter is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and only 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday, while the operator answers the phone until 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. A Friday afternoon trip to St. Helens will find the counter closed even though the phone is answered.
- Let the court set any hearing, and ask about the format. Ex parte orders are e-filed or presented to the administrator's office to be forwarded to the assigned judge, and ex parte matters requiring a hearing are scheduled by court staff (SLR 5.061). Columbia County publishes no probate docket day or standing probate calendar, so the court tells you when your matter is set. A hearing open to the public may be attended in person, by WebEx video or by phone, and your hearing notice states which applies; if you are required to appear in person and want to appear remotely, file the court's Motion and Order for Telephonic or Video Appearance in time for the judge to review it. Exhibits must reach the court by 4:00 p.m. two court days before the hearing.
- Receive the letters. The court appoints the personal representative and then issues letters testamentary or letters of administration once any required bond is filed with the clerk of the court (ORS 113.125). Certified copies of the letters are the document a bank, credit union or title company asks for; they cost $5 plus 25 cents per page in paper form and nothing when delivered electronically (ORS 21.258; Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026). Columbia County's Court Records page names estate and probate purposes as exactly the situation where a third party needs a certified rather than a regular copy, and warns that an electronic certified copy has to be printed in color and that a stapled certified document loses its certification if you take the staple out.
- Administer and close. Deliver the required information to the devisees, heirs and the other persons named in the petition, file proof of that delivery within 30 days of appointment, and send the same information and a copy of the death record to the Department of Human Services and the Oregon Health Authority (ORS 113.145). Publish the notice to interested persons once in a newspaper published in the county, or in a newspaper the court designates if none is published here (ORS 113.155). File the inventory within 90 days of appointment, valued as of the date of death (ORS 113.165). Make reasonably diligent efforts during the three months after appointment to identify claimants, mail the notice to each known claimant, and file proof of compliance (ORS 115.003). Claims are presented to the personal representative, not filed with the court, and are barred if not presented before the later of four months after publication or 45 days after a required notice was mailed (ORS 115.005). Keep the vouchers for every disbursement in the period an account covers, because Columbia County requires the personal representative to retain them (SLR 9.091). File accountings, which carry their own tiered fee of $35, $298, $591 or $1,176 on the same value bands (ORS 21.170(2); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026). Then file the final account and petition for a judgment of distribution (ORS 116.083), give notice of the time to object at least 20 days out (ORS 116.093), and take the general judgment of final distribution (ORS 116.113).
Executor duties
A Columbia 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 Nineteenth Judicial District adds three obligations on top of those, and each one is short.
Keep the vouchers. "Vouchers for disbursements made during the period covered by the account must be retained by the personal representative" (SLR 9.091). Columbia County does not ask you to file them with every account, it requires you to have them, which in practice means keeping receipts, invoices and bank records for the whole administration and being able to produce them on request. Oregon charges to file an accounting, at $35, $298, $591 or $1,176 on the same value bands as the opening fee (ORS 21.170(2); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026), so an account that has to be redone for missing support is an expensive one.
Do not let a filing go late. On a delinquency in filing any document required by statute, rule or court order, the court notifies both the fiduciary and the attorney of record, and the personal representative must promptly cure it. If the delinquency is not cured within 30 days after the notice is mailed, or within another time limit the court sets, an Order to Show Cause may be issued requiring the personal representative and the attorney of record to appear before the court (SLR 9.165). The filings that most often run late are the proof of delivery of information due within 30 days of appointment (ORS 113.145), the inventory due within 90 days (ORS 113.165) and the annual account due within 60 days after the anniversary of appointment (ORS 116.083).
Separate your work from your lawyer's. Attorney fee expenses under ORS 116.183 must be approved by the court, and the request must be accompanied by a statement for attorney fees in the form required by UTCR 5.080 showing the hours expended, the hourly rate charged and a designation of title for each person doing the work; where the tasks look like the duties of a personal representative, this court will question and may reduce the fee for those activities, and party consent does not waive the requirement (SLR 9.095). If you are the personal representative and your lawyer's office is chasing account statements or mailing notices for you, expect the court to look at that line.
One practical habit that is not a rule but saves a trip. The filing counter closes at 1:00 p.m. on Friday while the phone is answered until 4:00 p.m., so build deadline filings around a Monday through Thursday counter visit, or use OJD eFile, which any self-represented filer may register for even though only Oregon State Bar licensees are required to use it (UTCR 21.140(1)).
Forms and documents
Probate forms in Columbia County
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. There is no statewide petition, no statewide inventory and no statewide letters form, so the petition and the proposed orders are drafted by the filer or the attorney. 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. Note that the Oregon Judicial Department's Guide and File interactive forms service does not cover probate or simple estates.
Columbia County is one of those local courts, and it is unusual in Oregon: it publishes a form for a decedent's estate, not only for guardianships. Twelve Columbia County forms sit in the Oregon Judicial Department forms library under the Probate category. Eleven are guardianship forms: an adult guardianship packet, the lettered series that walks the packet through from the petition for appointment of a guardian for an adult, the notice to the respondent, the respondent's objection, the declaration of proof of personal service, the notice of time for filing objections to interested parties and the declaration of mailing to them, to the limited judgment appointing a guardian, plus a Duties of a Guardian sheet, a guardianship FAQ and a Request for Notice. The twelfth is the estate one.
That estate form is the Simple Estate Objection and Request for Hearing, captioned "IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON FOR THE COUNTY OF COLUMBIA" and dated January 2024. It is how an objector tells the court, under penalty of perjury, that they object to a simple estate affidavit and want a hearing, with space for the reasons and for attached exhibits and a certificate of service under UTCR 5.100 confirming a copy went to the person who opened the estate or their attorney. The form carries its own filing instruction, "File at Columbia County Courthouse: 230 Strand St. St. Helens, OR 97051," and its own warning that a filing fee must be included; the form points to the Oregon Judicial Department fee page for the current amount, and on the fee schedule an objector's first appearance in a simple estate proceeding under ORS 114.505 to 114.560 is $281 (ORS 21.135(1) and (2)(g); ORS 114.552(1); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026). Across the whole statewide library only three counties publish an estate-category form of their own, and Columbia's objection form is the only county version of it, which is worth knowing if you are the affiant on a Columbia County simple estate: the county has made objecting easier than most.
Two practical notes. The court's forms page states that it contains forms specific to the Columbia County Circuit Court and adds the tie breaker "If a form has two versions, please select the one labeled Columbia," so prefer the Columbia version where one exists. And the court's separate Guardianship page, which is the only programs page it publishes touching this area, points readers to the county forms page and tells them to look under the Probate section, then sends them to the statewide Forms Center for the annual Guardian's Report and reminds them that the report must be signed in front of a notary public, which the court can do.
Local nuance
Columbia County-specific considerations
Columbia County's first distinctive is a schedule split most Oregon counties do not have. The court publishes two sets of hours side by side: the front counter is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday, while the operator answers the phone 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. So the Friday afternoon that gets you a person on the phone will not get you a filing stamp, and a counter trip has to be made by Thursday afternoon or before Friday lunch. The court's own local rule on business hours, SLR 1.151, does not print them; it points to the court's website, which makes the website the authority and worth rechecking before you drive to St. Helens.
The second is the return rule on filing fees, which turns a paperwork slip into a lost filing date. Court documents may be filed at the front counter in the Trial Court Administrator's office, receipts for filing fees mailed to the court are provided if a self-addressed stamped envelope is attached, and "Documents without the appropriate filing fee attached will not be accepted for filing and will be returned to the party" (SLR 1.161(1)). Because the probate filing fee is tiered by the value of the estate and the caption has to state that value (ORS 21.105; ORS 21.170(1)), getting the tier wrong on a mailed petition is not a correctable clerical matter here, it is a returned filing.
The third is the court's own estate form, and it cuts both ways. Columbia County publishes a Simple Estate Objection and Request for Hearing, captioned for the county and dated January 2024, and no other Oregon county publishes a county version of it. If you are filing a simple estate affidavit here, the person who wants to contest it has a ready-made, court-issued form that tells them where to file it and that a fee is due. If you are the one objecting, the form is the court's own and answers the mechanics for you, including the UTCR 5.100 certificate of service.
The fourth is a local warning to anyone paying an attorney out of the estate. Attorney fee expenses under ORS 116.183 and ORS 125.095 must be approved by the court, the request must come with a statement for attorney fees in the form required by UTCR 5.080 showing the hours expended, the hourly rate charged and a designation of title for each person performing the work, and the rule then says outright: "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" (SLR 9.095). Consent by the parties to the fee request does not waive the rule. Keep the fiduciary's work and the lawyer's work separately recorded from the start.
Two smaller Columbia County facts complete the picture. On a delinquency in filing any document required by statute, rule or court order, the fiduciary and the attorney of record are notified and the personal representative, guardian or conservator must promptly cure it; if it is not cured within 30 days after the notice is mailed, or another time the court sets, an Order to Show Cause may issue requiring the fiduciary and the attorney of record to appear (SLR 9.165). And in a protective proceeding, an interested person under ORS 125.075(1) may make an oral objection at the Trial Court Administrator counter in the Columbia County Courthouse by telling the clerk they wish to object, after which the court schedules a hearing and notifies the parties; the clerk will hand over the written objection form if that is preferred (SLR 9.081). That counter route is for protective proceedings, not for a decedent's estate, where the county's own objection form and the ordinary filing rules apply.
Small-estate Alternatives
One Columbia County wrinkle is worth knowing before you choose the simple estate affidavit route under ORS 114.505 to 114.560. This is the only Oregon county that publishes its own Simple Estate Objection and Request for Hearing form, captioned for Columbia County and dated January 2024, with the court's own filing instruction on its face: file it at the Columbia County Courthouse, 230 Strand Street, St. Helens, and include a filing fee. The form asks the objector to state the reasons under penalty of perjury, allows attached exhibits, and requires a certificate of service under UTCR 5.100 confirming a copy was mailed to the person who opened the estate or their attorney. The affidavit itself is the statewide Oregon Judicial Department Simple Estate Affidavit packet, and the county publishes no local version of it. The value caps, the 30-day 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).
Two Columbia County offices come into it. The court takes the affidavit, the certified death certificate and the original will if there is one, at 230 Strand Street, and charges $124 (ORS 21.145(4); ORS 114.515(5)). The Columbia County Clerk, at the same street address but in the Columbia County Courthouse Annex, is a different office: it issues death certificates for deaths in Columbia County and it is the recording office where a bargain and sale deed transferring real property under ORS 114.555(3) is recorded. The Clerk is open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, with document recording 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., which is a wider window than the court's filing counter keeps. Remember what the affidavit route does not produce: no personal representative is appointed and no letters testamentary or letters of administration are issued, so if a bank or title company has asked for letters, this route will not supply them.
Recent updates
| Date | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|
| February 1, 2026 | The current Columbia County Circuit Court Supplementary Local Rules took effect, certified December 8, 2025 by the Court Administrator. Chapter 9 carries forward unchanged from the 2025 edition: oral objections in protective proceedings at the Trial Court Administrator counter (SLR 9.081), vouchers retained by the personal representative (SLR 9.091), the annual report for a guardian of a minor (SLR 9.092), attorney fee approval with the warning about work that looks like a personal representative's duties (SLR 9.095), and the 30-day cure period before an Order to Show Cause on a delinquent filing (SLR 9.165). The only substantive change in the 2026 edition is in Chapter 8, on statements of assets and liabilities in contested dissolutions, which does not touch probate. | Columbia County Circuit Court Supplementary Local Rules, courts.oregon.gov/rules |
| January 2024 | The court's Simple Estate Objection and Request for Hearing form carries a January 2024 revision date. It is captioned for Columbia County, prints its own filing address at 230 Strand Street and its own warning that a filing fee must be included, and is the only county-scoped simple-estate objection form in the statewide Oregon Judicial Department forms library. | Columbia County Circuit Court forms page and the Oregon Judicial Department forms library, courts.oregon.gov |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Columbia County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | A St. Helens, Scappoose or Rainier home held with a right of survivorship passes to the survivor outside probate, and title is cleared through the Columbia County Clerk's recording office in the Courthouse Annex at 230 Strand Street, not through the circuit court. Accounts and property in the decedent's sole name may still need probate. Where they do, the surviving spouse petitions the Columbia County Circuit Court; the spouse or the spouse's nominee has priority for appointment where the spouse is a distributee (ORS 113.085(1)(b)). If the sole-name property is modest, the simple estate affidavit may reach it instead, including real property, but it produces no letters. | Asset discovery to separate survivorship property from sole-name assets, which is also what sets the fee tier the caption must state. Packet generation for the simple estate affidavit or for the petition and proposed orders. Guidance on recording with the Columbia County Clerk to clear title. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | If the parent lived in Columbia County and the estate is modest, a claiming successor may be able to file a simple estate affidavit with the clerk of the probate court in a county with venue, which reaches real property as well as personal property, with real property transferred afterward by recording a bargain and sale deed with the Columbia County Clerk (ORS 114.555(3)). Where a full probate is needed, the child drafts the petition, files it electronically as a registered self-represented filer or by mail to 230 Strand Street with the fee attached, and gets the original will to the court on paper (UTCR 21.070(3)(h)). Hearings here may be attended in person, by WebEx video or by phone depending on the hearing notice, and a motion for telephonic or video appearance is the route when in-person attendance is required, so a trip to St. Helens is not always necessary. | Asset discovery to confirm what the estate holds and whether the affidavit route reaches it. Packet generation for the affidavit or for the petition and proposed orders, ready to mail or e-file. Attorney referral if the estate turns out to be larger, if the affidavit draws the county's Simple Estate Objection and Request for Hearing, or if the matter becomes contested. |
| Parent settling a predeceased child's estate, home must be sold | Probate in the Columbia County Circuit Court. With no will, the parent petitions for appointment and letters of administration and the court appoints in the ORS 113.085(1) preference order. The parent files the inventory within 90 days (ORS 113.165), publishes notice once (ORS 113.155), works the creditor search and notice (ORS 115.003), sells the child's Columbia County real estate under the authority the letters give and records the deed with the County Clerk, keeps the vouchers for every disbursement as this court requires (SLR 9.091), and files the accountings, which carry their own tiered fee (ORS 21.170(2)). A filing that runs late draws a notice and, if not cured within 30 days, an Order to Show Cause (SLR 9.165), and attorney fees for work that looks like the personal representative's own duties may be questioned and reduced (SLR 9.095). | Asset discovery for the child's accounts, policies, vehicles and Columbia County real estate, and for the debts that decide whether the estate is solvent. Packet generation for the petition, the inventory and the accountings, with the disbursement records the court expects you to retain. Attorney referral for a disputed sale, an heirship question, or a contested account. |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Columbia County Circuit Court home page (courts.oregon.gov/courts/columbia) | The court's own contact and location block, and the authority its local rules point to for business hours (SLR 1.151): front counter 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Friday, operator 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, main entrance and mailing address at 230 Strand Street, and the Trial Court Administrator |
| Columbia County Circuit Court Telephone Directory (courts.oregon.gov/courts/columbia/resources/Pages/directory.aspx) | The court's per-topic contact table, which is where the probate line and probate mailbox live: Probate at 503-397-2327 extension 24017 and [email protected], with general questions at 503-397-2327 and [email protected]. The table renders through a script, so open it in a browser |
| Court Records, Columbia County Circuit Court (courts.oregon.gov/courts/columbia/records/Pages/default.aspx) | How to get copies from an estate file: in person at 230 Strand Street or through the court's online Records Request Form, with most requests completed within 10 business days. It explains regular, certified and exemplified copies, names estate and probate purposes as a common reason a third party requires a certified copy, notes that electronic certified copies must be printed in color and that removing a staple voids the certification, and says newer records can be viewed on the courthouse lobby kiosks while older paper files are pulled on request |
| Columbia County Circuit Court forms page (courts.oregon.gov/courts/columbia/help/Pages/forms.aspx) | The court's own form library with a Probate section, holding the adult guardianship packet and its lettered series, the Duties of a Guardian sheet, the guardianship FAQ, the Request for Notice, and the Simple Estate Objection and Request for Hearing. The page states that its forms are specific to this court and that where a form has two versions you should select the one labeled Columbia |
| Columbia County Circuit Court Remote Hearings page (courts.oregon.gov/courts/columbia/go/Pages/remote-hearings.aspx) | What the court publishes about attending: in person, by WebEx video or by phone, with the hearing notice controlling; the Motion and Order for Telephonic or Video Appearance to use when in-person attendance is required; the 4:00 p.m. two-court-day exhibit deadline; and standing WebEx numbers for Courtrooms 202, 311 and 351 |
| Columbia County Circuit Court Supplementary Local Rules, effective February 1, 2026 (courts.oregon.gov/rules) | The rules that actually govern a Columbia County probate: SLR 1.161 on counter filing, mailed receipts and filings returned for a missing fee, SLR 5.061 on ex parte matters, and Chapter 9 on probate, with SLR 9.081 on oral objections in protective proceedings, SLR 9.091 on vouchers, SLR 9.095 on attorney fees and SLR 9.165 on delinquent filings |
| Columbia County Clerk (230 Strand Street, Courthouse Annex, St. Helens, 503-397-3796, [email protected]) | The county recording office, not the court. It records deeds, mortgages and liens, which is where a bargain and sale deed transferring real property out of a simple estate is recorded (ORS 114.555(3)) and where survivorship title is cleared, and it issues death certificates for deaths in Columbia County. Open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, with document recording 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. |
| Oregon Judicial Department Forms Center, Estate page (courts.oregon.gov/forms/Pages/estate.aspx) | The statewide Simple Estate Affidavit packet with instructions, in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, and the Claim Against Estate form, plus the separate statewide probate accounting packet. There is no statewide petition to open a probate. The page renders its file list with a script, so open it in a browser |
| Oregon Judicial Department Court Fees and the Circuit Court Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026 (courts.oregon.gov/Pages/fees.aspx) | The statutory probate filing and accounting fee tiers, the simple estate affidavit fee, appearance and motion fees, and copy and certification charges, with the ORS authority printed beside each line. The Fee Deferral and Waiver packet is in the same Forms Center. Columbia County's own objection form points readers to this page for current fees |
| OJD eFile, Odyssey File and Serve (courts.oregon.gov/services/online/Pages/efile.aspx) | Oregon's statewide electronic filing system for the circuit courts. Filing is mandatory for Oregon State Bar licensees (UTCR 21.140(1); Columbia County SLR 1.161(2)) and open to self-represented filers who register, which is the way to avoid the Friday counter closure |
| OJD Records and Calendar Search (courts.oregon.gov/services/online/Pages/records-calendars.aspx) | Free access to basic case information and calendars for Oregon's circuit courts, and the tool Columbia County's own calendar page tells you to use to search this court's calendar. The Oregon Judicial Department states that results give basic case, party, event and disposition information, that the display is not the official ORS 7.020 register record, and that documents are not available through the service; document access is through a court kiosk or a paid OJCIN OnLine subscription |
| Oregon Law Center, St. Helens Office (270 S. 1st Street, P.O. Box 1090, St. Helens, 503-397-1628) | The legal aid office the court's own Community and Legal Help page lists for this county. Oregon Law Center describes it as part of the Hillsboro Regional Office, serving low-income clients and seniors in Washington, Columbia, Clatsop, Tillamook and Yamhill Counties, with most cases in family law, housing and public benefits and contracts to serve seniors in a wider range of problems. Estates are not a listed practice area, so ask first whether they can help with a probate question |
| Oregon State Bar (osbar.org, 503-620-0222 or 800-452-8260) | The Bar's public "What is Probate?" page and its Wills, Trusts and Elder Law resources, plus the Lawyer Referral Service and Modest Means Program at 503-684-3763 or 800-452-7636. The Columbia County Circuit Court's own Community and Legal Help page lists both. The Bar is not a government agency |
| Oregon Law Help (oregonlawhelp.org) and the OJD Self-Help Center (courts.oregon.gov/help) | Both are named on the court's Community and Legal Help page. Neither publishes a probate or estate topic: the Self-Help Center covers family law, divorce and protective orders, and the court's own facilitator, reachable at 503-397-2327 extension 24025, is published as a Family Law Facilitator. Use them to find legal aid and general court information rather than probate guidance, and note that court staff cannot give legal advice |
When to hire an attorney
Columbia County does not require a personal representative to have a lawyer, and its local rules impose no competency showing of the kind Multnomah County requires, so a straightforward estate can be handled without counsel. Counsel makes particular sense here when the estate is insolvent or its solvency is in doubt; when a will is contested, a bequest fails, or heirship is unclear; when someone files the county's Simple Estate Objection and Request for Hearing against an affidavit you have filed, or you need to file one; when the estate holds a business interest, out-of-state property, or Columbia County real estate whose sale terms are disputed; when a creditor claim is disallowed and heads to summary determination; when an accounting draws an objection; and when a filing has already gone delinquent and the court has issued an Order to Show Cause under SLR 9.165. One local rule is worth reading before you hire: attorney fees paid from the estate must be approved by the court on a UTCR 5.080 statement, and where the tasks look like the personal representative's own duties the court will question and may reduce them (SLR 9.095), so agree at the outset on who does what. An attorney also brings e-filing with them, since Oregon State Bar licensees must e-file under UTCR 21.140(1). Sunset can connect families to a vetted Oregon probate attorney serving Columbia County when the situation calls for counsel.
How Sunset helps
Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and public records to surface bank and credit union accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, Columbia County real property, business interests and unclaimed property, so you know the estate's value before you file and can approach estate settlement with a clearer inventory. That matters twice over here: the petition must state the extent and nature of the assets so the court can set the bond (ORS 113.035), and the caption must state the value of the estate because the filing fee is tiered by it (ORS 21.105), which in Columbia County is the difference between a filing accepted and a filing returned for the wrong fee (SLR 1.161(1)).
Generate the probate packet. Oregon publishes no statewide petition form, so the paperwork is drafted, not filled in. Sunset assembles the Columbia County filing: the simple estate affidavit where the estate qualifies, or the petition, the proposed order and the proposed letters, with the ORCP 1 E declaration, ready to file at the front counter at 230 Strand Street, to mail with the fee attached, or to e-file through OJD eFile.
Find a local probate attorney. When an objection is filed, when an accounting or an attorney fee request is questioned, or when the estate is insolvent or contested, Sunset connects families to a vetted Oregon probate attorney serving Columbia County to file, e-file and appear.
Sunset is free for families. Revenue comes from bank partners that pay Sunset while estate funds sit in an FDIC-insured estate account ($3M coverage).
Frequently asked questions
Where do I file probate in Columbia County, Oregon?
At the front counter in the Office of the Trial Court Administrator for the Columbia County Circuit Court, in the Columbia County Courthouse at 230 Strand Street, St. Helens, OR 97051, which is also the court's mailing address. Oregon has no separate probate court as an institution; probate jurisdiction in Columbia County is vested in the circuit court (ORS 111.075). Oregon venue is broad, allowing filing where the decedent was domiciled or had a place of abode, in any county where the decedent's property was or is located, where the decedent died, or where a personal injury or wrongful death claim could be brought (ORS 113.015(1)), and filing elsewhere is not a jurisdictional defect (ORS 113.015(2)); in practice you file where the decedent lived, because that is where the notice to interested persons is published (ORS 113.155(1)). Do not take an estate filing to the Columbia County Justice Court in Vernonia, which handles citations and ordinance violations.
What are the Columbia County Circuit Court's hours for filing?
The front counter is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday. The operator answers the phone 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, so the court can be reached by telephone on Friday afternoon even though the filing counter has closed. The court's local rule on business hours does not print them and instead points to the court's website (SLR 1.151), so check the site before driving to St. Helens. No lunch closure is published. Filing electronically through OJD eFile avoids the counter schedule entirely, and the electronic filing deadline is 11:59:59 p.m. in the court's time zone (UTCR 21.080(2)).
Do I have to e-file a probate case in Columbia County?
Only if you are a lawyer. An active licensee of the Oregon State Bar must file through the statewide electronic filing system, OJD eFile, which is Odyssey File and Serve, unless the document must be filed conventionally under UTCR 21.070(3) or the filer has a waiver (UTCR 21.140(1)), and Columbia County's own rule repeats that mandate (SLR 1.161(2)). A self-represented filer may register and e-file but is not required to, and may file at the front counter or by mail. Columbia County publishes no local conventional-filing-only list, so UTCR 21.070(3) alone decides what must be on paper. The original will always is: a document required by law to be filed in original form cannot be e-filed (UTCR 21.070(3)(h)), and where it accompanies an e-filed document you may e-file an image, note it in Filing Comments, and deliver the paper original within seven business days.
How much does it cost to file probate in Columbia County?
The fee is statutory and identical in every Oregon county, tiered by the value of the estate: $278 if the estate is worth less than $50,000, $591 from $50,000 to just under $1,000,000, $882 from $1,000,000 to just under $10,000,000, and $1,176 at $10,000,000 or more (ORS 21.170(1); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026). The caption must state the value of the estate, and if an amended pleading raises it the court collects the difference (ORS 21.105). A simple estate affidavit is $124 (ORS 21.145(4)). Accountings carry their own tiered fee of $35, $298, $591 or $1,176 on the same bands (ORS 21.170(2)), and any other appearance in a probate proceeding is $281 (ORS 21.135(1) and (2)(g); ORS 21.170(4)). Fees are payable in advance and are not refundable (ORS 21.100), and Oregon counties add no local filing surcharge. In Columbia County a document that arrives without the appropriate fee attached is not accepted and is returned to the party (SLR 1.161(1)). Fee deferrals and waivers are available.
Does Columbia County have its own probate forms?
Yes, twelve of them in the Oregon Judicial Department forms library, and one is for a decedent's estate rather than a guardianship, which is rare in Oregon. Eleven are guardianship forms: an adult guardianship packet and its lettered Form A through Form G series, a Duties of a Guardian sheet, a guardianship FAQ and a Request for Notice. The twelfth is the Simple Estate Objection and Request for Hearing, captioned for Columbia County and dated January 2024, and Columbia is the only Oregon county that publishes a county version of it. There is no local petition form, because Oregon publishes no statewide petition either: no particular pleadings or forms of pleadings are required (ORS 111.205(2)), so the petition is drafted. The court's forms page adds that where a form has two versions you should select the one labeled Columbia.
How long does it take to get letters testamentary in Columbia County?
The court publishes no turnaround figure and no counter wait time, and none should be assumed. What is published is the sequence: the court appoints the personal representative and issues letters testamentary or letters of administration once any required bond is filed with the clerk of the court (ORS 113.125), and ex parte orders are e-filed or presented to the administrator's office to be forwarded to the assigned judge, with any hearing scheduled by court staff (SLR 5.061). Certified copies of the letters, which is what a bank or title company asks for, are $5 plus 25 cents per page in paper and nothing delivered electronically (ORS 21.258; Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026); order them from the court in person or through its online Records Request Form, and note the court's warning that an electronic certified copy has to be printed in color.
How do I look up a Columbia County probate case?
Use the Oregon Judicial Department Records and Calendar Search, the free statewide tool for Oregon's circuit courts, which the Columbia County Circuit Court's own calendar page names as the way to search this court's calendar by case number, person, attorney name, judge or date range. It is an index and register of actions, not a document library: the Oregon Judicial Department states that results provide basic case information, party information, event entries and dispositions, that the display is not the official register record under ORS 7.020, and that documents are not available through the service. For documents, newer case records can be viewed on the lobby kiosks at the courthouse, older paper files are pulled on request if they have not been scanned, and copies are ordered in person at 230 Strand Street or through the court's online Records Request Form, with most requests completed within 10 business days. Broader access is through a court kiosk or a paid OJCIN OnLine subscription.
Can I appear remotely, or do I have to travel to St. Helens?
Remote appearance is available and the court publishes the mechanics, but your hearing notice controls and there is no probate default. The court states that a hearing open to the public may be attended in person, by video using WebEx, or by phone, and that the hearing notice will tell you which applies and give you the WebEx link and the call-in number and access code; it publishes standing WebEx details for Courtrooms 202, 311 and 351. If you are required to appear in person and want to appear remotely, file the court's own Motion and Order for Telephonic or Video Appearance through OJD eFile, in person, or by mail, early enough for the judge to review it before the hearing. Exhibits must reach the court no later than 4:00 p.m. two court days before your hearing. Filing itself can be done at a distance by mail or by registering to e-file, with one paper step that cannot be avoided: the original will has to reach the court (UTCR 21.070(3)(h)).
What happens if I file something late in a Columbia County estate?
The court has a local rule for it. On a delinquency in filing any document required by statute, rule or court order, the fiduciary and the attorney of record are notified and the personal representative, guardian or conservator must promptly cure the delinquency; if it is not cured within 30 days after the notice is mailed, or within another time the court sets, an Order to Show Cause may be issued requiring the personal representative and the attorney of record to appear before the court (SLR 9.165). The filings that most often slip are the proof of delivery of information to devisees, heirs and state agencies, due within 30 days of appointment (ORS 113.145), the inventory due within 90 days of appointment (ORS 113.165), and the annual account due within 60 days after the anniversary of appointment (ORS 116.083).
Will the court question my attorney's fees in a Columbia County estate?
It can, and this court says so in its rules. Attorney fee expenses under ORS 116.183 must be approved by the court, and the request must be accompanied by a statement for attorney fees filed in the form required by UTCR 5.080, showing the number of hours expended, the hourly rate charged and a designation of title for each person performing the work. The rule then adds that if the tasks performed appear to be the duties of a personal representative, the court will question and possibly reduce attorney fee payments for those activities, and that consent by the parties to the fee request does not waive the requirement (SLR 9.095). The practical answer is to agree at the start on which tasks the personal representative handles and which need a lawyer, and to keep the two sets of time records separate. Columbia County also requires the personal representative to retain vouchers for disbursements made during the period an account covers (SLR 9.091).
Shaped by the families we've helped
Thank you to the thousands of families who have trusted Sunset to help settle their loved ones' estates. This page is shaped by the questions they actually asked and the obstacles they actually hit — and that hard-won experience is what keeps it accurate, current, and genuinely useful to the families who come next.