Marion County, OR Probate Information

A Marion 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 Third Judicial District adds local obligations on top of those, and Marion is unusual in publishing a duties list of its own on the court's probate page. Read that list with care: it is a useful summary, but two of its deadlines are behind the statute. It says the inventory is due within 60 days of appointment, where ORS 113.165 has said 90 days since 2019, and it says the annual accounting is due within 30 days of the anniversary of appointment, which is the conservatorship rule in ORS 125.475(1) rather than the estate rule of 60 days after the anniversary date in ORS 116.083(1). Filing early satisfies both, and the Probate department can confirm what it expects.

Take the fiduciary class, and take it on the clock. Marion's non-professional fiduciary educational program reaches personal representatives, not just guardians and conservators: any personal representative appointed under ORS chapter 113 on or after August 1, 2023 who is not a professional fiduciary as defined in ORS 125.240(5) must register within 20 days of appointment, successfully complete a class with a curriculum prescribed by the Presiding Judge within 60 days, and file a certificate of completion with the Probate Department stating the date and time of the class and the provider (SLR 9.164). The court sends written notice and instructions at the time of appointment, treats the fee as a cost of administration that may be waived or deferred, allows a waiver of the requirement on good cause by motion supported by declaration, may require a fiduciary to retake the class, and may remove a fiduciary who does not comply. The court names Guardian Partners as the provider and publishes local forms for attending online and for extending the time to file the certificate.

File the accountings in the format this district requires, and use the court's own checklist. Accountings in probate matters must be filed in substantially the form specified by UTCR Form 9.160 (SLR 9.161), the statewide accounting format published in the Oregon Judicial Department Forms Center. Marion's Estate Accountings and Verified Statements Checklist, last revised February 2024, is the sheet the court screens against: it opens with the items that must be complete before an estate can close, the inventory, the information to heirs and devisees with the affidavit of mailing within 30 days, the copy to the Department of Human Services, the published notice, the search for claims with proof of compliance, and the Guardian Partners certificate; then it walks the notice list for a final account or a fee request under ORS 116.093, including the Attorney General where a charitable trust, public benefit corporation or religious organization is a residuary beneficiary or is shorted; then each statutory element of the account itself; and then the verified statement in lieu of an account. Vouchers are the one place Marion is more relaxed than the statute: the requirement to file receipts, checks and interim financial institution statements may be waived, and the court may waive it where the statements for the beginning and ending dates of the period are attached, with authority to require vouchers later (SLR 9.162(3)).

Watch two local procedural traps. First, if you ask the court to approve an interim accounting, or to approve interim attorney fees in connection with an interim accounting, you must give all interested persons the notice of time to object that ORS 116.093 requires for a final account (SLR 9.162(1)); the statute does not require that for an interim account, and this court does. Second, an accounting or a fee request is not self-approving: where no objections are filed within the time fixed, the personal representative files a proposed order approving the final account (SLR 9.162(2)(b)), and where objections are filed the court assigns the case to a judge (SLR 9.162(2)(a)).

Mind the bond and the restricted assets. The court's Opening Probate Checklist sets out the bond waiver routes, waived in the will under ORS 113.105(2)(a), waived at the court's discretion where all known heirs and devisees agree in writing and the separate agreements are filed, or all assets restricted, and it records the court's practice of considering a bond anyway in an insolvent estate and requiring one from an out-of-state personal representative. The Probate Commissioner approves and sets the bond amount in uncontested estates (SLR 9.005(2)(b)), 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, the court publishes the paperwork: an Affidavit and Acknowledgment of Restriction, a Financial Institution Certification of Funds on Deposit, and a Release of Restricted Funds packet for getting money back out. In a foreclosure case where the deceased debtor's personal representative was nominated by a creditor, the court's January 25, 2019 policy refuses a bond waiver outright and requires a $50,000 bond plus restrictions on sale, conveyance and default.

Finally, know that compensation is not automatic. A personal representative is entitled to compensation on application to the court, as a commission upon the whole estate: 7 percent of any sum not exceeding $1,000, 4 percent of all above $1,000 and not exceeding $10,000, 3 percent of all above $10,000 and not exceeding $50,000, and 2 percent of all above $50,000 (ORS 116.173(3), read July 2026). Marion County publishes the arithmetic rather than leaving it to be looked up: the court's probate page lists the personal representative's fee among the costs of a probate with the worked example of $4,630 on a $200,000 estate, and its Estate Accountings and Verified Statements Checklist, last revised February 2024, prints the same schedule and notes that a request for more than the statute allows must be supported by an affidavit under ORS 116.173. The Opening Probate Checklist has a line for a personal representative asking for pre-approved fees determined by a different method, and court approval is needed before fees are paid to the personal representative or the attorney.

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. Note that the Oregon Judicial Department's Guide and File interactive forms service does not cover probate or simple estates.

Marion County's own contribution is unusual and useful: it publishes the checklists its reviewer screens against. The Oregon Judicial Department forms library carries 115 Marion-scoped forms, 48 of them in the Probate category, and nine of those are checklists. Four are decedents' estate documents: the Opening Probate Checklist, last revised June 2022, which walks venue, appointment preference, bond and bond waiver, proof of will and the heirs and devisees grid; the Simple Estate Checklist, dated April 2024, which walks every content requirement of a simple estate affidavit with the ORS 114.515 and 114.525 subsection numbers beside each line; the Estate Accountings and Verified Statements Checklist, last revised February 2024, which lists what must be complete before an estate can close and then walks the account or the verified statement in lieu of one; and the Approval of Accountings, Attorney's Fees, Conservator's Fees, and Guardian's Fees checklist, last revised June 2020. A fifth, the Trust Claims Checklist, covers claims against a trust. The court also publishes a Financial Institution Certification of Funds on Deposit, an Affidavit and Acknowledgment of Restriction and a Release of Restricted Funds packet, which are the documents behind restricting assets in lieu of a bond.

Three practical points about Marion County forms. First, the court's Forms page carries a tie breaker worth following: "If there are two versions of any form, select the Marion version." Second, the bulk of the local probate set is protective proceeding material, guardianship and conservatorship packets, court visitor report forms and the room-and-board reimbursement series, plus the non-professional fiduciary training paperwork the court requires of personal representatives as well as guardians and conservators: a Request to Attend Non-Professional Fiduciary Training Online, a Training Certification, and the motion, declaration and order series for extending the time to file the certificate of completion. Third, there is no Marion petition to open an estate and no Marion inventory form, so those are drafted; the court's own probate page points readers to stationery stores that sell legal forms and to the county law library's practice books, and the Oregon State Bar Lawyer Referral Service at 1-800-452-7636 for a lawyer.

1. Marion County is one of the few Oregon courts that publishes how long a probate takes. Its probate page states that "Probate takes a minimum of four months" and that "Most probates take less than a year to close," and it puts the average at six to nine calendar months. The four-month floor is the creditor clock: claims are barred if not presented before the later of four months after the date of publication of the notice to interested persons or 45 days after a required notice was mailed to a known claimant (ORS 115.005(2)).
2. Nothing uncontested has to be scheduled. All ex parte orders and other matters in uncontested decedents' estates go to the Probate Commissioner directly or through the Trial Court Administrator and may be presented at any time without the physical appearance of the attorney for the fiduciary (SLR 9.015). Marion County publishes no probate short matters docket and no probate hearing day, so the pace is set by the screening review rather than by a calendar.
3. Within 30 days of appointment, deliver the information to the devisees, heirs and the other persons named in the petition and file proof of the delivery or mailing, and mail the same information plus a copy of the death record to the Department of Human Services and the Oregon Health Authority (ORS 113.145(4) and (6)). The court's Estate Accountings and Verified Statements Checklist treats that affidavit of mailing, and the copy to the Department of Human Services for estates opened after January 1, 2002, as items that must be complete before an estate can close.
4. Register for the court-required fiduciary education class within 20 days of appointment and complete it within 60 days, then file the certificate of completion with the Probate Department (SLR 9.164(2)). This reaches any personal representative appointed under ORS chapter 113 on or after August 1, 2023 who is not a professional fiduciary, and the court checks for the certificate before it closes the estate.
5. File the inventory within 90 days of appointment, valued as of the date of death (ORS 113.165). Note that the court's own probate page still says 60 days; the statute was amended to 90 days in 2019, and the court's Estate Accountings checklist simply cites ORS 113.165 without a figure. Work to the statute and ask the Probate department if you need the extra time, which the court may grant.
6. During the three months after appointment, make reasonably diligent efforts to investigate the decedent's financial records and affairs to identify claimants; mail each known claimant a notice not later than 30 days after that period; and file proof of compliance not later than 60 days after it (ORS 115.003). The court's closing checklist calls this the search for claims and proof of compliance and will not treat an estate as ready to close without it.
7. File the annual account within 60 days after the anniversary date of appointment unless the court orders otherwise (ORS 116.083(1)), in substantially the form specified by UTCR Form 9.160 (SLR 9.161). The court's probate page states 30 days for a personal representative's annual accounting, which is the conservatorship deadline rather than the estate one, so treat the earlier date as the safe one and confirm with the Probate department. A statement in lieu of an annual account is available where the distributees consent in writing (ORS 116.083(3)), and Marion's checklist walks its contents.
8. If you ask the court to approve an interim accounting, or to approve interim attorney fees in connection with one, give all interested persons the same notice of time to object that ORS 116.093 requires for a final account (SLR 9.162(1)). This is a local requirement layered on top of the statute, and it is easy to miss.
9. At the end, file the final account and the petition for a judgment of distribution, set a time for objections and mail the account, the petition and the notice to each distributee and to each creditor not paid in full whose claim is not barred at least 20 days before that time (ORS 116.083; ORS 116.093). If no objections are filed within the time fixed, file a proposed order approving the final account (SLR 9.162(2)(b)); if objections are filed, the court assigns the case to a judge (SLR 9.162(2)(a)). The court then enters the general judgment of final distribution (ORS 116.113).

The Marion County wrinkle worth knowing before you choose the simple estate affidavit route under ORS 114.505 to 114.560 is that this court publishes the checklist it screens affidavits against, and that checklist is stricter and more current than the court's own web page. The Simple Estate Checklist, dated April 2024, is marked for use with attorney or self-prepared forms, with the regular protocol for the statewide form, and it walks every content requirement with the subsection numbers beside it: the notice of duty language, the affiant's name, address and authority, the decedent's details, the property description and fair market value, the distributee list and who gets what, the creditor and claimant lists with undisputed and disputed claims separated, the address for presenting claims, the anticipated administrative expenses, and the statements about disqualification, the copy to the Department of Human Services and the Oregon Health Authority, and incarceration within 15 years of death. It also states the two statutory caps correctly, personal property not exceeding $75,000 and real property not exceeding $200,000 (ORS 114.510(1)(a)), notes that value is measured without reduction for liens or debts, and records the exception for a testate estate whose excess value is awarded to a trust the decedent established before death, in which case the certificate of trust and the pour-over will must accompany the affidavit.

Two Marion practices come out of that sheet. First, the paper is real: the affidavit must arrive with a certified death certificate and, if the decedent was testate, the original last will with an affidavit of an attesting witness or a substitute under ORS 113.055(3), and the checklist records that the only exception to admitting a copy of a will is where the original is filed in another jurisdiction. The affidavit must be signed and notarized unless a court clerk has acknowledged the signature in lieu of notarization. Second, this court checks the assessor. Where an affidavit is filed and the assessor's fair market value shows the real property above the statutory cap, and the filer says the house is dilapidated, the checklist requires a market analysis and pictures of the property. Note that the court's probate page still describes this route under the older names, affidavit of claiming successor and small estate affidavit, and still summarizes it as available for estates worth less than $200,000; the current statutory name is the simple estate affidavit and the test is the two caps in ORS 114.510(1)(a), not one total. The filing fee is $124 (ORS 21.145(4)), and no personal representative is appointed and no letters issue on this route. When real property passes this way, the affiant transfers it by recording a bargain and sale deed (ORS 114.555(3)) with the Marion County Clerk's Licensing and Recording office at 555 Court St NE, Suite 2130, Salem, not with the court.

Page last reviewed: July 2026.