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Polk County, OR Probate Information
Quick facts
| Category | Current rules |
|---|---|
| Court | Polk County Circuit Court, Oregon's general-jurisdiction trial court for this county and the whole of the Twelfth Judicial District. Oregon has no separate probate court as an institution; probate jurisdiction in Polk County is vested in the circuit court (ORS 111.075), which handles estates under Title 12 of the Oregon Revised Statutes. The court's own site describes a district of three circuit court judges, a hearings referee and a staff of 28 |
| Filing office | The court's Office of the Trial Court Administrator, headed by the court's Trial Court Administrator. The court publishes a named Probate Department, and its probate page states that the department is located in Room 301 at the courthouse and handles protective proceedings such as guardianships and conservatorships alongside the court's oversight of the distribution of a deceased person's assets. Room 301 is also the Civil Division counter, and probate email is routed to the civil mailbox |
| Courthouse | Polk County Courthouse, 850 Main Street, Room 301, Dallas, OR 97338 (the court prints the ZIP+4 97338-3178 in its ADA accommodation instructions). Conventional filings are accepted at Room 301 (SLR 1.161(2)). Visitor access to the courthouse is on the east side, at the Jefferson Street entrance, and the court's What to Expect page says civil court records are reached by stairs or elevator on the third floor. Courtrooms 1, 2 and 3 are in this building; Courtroom 4 and the criminal records office are across the street in the Polk County Jail building, which is not where probate is filed |
| Mailing address | Polk County Circuit Court, Room 301, 850 Main Street, Dallas, OR 97338, as the court publishes it on its home page. The local rule gives the shorter form for mailed filings: Polk County Circuit Court, 850 Main Street, Dallas, Oregon 97338 (SLR 1.161(2)). Where a fee is required, the filing occurs only once the fee is satisfied or a waiver or deferral is filed and approved. The court publishes no post office box |
| Phone | (503) 623-3154, the court's main line. The court's Contact Us page says staff are available by calling the main line and following the telephone tree by department. No separate probate direct line is published anywhere on the court's site, so treat the main line as the probate line. ADA accommodation requests use the same number at extension 72449 |
| [email protected]. The court's Contact Us page publishes a per-department mailbox table and lists Probate at the civil mailbox, shared with Civil, Small Claims, Change of Name or Sex, and Landlord Tenant. The mailbox the court's local rules and mediation notice give for reaching the court clerk is [email protected], and ADA requests go to [email protected]. Email is for questions, not for filing | |
| Fax | (503) 623-6614, published on the court's Contact Us page and again for ADA requests. It is not a filing channel. SLR 2.035(6) lists a document submitted by fax transmission among the documents the court may return to the party who submitted it, and the court's Judges page states that no document can be filed officially by emailing or faxing it to a judge or a member of a judge's staff. File electronically, at the Room 301 counter, or by mail |
| Hours | 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except court holidays. The local rule states the court's hours of operation that way (SLR 1.151), and the court's Contact Us page states the same window for the customer service counter. Two things the hours line does not show on its own: the counter is closed over the lunch hour from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., and the court's home page adds that on the last Thursday of each month court offices close at 4:00 p.m. |
| 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. Confirm the current schedule with the Probate Department. Note that the court's own Small Estate Affidavit instruction sheet still prints an older figure for the affidavit; the statewide schedule controls |
| Local forms | A short local set, and one of them is unusual. Five Polk County forms sit in the Oregon Judicial Department forms library: the court's own Small Estate Affidavit packet, an Annual or Final Accounting form, a Guardian's Report, an Approved Visitor List and a Trial Readiness Information sheet. The Small Estate Affidavit is the notable one, because across the whole statewide library only three counties publish an estate-category form of their own. The court also publishes its own copy of the ORS 36.185 mediation notice, which its Civil page tells estate, conservatorship and guardianship filers to serve with the filing. Oregon publishes no statewide petition form, so the petition itself is drafted by the filer or the attorney. SLR 1.181 names the court's Self Help page as the site for forms required by local rule |
| 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 or the filer has a waiver (UTCR 21.140(1)). The court has approval from the State Court Administrator to accept filings electronically for designated case types and documents under UTCR chapter 21 (SLR 1.161(1)). A self-represented filer may register and e-file but is not required to, and may file at the Room 301 counter or by mail. Polk's conventional-filing-only list is short and contains no probate document: it is petitions for immediate danger, family abuse prevention restraining order petitions, foreign judgments, transcripts of judgment, foreign support orders and transport orders (SLR 2.501). The original will still goes in on paper (UTCR 21.070(3)(h)) |
| Case search | Through the statewide Oregon Judicial Department Records and Calendar Search, which gives free access to basic case information for Oregon's circuit courts. 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. A decedent's estate is a public case type. For copies, Polk routes record and audio requests through the statewide Records Request Form in the Forms Center, and notes that it delivers audio digitally to the email address on the form rather than on CD. Broader document access is through a court kiosk or a paid OJCIN OnLine subscription |
| Remote appearance | Available, but not announced as a default for probate. The court runs a Local Remote Hearings page: some hearings are held with one or more parties not physically present, the court uses Webex, participants get the link through a hearing notice or an email from the court or Webex, and eligible proceedings are live-streamed for public viewing about five minutes before the scheduled time. The district's local rules set express appearance modes only for criminal proceedings (SLR 4.081, 4.185, 4.195) and juvenile proceedings (SLR 11.041, 11.051); nothing in the rules addresses probate. Confirm the format with the court at 503-623-3154 when your matter is set |
| Website | https://www.courts.oregon.gov/courts/polk/programs-services/Pages/Probate.aspx |
Before you begin — know the assets and liabilities
The first Polk 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 decedent's name, age, domicile, address and date and place of death, whether the decedent died testate or intestate, the facts relied on to establish venue, the proposed personal representative's address and qualifications, the heirs and devisees with addresses and the ages of any minors, a statement that reasonable efforts have been made to identify and locate all heirs, whether the original will is with the court or accompanies the petition, and a statement of the extent and nature of the estate's assets so the court can set the bond (ORS 113.035). 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.
So before you file, identify every bank and credit union account, brokerage and retirement account, life insurance policy, vehicle, business interest and parcel of Polk County real estate, along with every debt, and identify each heir and devisee by name, address and age. That inventory decides three things at once in Polk County: which Oregon route fits, which fee tier the caption must state (ORS 21.105), and whether the court will require a bond before letters issue (ORS 113.105). Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for this step. Court staff cannot help with it: the court's own Civil page reminds readers that while staff can give general information about court procedures, ORS 9.160 prohibits court staff from giving legal advice.
Which court handles jurisdiction
Polk County Circuit Court serves all of Polk County from one campus in Dallas, the county seat. The county's own site names Dallas, Independence, Monmouth and Falls City as cities in Polk County, along with portions of Salem and Willamina and the Grand Ronde area out toward the Coast Range, so a decedent who lived on the Polk County side of Salem is a Polk County decedent even though most of Salem is in Marion County. There is no second courthouse and no branch counter: every probate filing in this county goes to the same place.
That place is Room 301. The court's probate page states that the Probate Department is located in Room 301 at the courthouse, and the local rule makes it the filing counter: when conventional filing is permitted or required, filings are accepted at the Polk County Courthouse, Room 301, 850 Main Street, Dallas, and mailed filings are addressed to Polk County Circuit Court, 850 Main Street, Dallas, Oregon 97338 (SLR 1.161(2)). The court's operations are split across three buildings on the block, which is worth knowing before you park. The historic Polk County Courthouse was built in 1899 and its annex in 1965; the primary records office sits on the third floor of the annex and houses the civil, domestic relations, traffic and accounting operations along with court administration, treatment court management and jury coordination. Visitor access is on the east side at the Jefferson Street entrance, and civil court records are reached by stairs or elevator on the third floor. Courtrooms 1, 2 and 3 are in this building. Courtroom 4 and the criminal records office are across the street in the Polk County Jail building, built in 1999, which has an airport-type screening station at its Jefferson Street entrance; the juvenile records office is in the historic courthouse. Probate is not filed at the jail building.
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).
The jurisdiction process
- Confirm that Polk County is the right county. Polk is the practical county 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 the Polk County Courthouse, Room 301, 850 Main Street, Dallas (SLR 1.161(2)); there is no second filing location in this county.
- 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. Polk County is one of the few Oregon courts that publishes its own affidavit packet. 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. Polk County publishes five local forms in the Oregon Judicial Department forms library, and only one of them touches a decedent's estate: the Small Estate Affidavit packet. 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.
- Pick up the mediation notice while you are drafting. The court's Civil page states that if you are filing a contract, tort, small claims, landlord tenant, estate, conservatorship, guardianship, or compensation for wrongful death case, you must serve the respondent with the ORS 36.185 notice along with your claim or complaint, and it links the court's own copy of that notice. The statute is the reason: all civil disputants must be given the written mediation information provided or approved by the State Court Administrator, filing parties at the time of filing and responding parties from the filing party with the initial service of the filing documents (ORS 36.185). The Polk page of the form lists small claims as the court-provided mediation program and gives the court's mediation contact as [email protected] and (503) 623-3154.
- File with the court. 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 or a waiver has been granted (UTCR 21.140(1)); Polk County Circuit Court has approval from the State Court Administrator to accept filings electronically for designated case types and documents under UTCR chapter 21 (SLR 1.161(1)). A self-represented filer may register and e-file, or may file at the Room 301 counter or by mail. Polk lists only six kinds of stipulated or ex parte document that must be presented conventionally, and no probate document is among them (SLR 2.501). Do not fax anything in: a document submitted by fax transmission is on the list the court may return to the party who submitted it (SLR 2.035(6)), and the court's Judges page states that no document can be filed officially by emailing or faxing it to a judge or a judge's staff.
- Get the original will to the counter on paper. 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. The court's own Small Estate Affidavit instruction sheet is blunt about the equivalent requirement on that route: get the original will, it must be signed by the decedent, and no copies will be accepted.
- Pay the fee. 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), and Oregon counties add no local filing surcharge. In Polk County a filing that carries a fee occurs only once the fee is satisfied or a waiver or deferral is filed and approved by the court (SLR 1.161(2)). If you cannot afford the fee, apply for a deferral or waiver using the Oregon Judicial Department packet. The court accepts cash, check or credit card in person, takes credit card information by phone, and accepts checks by mail at 850 Main Street.
- 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). A bond is required unless the will waives it, the personal representative is the sole heir or devisee, the personal representative is one of the listed public fiduciaries, or the petition states that no assets are known, and the court may still require one for good cause (ORS 113.105). Certified copies of the letters, the document a bank or title company asks for, cost $5 plus 25 cents per page in paper form and nothing when delivered electronically (ORS 21.258; CJO 23-016 2.b.(1); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026).
- Administer the estate. 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 investigate the decedent's financial records and 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).
- Account and close. File accountings annually within 60 days after the anniversary of appointment unless the court orders otherwise, and again when the estate is ready for final settlement (ORS 116.083). In Polk County all accountings must be in the format specified in UTCR 9.160 (SLR 9.161), which is the statewide accounting format published in the Oregon Judicial Department Forms Center. Accountings 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 the petition for a judgment of distribution, give notice of the time to object at least 20 days out to each distributee and to each creditor not paid in full whose claim is not barred (ORS 116.093), and take the general judgment of final distribution, which conclusively determines who is entitled to the estate (ORS 116.113).
Forms and documents
Probate forms in Polk 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.
Polk 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. Five Polk County forms sit in the Oregon Judicial Department forms library. Three are protective-proceeding forms, an Annual or Final Accounting, a Guardian's Report and an Approved Visitor List, and one is a general Trial Readiness Information sheet. The fifth is the estate one: the court's own Small Estate Affidavit packet. Across the whole statewide library only three counties publish an estate-category form of their own, and Polk is one of only two that publish an affidavit rather than an objection form.
The Polk packet runs five pages and comes in two parts. The first two pages are an instruction sheet headed "FILING SMALL ESTATES" and attributed to Polk County Circuit Court, walking through eligible estates, when to file, who may file, how to file, where to file, who gets what, and the accountability of claiming successors, with a short glossary. The last three pages are the affidavit itself, captioned "IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE STATE OF OREGON FOR THE COUNTY OF POLK" and titled "AFFIDAVIT OF CLAIMING SUCCESSOR (SMALL ESTATE AFFIDAVIT)," with numbered blocks for the affiant, the decedent, the estate's real and personal property, the venue basis in Polk County, the heirs, the devisees, the notices the affiant promises to give, the creditors, and the barred-claims warning. Its useful local instructions are the ones no statewide form can give: file the affidavit, the certified death certificate and the original will at Room 301 of the Polk County Courthouse; have your signature notarized, or sign in front of a court clerk, who can certify your original signature; and bring the original will, because no copies will be accepted.
Read the Polk packet with its date in mind. The affidavit pages carry a July 2010 form date, the file is a scan made in 2018, and several printed details have been overtaken. It prints a filing fee of $111.00, where the current fee for a simple estate affidavit is $124 (ORS 21.145(4); ORS 114.515(5); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026). It states "This form costs $5.00 to purchase forms at the court records office," a counter charge the court has never restated on a dated page, though the same PDF is free to download from the Oregon Judicial Department forms library. Its notary block still ends "200__." It sends a creditor of an intestate estate without heirs to the Division of State Lands for authorization, where ORS 114.520 now requires authorization from the State Treasurer. It gives the two value caps without the statutory rule that manufactured homes count against the real-property cap rather than the personal-property cap (ORS 114.510(1)(a)). And it uses the older names, small estate affidavit and affidavit of claiming successor, where the current statutory term is simple estate affidavit (ORS 114.505(3)). The Oregon Judicial Department's own statewide packet is marked OJD OFFICIAL and dated June 2026, and any statewide form is accepted in every circuit court. If you plan to use the county version, call Room 301 first and ask which the court wants.
Two more Polk forms matter at the front end. The court publishes its own copy of the ORS 36.185 mediation notice, "An Option for Resolving Your Dispute: Mediation," an Oregon Judicial Department form dated August 2024 with a third page of Polk program information, and its Civil page tells estate, conservatorship, guardianship and wrongful-death compensation filers to serve it on the responding party along with the claim or complaint. The form is published in Spanish, Korean, Russian, Traditional Chinese, Arabic and Vietnamese on the court's website. And SLR 9.081 refers to a written objection form on the court's website for objections in protective proceedings. SLR 1.181 names the court's Self Help page as the place where forms required by local rule are published; the 2026 edition of the rules updated that address, so use the current link rather than an older bookmark.
Local nuance
Polk County-specific considerations
Polk's first distinctive is the mediation notice, and it catches estate filers who would never think to look on a civil page. The court's Civil page states that if you are filing a contract, tort, small claims, landlord tenant, estate, conservatorship, guardianship, or compensation for wrongful death case, you must serve the respondent with the ORS 36.185 notice along with your claim or complaint, and it links the court's own copy of the form. The statute is real and the practice tracks it: all civil disputants must be provided with written information describing the mediation process, as provided or approved by the State Court Administrator, along with information on established court mediation opportunities; filing parties are given it at the time of filing, and responding parties are given it by the filing party along with the initial service of the filing documents (ORS 36.185). The Polk page of the form checks small claims as the court-provided mediation program with no cost to the parties, and gives the court itself as the mediation contact at [email protected] and (503) 623-3154. If there is a responding party in your matter, put the notice in the service packet.
The second is an e-filing picture that runs in your favour and a fax rule that does not. UTCR 21.140(1) makes electronic filing mandatory for Oregon State Bar licensees and UTCR 21.070(3)(m) lets a district pull stipulated and ex parte matters out of the system by listing them in its SLR 2.501. Polk's list has six entries, all of them protective-order, foreign-judgment or transport documents, and no probate document appears on it (SLR 2.501), so probate ex parte matters are e-filed here. The 2026 edition of the rules tightened that rule's lead-in from "may be presented conventionally" to "must be presented conventionally," while the list itself is unchanged from the 2025 edition. The exception that survives is statutory and applies everywhere in Oregon: an original will is a document required by law to be filed in original form and must be filed conventionally (UTCR 21.070(3)(h)). Fax is not an option at all. SLR 2.035(6) lists a document submitted by fax transmission among the documents the court may return to the party who submitted it, and the Judges page adds that faxes to a judge require contacting the judicial assistant first, because judges and judicial assistants have no stand-alone fax machine, with a 10-page limit.
The third is how short this district's probate chapter is, and what that means for you. Chapter 9 of the Twelfth Judicial District's rules contains two rules. SLR 9.081 governs oral objections under ORS 125.075 in protective proceedings, which are guardianships and conservatorships rather than decedents' estates: an objection is voiced at the front counter of Room 301 during the court's hours of operation, or by telephone at 503-623-3154, or by email to [email protected], or on a written objection form from the court's website; a respondent or protected person may also object orally to an appointed Court Visitor, who must include the objection in the Visitor Report, where the rule says it should be in bold and underlined to call it to the court's attention; and objections must be received within fifteen days of service of the petition. SLR 9.161 requires all accountings to be in the format specified in UTCR 9.160. That is the whole chapter. There is no local rule setting a probate docket day, a hearing time, a filing-to-hearing window or an order-signing turnaround, and this page does not invent one; call Room 301 and ask when your matter is set. Notably, the Twelfth Judicial District imposes no fiduciary education requirement on a personal representative, unlike several other Oregon districts that do; the 2026 rules contain no such rule.
The fourth is practical and easy to get wrong: the court's clock and its geography. The counter keeps split hours, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, closed over the lunch hour and on court holidays (SLR 1.151, and the court's Contact Us page for the customer service counter), and the court's home page adds that court offices close at 4:00 p.m. on the last Thursday of each month. There is no probate direct line; you call the main number and follow the telephone tree. And the campus is three buildings, not one: the 1899 courthouse, its 1965 annex whose third floor holds the primary records office, and the 1999 jail building across the street holding Courtroom 4 and criminal records. Visitor access is on the east side at the Jefferson Street entrance. Probate is filed in Room 301 and nowhere else.
Small-estate Alternatives
One Polk-specific point is worth knowing before you choose the simple estate affidavit route under ORS 114.505 to 114.560: this court publishes its own affidavit. Only two Oregon counties do. The Polk packet is filed the same way any other affidavit is, with the clerk of the probate court in a county where there is venue for appointing a personal representative (ORS 114.515(1)), and in Polk County that counter is Room 301 of the Polk County Courthouse. The court fee is $124, with no fee for an amended affidavit (ORS 21.145(4); ORS 114.515(5); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026). 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).
The Polk packet's local instructions are genuinely useful, and its printed figures are not. Useful: it tells you to file the affidavit, a certified copy of the death certificate and the original will at Room 301; it offers an alternative to a notary, in that a court clerk can certify your original signature if you sign in front of the clerk; it warns that no copies of a will will be accepted; and it tells you to fill out every part, writing "does not apply" or "none" rather than leaving a blank. Out of date: the packet's affidavit pages are dated July 2010, it prints a $111.00 filing fee against the current $124 (ORS 21.145(4)), its notary block ends "200__," and it routes a creditor filing on an intestate estate with no heirs to the Division of State Lands where ORS 114.520 now requires authorization from the State Treasurer.
The trap on this route is the same everywhere in Oregon and the Polk packet does not spell it out: no personal representative is appointed and no letters testamentary or letters of administration are issued. If a bank, brokerage or title company has told you to bring letters, the affidavit will not produce them. What the affidavit does give is reach over real property as well as personal property, with real property transferred afterward by recording a bargain and sale deed in the county's deed records (ORS 114.555(3)). The affiant must mail or deliver a copy of the affidavit, and the will if any, to each listed recipient within 30 days of filing (ORS 114.525), and the Polk form builds those promises into numbered paragraphs you sign under oath.
Recent updates
| Date | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|
| February 1, 2026 | The current Supplementary Local Rules for Polk County Circuit Court, the Twelfth Judicial District, took effect, certified by the court administrator on December 29, 2025. Two changes touch a probate filer. SLR 2.501 was tightened from "may be presented conventionally" to "must be presented conventionally," while its list of six document types still contains no probate document, so probate ex parte matters continue to be e-filed. And SLR 1.181 was updated to point at the court's current Self Help page as the site for forms required by local rule, replacing the older forms address in the 2025 edition. Chapter 9 carries forward unchanged: SLR 9.081 on oral objections in protective proceedings at the Room 301 front counter, and SLR 9.161 requiring all accountings in the UTCR 9.160 format. | Supplementary Local Rules, Polk County Circuit Court, courts.oregon.gov/rules |
| June 2, 2026 | The Oregon Judicial Department forms library refreshed its entry for the court's own Small Estate Affidavit packet, PLK-SmallEstateAffidavit.pdf. The packet itself is unchanged: a five-page scan whose affidavit pages carry a July 2010 form date, whose local instructions still send filers to Room 301 with the affidavit, a certified death certificate and the original will, and which still prints a $111.00 filing fee against the current $124 for a simple estate affidavit (ORS 21.145(4); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026) and a reference to the Division of State Lands where ORS 114.520 now requires authorization from the State Treasurer. Read the local packet for its filing instructions and the statewide schedule for the figures. | Oregon Judicial Department forms library and the Circuit Court Fee Schedule, courts.oregon.gov |
Page last reviewed: July 2026.
Scenarios
| Situation | Likely path in Polk County | Where Sunset helps |
|---|---|---|
| Surviving spouse, co-owned home | A home in Dallas, Monmouth, Independence or the Polk County part of Salem that was held with a right of survivorship passes to the survivor outside probate, and title is cleared through the Polk County recording office rather than the Circuit Court. Accounts and property in the decedent's sole name may still need probate. Where they do, the surviving spouse petitions Polk County Circuit Court and files at Room 301 or by e-filing; the spouse or the spouse's nominee has priority for appointment where the spouse is a distributee (ORS 113.085(1)(b)). The petition can ask the court to waive bond where the will waives it or the spouse is the sole heir or devisee (ORS 113.105). If the sole-name property is modest, the simple estate affidavit may reach it instead, including real property, and Polk publishes its own affidavit packet, but that route produces no letters testamentary. | Asset discovery to separate survivorship property from sole-name assets, which is also what sets the fee tier the caption must state (ORS 21.105). Packet generation for the simple estate affidavit or for the petition, the proposed order and the proposed letters, with the ORCP 1 E declaration. Guidance on clearing title through the county's deed records. |
| Out-of-state adult child, small estate | If the parent lived in Polk 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 (ORS 114.555(3)). Polk's own packet tells you to file the affidavit, a certified death certificate and the original will at Room 301, and offers a court clerk's certification of your signature as an alternative to a notary if you can get to Dallas. Where a full probate is needed, the child drafts the petition, files it electronically as a registered self-represented filer or by mail to 850 Main Street, and gets the original will to the court on paper (UTCR 21.070(3)(h)). Remote appearance is available through the court's Webex hearings but is not published as a default for probate. | 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, with the ORS 36.185 mediation notice the court asks estate filers to serve. Attorney referral if the estate turns out to be larger, if a will is contested, or if the matter needs someone at the Dallas counter. |
| Parent settling a predeceased child's estate, home must be sold | Probate in Polk 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, with the petition stating the heirs and devisees, the facts establishing venue, and the extent and nature of the assets so the court can set the bond (ORS 113.035; ORS 113.105). The parent files the inventory within 90 days (ORS 113.165), publishes notice once in a newspaper published in the county (ORS 113.155), works the three-month creditor search and the notice to known claimants (ORS 115.003), sells the child's Polk County real estate under the authority the letters give, and files the accountings in the UTCR 9.160 format this district requires (SLR 9.161), each carrying its own tiered fee (ORS 21.170(2)). Closing runs through the final account, the petition for a judgment of distribution, 20 days' notice of the time to object, and the general judgment of final distribution (ORS 116.083; ORS 116.093; ORS 116.113). | Asset discovery for the child's accounts, policies, vehicles and Polk County real estate, and for the debts that decide whether the estate is solvent. Packet generation for the petition, the inventory and the accountings, in the format the district requires. Attorney referral for a disputed sale, an heirship question, or a creditor fight. |
Self-help resources
| Resource | What it offers |
|---|---|
| Polk County Circuit Court Probate page (courts.oregon.gov/courts/polk/programs-services/Pages/Probate.aspx) | The court's own probate page: it states that the Probate Department is located in Room 301 at the courthouse, that the department handles protective proceedings such as guardianships and conservatorships as well as the court's oversight of the distribution of a deceased person's assets, and it links the Oregon State Bar's "What is Probate?" article for background |
| Polk County Circuit Court Contact Us page (courts.oregon.gov/courts/polk/go/Pages/Contact.aspx) | The per-department mailbox table, which routes Probate to [email protected], plus the main line (503) 623-3154 with its telephone tree, the fax (503) 623-6614, the customer service counter hours of 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, the judicial assistants' direct numbers and the ADA coordinator at extension 72449 |
| Polk County Circuit Court home page (courts.oregon.gov/courts/polk/Pages/default.aspx) | Courthouse hours and the closures the hours line alone does not show, including that court offices close at 4:00 p.m. on the last Thursday of each month; the main and mailing addresses; the Trial Court Administrator; and the court's own description of its three buildings and where each records office sits |
| Polk County Circuit Court Civil page (courts.oregon.gov/courts/polk/programs-services/Pages/Civil.aspx) | The page that carries the ORS 36.185 requirement for estate, conservatorship, guardianship and wrongful-death compensation filings, with the court's own copy of the mediation notice attached, plus the reminder that ORS 9.160 prohibits court staff from giving legal advice |
| Twelfth Judicial District Supplementary Local Rules for Polk County, effective February 1, 2026 (courts.oregon.gov/rules) | The rules that actually govern a Polk County probate: SLR 1.151 on hours of court operation, SLR 1.161 on where conventional filings are accepted and how mail is addressed, SLR 1.181 on where the court's forms live, SLR 2.035 on documents the court may return including anything sent by fax, SLR 2.501 on the six document types that must be filed conventionally, and chapter 9 with SLR 9.081 on oral objections and SLR 9.161 on the accounting format |
| Polk County Circuit Court Self Help page (courts.oregon.gov/courts/polk/help/Pages/default.aspx) | The page SLR 1.181 names for forms required by local rule, with links to the Oregon Judicial Department fee schedule, the statewide forms library, the self-help resources, the Uniform Trial Court Rules, the Supplementary Local Court Rules, and the local and statewide form lists |
| Polk County Circuit Court Court Records and Audio Requests (courts.oregon.gov/courts/polk/records/Pages/default.aspx) | How to request records and audio: Polk routes both through the statewide Records Request Form in the Oregon Judicial Department Forms Center, and notes that it does not provide audio on CD but delivers it digitally to the email address given on the form. Location and inspection of court records is free, and paper copies are $3 per request per case plus 25 cents per page (ORS 21.258(2); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026) |
| Polk County Circuit Court Local Remote Hearings page (courts.oregon.gov/courts/polk/go/Pages/RemoteHearings.aspx) | How the court runs remote appearances: Webex, links delivered through a hearing notice or an email from the court or Webex, live streaming of eligible proceedings for public viewing beginning about five minutes before the scheduled time, and guides for litigants, witnesses, attorneys and the public in English and Spanish. The court's phone number for remote hearing questions is 503-623-3154 |
| Oregon Judicial Department Forms Center, Estate page (courts.oregon.gov/forms/Pages/estate.aspx) | The statewide Simple Estate Affidavit packet with instructions, marked OJD OFFICIAL and dated June 2026, 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 JavaScript, 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. This is the schedule that controls where the court's own older instruction sheet disagrees. The Fee Deferral and Waiver packet is in the same Forms Center |
| OJD eFile, Odyssey File and Serve (courts.oregon.gov/services/online/Pages/efile.aspx) | Oregon's statewide electronic filing system for the circuit courts and the Oregon Tax Court. Filing is mandatory for Oregon State Bar licensees (UTCR 21.140(1)) and open to self-represented filers who register. Polk County Circuit Court is approved to accept electronic filings for designated case types and documents (SLR 1.161(1)), and eFiling kiosks are available in most courts during regular business hours |
| 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. 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 State Bar (osbar.org, 503-620-0222 or 800-452-8260) | The Bar's public "What is Probate?" article, which the court's own probate page links, 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 court's Outside Agencies page lists the Bar. The Bar is not a government agency |
| Legal Aid Services of Oregon, Salem Regional Office (280 Liberty Street SE, Suite 320, Salem, OR 97301, 503-581-5265 or 800-359-1845) | The legal aid program that serves this county: its own site states that the Salem Regional Office provides advice and representation to low-income residents of Marion and Polk counties, with Spanish-speaking staff. Walk-in intake is Tuesday and Wednesday, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.; phone intake is Monday and Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and Friday 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Estates are not among its listed practice areas, so ask before you rely on it for a probate. The court's Outside Agencies page links Legal Aid Services of Oregon |
| Oregon Law Help (oregonlawhelp.org) | Listed on the court's own Outside Agencies page. It publishes no probate or estate topic, so use it to find the legal aid program that serves Polk County rather than as a probate guide. The site returns errors to automated fetchers, so open it in a browser |
When to hire an attorney
Polk County Circuit Court is a small court that says plainly what it cannot do for you: its Civil page reminds readers that while court staff can provide general information about court procedures, ORS 9.160 prohibits court staff from giving legal advice, and the court's own Small Estate Affidavit instruction sheet repeats the point and sends readers to the Oregon State Bar Lawyer Referral Service. Counsel makes particular sense in Polk County when the estate is insolvent or its solvency is in doubt; when a will is contested, a bequest fails, or heirship is unclear; when a bond waiver is sought and distributee consents have to be assembled; when the estate holds a business interest, farm or timber ground, out-of-state property, or Polk County real estate whose sale terms are disputed; when a creditor claim is disallowed and heads for summary determination; when a claiming successor discovers the estate has outgrown the simple estate affidavit and the affidavit route has to be unwound; and when an accounting has to satisfy the UTCR 9.160 format this district requires (SLR 9.161). An attorney also brings e-filing with them, since Oregon State Bar licensees must e-file under UTCR 21.140(1), which matters in a county where the counter closes over the lunch hour and at 4:00 p.m. on the last Thursday of the month. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Polk County probate attorney 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, Polk County real estate, business interests and unclaimed property, so you know the estate's value before you file. In Oregon that number does real work: it decides the filing fee tier the caption must state (ORS 21.105), it is what the petition must describe so the court can set the bond (ORS 113.035), and it is the basis of the inventory due within 90 days of appointment (ORS 113.165).
Generate the probate packet. Oregon publishes no statewide petition form and Polk County publishes only five local forms, one of which touches a decedent's estate, so the paperwork is drafted, not filled in. Sunset assembles the Polk estate settlement 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 and the ORS 36.185 mediation notice the court asks estate filers to serve, ready to file at Room 301, to mail to 850 Main Street, or to e-file through OJD eFile.
Find a local probate attorney. When a will is contested, when the estate is insolvent, when a creditor claim is disallowed, or when an accounting has to meet the UTCR 9.160 format this district requires, Sunset connects families to a vetted Polk County probate attorney 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 Polk County, Oregon?
With Polk County Circuit Court, at the Polk County Courthouse, 850 Main Street, Room 301, Dallas, OR 97338. Oregon has no separate probate court as an institution; probate jurisdiction in Polk County is vested in the circuit court (ORS 111.075), and the court runs a named Probate Department that its own page places in Room 301. Conventional filings are accepted at that counter, and mailed filings go to Polk County Circuit Court, 850 Main Street, Dallas, Oregon 97338 (SLR 1.161(2)). 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 I have to e-file a probate case in Polk 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 or the filer has a waiver (UTCR 21.140(1)). Polk County Circuit Court has approval from the State Court Administrator to accept filings electronically for designated case types and documents under UTCR chapter 21 (SLR 1.161(1)). A self-represented filer may register and e-file but is not required to, and may file at the Room 301 counter or by mail. Polk's conventional-filing-only list is six items long and contains no probate document (SLR 2.501). The original will is the statutory exception and must be filed on paper (UTCR 21.070(3)(h)); 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. Do not fax a filing: a document submitted by fax transmission is on the list the court may return (SLR 2.035(6)).
What are the court's hours in Polk County, and is there a lunch closure?
Yes, there is a lunch closure. Polk County Circuit Court is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., except court holidays (SLR 1.151), and the court's Contact Us page states the same window for the customer service counter. One more closure is easy to miss: the court's home page states that on the last Thursday of each month court offices close at 4:00 p.m. Plan a counter trip around both. The court has one main line, (503) 623-3154, with a telephone tree by department; it publishes no separate probate direct line.
How much does it cost to file probate in Polk 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)), any other appearance in a probate proceeding is $281 (ORS 21.135(1) and (2)(g); ORS 21.170(4)), and a $111 fee attaches to the specific motions listed in ORS 21.200(1). Fees are payable in advance and are not refundable (ORS 21.100), and Oregon counties add no local filing surcharge. Fee deferrals and waivers are available, and in Polk County a fee-bearing document is filed only once the fee is satisfied or a waiver or deferral is approved (SLR 1.161(2)).
Polk County publishes its own Small Estate Affidavit. Should I use it?
It is worth reading either way, and worth checking with the court before you file it. Polk is one of only two Oregon counties that publish their own simple estate affidavit, and the packet's local instructions are useful: file the affidavit, a certified death certificate and the original will at Room 301; have your signature notarized or sign in front of a court clerk, who can certify your original signature; no copies of a will are accepted; fill in every part rather than leaving blanks. But its affidavit pages are dated July 2010 and several printed details are out of date, including a $111.00 filing fee where the current fee is $124 (ORS 21.145(4); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026), a notary block ending "200__," and a reference to the Division of State Lands where ORS 114.520 now requires authorization from the State Treasurer. The Oregon Judicial Department's statewide Simple Estate Affidavit packet is marked OJD OFFICIAL and dated June 2026, and any statewide form is accepted in every circuit court. Call Room 301 and ask which version the court wants.
Do I have to serve a mediation notice when I file an estate case in Polk County?
The court says yes. Its Civil page states that if you are filing a contract, tort, small claims, landlord tenant, estate, conservatorship, guardianship, or compensation for wrongful death case, you must serve the respondent with the ORS 36.185 notice along with your claim or complaint, and it publishes the Polk version of that notice, an Oregon Judicial Department form dated August 2024 with a page of Polk program information. The statute behind it requires that all civil disputants be given written information describing the mediation process, as provided or approved by the State Court Administrator, with filing parties given it at the time of filing and responding parties given it by the filing party along with initial service (ORS 36.185). The form is also published in Spanish, Korean, Russian, Traditional Chinese, Arabic and Vietnamese on the court's website. If your matter has a responding party, put the notice in the service packet.
Does Polk County require a personal representative to take a fiduciary education class?
No. Several Oregon judicial districts require a non-professional fiduciary to complete a court-prescribed education class within a set number of days of appointment, and readers who have seen those rules often ask. The Twelfth Judicial District does not have one: chapter 9 of the Polk County Supplementary Local Rules effective February 1, 2026 contains only SLR 9.081, on oral objections in protective proceedings, and SLR 9.161, on the form of accounting. The statewide duties still apply in full, including 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 (ORS 113.155), the inventory within 90 days (ORS 113.165), and the creditor search and notice (ORS 115.003).
How long does it take to get letters testamentary in Polk County?
The court publishes no turnaround figure and no counter wait times, and this page will not guess at one. What the rules do fix is the sequence: the court appoints the personal representative and then issues letters testamentary or letters of administration once any bond it required is filed with the clerk of the court (ORS 113.125), and a bond is required unless the will waives it, the personal representative is the sole heir or devisee, the personal representative is one of the listed public fiduciaries, or the petition states that no assets are known (ORS 113.105). Certified copies of the letters, which is what a bank asks for, are $5 plus 25 cents per page in paper and nothing delivered electronically (ORS 21.258; CJO 23-016 2.b.(1); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026). Call the court at (503) 623-3154 and follow the telephone tree to ask where your matter stands.
How do I look up a Polk County probate case?
Use the Oregon Judicial Department Records and Calendar Search, the free statewide tool for Oregon's circuit courts. 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. A decedent's estate is a public case type. For copies of documents or audio, Polk routes requests through the statewide Records Request Form in the Forms Center and notes that it delivers audio digitally to the email address on the form rather than on CD. Location and inspection of court records is free, and paper copies are $3 per request per case plus 25 cents per page (ORS 21.258(2); Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule, effective January 1, 2026). Broader document access is through a court kiosk or a paid OJCIN OnLine subscription.
Can I appear remotely, or do I have to travel to Dallas?
Remote appearance is available and the court runs a page about it, but it is not published as a default for probate. Some hearings are held with one or more parties not physically present; the court uses Webex, sends the link through a hearing notice or an email from the court or Webex, and live-streams eligible proceedings for public viewing beginning about five minutes before the scheduled time. The district's local rules set express appearance modes only for criminal proceedings (SLR 4.081, 4.185, 4.195) and juvenile proceedings (SLR 11.041, 11.051), and nothing in the rules addresses probate, so confirm the format with the court at 503-623-3154 when your matter is set. Filing itself can be done at a distance by mail to 850 Main Street 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 probate forms does Polk County provide?
Five county forms sit in the Oregon Judicial Department forms library under Polk County: the court's own Small Estate Affidavit packet, an Annual or Final Accounting form, a Guardian's Report, an Approved Visitor List and a Trial Readiness Information sheet. Three of those are protective-proceeding forms and one is general, so the Small Estate Affidavit is the only one aimed at a decedent's estate, which still makes Polk unusual: across the whole statewide library only three counties publish an estate-category form of their own. The court also publishes its own copy of the ORS 36.185 mediation notice and refers in SLR 9.081 to a written objection form on its website. Oregon publishes no statewide petition, inventory or letters form, because no particular pleadings or forms of pleadings are required (ORS 111.205(2)), so the petition is drafted. SLR 1.181 names the court's Self Help page as the site for forms required by local rule.
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.