Oregon Probate Information

Oregon probate turns on four questions the family should answer before anything is filed: which court has probate jurisdiction in the county, whether there is a will and who is nominated to serve, what the estate is worth measured gross at the date of death, and how much of that value is real property or a manufactured home. The value answer decides both the route and the price. The simple estate affidavit is available only where not more than $75,000 of fair market value is attributable to personal property other than manufactured homes and not more than $200,000 to the combined value of real property and manufactured homes (ORS 114.510(1)(a)), and the fee to open a full probate is tiered by the value of the estate, which the caption itself must state (ORS 21.105(1)).

Property held with a right of survivorship, accounts and policies with a living beneficiary, payable-on-death accounts, securities registered in beneficiary form (ORS 59.535 to 59.585), and real property covered by a recorded transfer on death deed (ORS 93.948 to 93.979) all pass outside probate and are not part of what the affidavit measures. Oregon's default is worth knowing before assuming survivorship: a conveyance or devise of real property to two or more people creates a tenancy in common unless the instrument clearly and expressly declares a right of survivorship, though a conveyance to spouses creates a tenancy by the entirety unless it says otherwise (ORS 93.180(1)). Identify every asset and debt and confirm how each asset is titled and valued first, because value is measured without reduction for liens or other debts (ORS 114.510(2)(b)) and the estate tax filing threshold is measured on the gross estate, not the net (ORS 118.160(1)(c)). Sunset's asset-discovery work, searching more than 2,300 financial institutions, exists for this step.

Oregon has no separate probate court as an institution. Probate is a jurisdiction, and in Oregon that jurisdiction sits in two different kinds of court depending on the county. In 30 of the 36 counties it runs through the Circuit Court, Oregon's general-jurisdiction trial court, which is a state court funded and administered by the Oregon Judicial Department, and the filing office is the court's own Office of the Trial Court Administrator rather than a county officer. In Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman, and Wheeler Counties jurisdiction of all probate matters, causes, and proceedings is vested in the County Court (ORS 111.075), the county's governing body sitting judicially, in which the elected County Judge exercises the probate jurisdiction and the County Clerk generally serves as its clerk. This is the single most important Oregon fact for a family to get right, because the Oregon Judicial Department's own court directory is headed as a list of local circuit courts and shows a circuit court for all 36 counties: in those six counties, the circuit court shown there handles the county's other civil, criminal, and family cases and does not handle probate. Probate is governed by Title 12 of the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS chapters 111 to 118). A county court sitting in probate has the general legal and equitable powers of a circuit court, and its determinations, orders, and judgments have the same validity, finality, and presumption of regularity (ORS 111.095(1) and (2)); the statutory filing fees are identical (ORS 21.170(5)); and appeals from a county court exercising probate jurisdiction go to the circuit court and the Court of Appeals as provided in ORS 5.120 (ORS 111.105(3)). ORS 111.115 allows an individual estate proceeding to be transferred from a county court to the circuit court, and requires transfer where the county judge is a party or is directly interested, but no county has moved probate as a whole back to its circuit court.

Oregon's circuit courts are grouped into 27 judicial districts, and six districts cover more than one county (ORS 3.012), which is why the Oregon Judicial Department runs shared websites and sometimes shared staff for those pairs: the 6th (Morrow and Umatilla), the 7th (Gilliam, Hood River, Sherman, Wasco, and Wheeler), the 10th (Union and Wallowa), the 15th (Coos and Curry), the 22nd (Crook and Jefferson), and the 24th (Grant and Harney). A shared district is an administrative fact only. You still file in the county you selected under the venue rule, at that county's courthouse or county office, never "in the district." This knowledge base has a separate page for each of the 36 counties, because the court, the filing counter, the address, the hours, the local forms, and the e-filing and records position differ from county to county even though the statutes and the fee schedule do not.

Venue is the other Oregon distinctive, and it is unusually broad. 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 in which 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 does not constitute 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)), and the petition must state the facts relied upon to establish venue (ORS 113.035(3)). The any-county-with-property rule is a statutory permission, not a recommendation. If proceedings are commenced in more than one county, all but the first are stayed until venue is determined, and the court may transfer the proceeding for the best interest of the estate (ORS 113.025).

Probate is not in the same court in every Oregon county. Oregon has no separate probate court as an institution, and the county you are in decides which kind of court hears the estate. In 30 of the 36 counties probate runs through the Circuit Court, a state court of the Oregon Judicial Department, and the filing office is the court's Office of the Trial Court Administrator. In Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman, and Wheeler Counties jurisdiction of all probate matters, causes, and proceedings is vested in the County Court (ORS 111.075), the elected County Judge does the probate work, and the County Clerk is generally its clerk, except in Gilliam County, which takes probate filings at its County Court Offices. Readers usually arrive holding an Oregon Judicial Department page that shows a circuit court for their county, so be clear about both: in those six counties the circuit court handles the county's other civil, criminal, and family cases, and the county court handles probate.

A county court sitting in probate is a full probate court. Under ORS 111.005(7) the words "court" and "probate court" in the statutes mean whichever court holds probate jurisdiction in the county, which is why ORS 111.085 can be headed "Probate jurisdiction described" without naming an institution. A probate court has the general legal and equitable powers of a circuit court, and its determinations, orders, and judgments have the same validity, finality, and presumption of regularity (ORS 111.095(1) and (2)). The statutory filing fees are the same (ORS 21.170(5)). Appeals differ in route only: from a circuit court exercising probate jurisdiction the appeal goes to the Court of Appeals, and from a county court it goes to the circuit court and the Court of Appeals as provided in ORS 5.120 (ORS 111.105). An individual estate proceeding can be transferred from a county court to the circuit court, and must be where the county judge is a party or directly interested (ORS 111.115).

Venue is broad by statute and narrow in practice. A probate may be filed in the county where the decedent was domiciled or had a place of abode at death, in any county where the decedent's property was located at death or is located when the proceeding starts, in the county where the decedent died, or in the county where a personal injury or wrongful death claim could be maintained, and filing elsewhere is not a jurisdictional defect (ORS 113.015). In practice you file where the decedent lived, because that is where the notice to interested persons is published (ORS 113.155(1)), and the petition has to state the facts relied upon to establish venue (ORS 113.035(3)). Where proceedings are opened in more than one county, all but the first are stayed until venue is determined (ORS 113.025).

There is no statewide petition form, and that is the statute's doing. A probate proceeding is commenced by filing a petition (ORS 111.205(1)), and "No particular pleadings or forms of pleadings are required in the exercise of jurisdiction of probate courts" (ORS 111.205(2)). Every petition, inventory, report, and accounting must be in writing with a declaration under penalty of perjury in the ORCP 1 E form. So the statewide form set is thin by design: a Simple Estate Affidavit packet, a Claim Against Estate form, an accounting packet in the UTCR 9.160 format, a generic probate motion and order, and an acknowledgment of restriction of assets. The one near-mandatory format is the accounting: accountings substantially in the published form must be accepted by all judicial districts, and a district may make that format mandatory by Supplementary Local Rule 9.161 (UTCR 9.160).

The filing fee is tiered, and the caption has to say what the estate is worth. 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); ORS 114.515(5)). The caption must state the value of the estate (ORS 21.105). Fee waivers and deferrals are available (ORS 21.170(1); Circuit Court Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026). Oregon then does something most states do not: it charges for each annual or final accounting, $35, $298, $591, or $1,176 on the same value bands (ORS 21.170(2)). If an amended pleading raises the stated value, the court collects the difference (ORS 21.105(2)). Fees are payable in advance and are not refundable, and the filing fee is the only charge collectible for the filing unless a statute says otherwise (ORS 21.100), which is why there are no local filing surcharges in Oregon. Beware the widely repeated wrong number: $124 is the simple estate affidavit fee (ORS 21.145(4); ORS 114.515(5)), not the cost of opening a probate.

The simple estate affidavit has two caps, and the total is arithmetic. Read the caps separately: not more than $75,000 of the estate's fair market value may be attributable to personal property other than manufactured homes, and not more than $200,000 to the combined fair market value of real property and manufactured homes (ORS 114.510(1)(a)). Manufactured homes count against the real property cap, not the personal property cap. The Oregon Judicial Department's own instructions summarise the two caps as a total value under $275,000, which is the sum of them rather than a figure in the statute. Value is measured gross, without reduction for liens or other debts, as of the date of death, or, where the death was more than a year before filing, as of a date within 45 days before filing (ORS 114.510(2)). A separate branch exists for a testate estate whose balance above the caps is devised to the trustee of a trust the decedent settled before death (ORS 114.510(1)(b)).

The affidavit reaches real property, but it is not a probate. This is the sharp contrast with most states' small-estate affidavits: the Oregon affidavit reaches real property as well as personal property, and the affiant transfers real property by recording a bargain and sale deed in the county's deed records (ORS 114.555(3)). But no personal representative is appointed and no letters testamentary or letters of administration are issued, which matters when an institution asks for letters. The affiant is a fiduciary under a general duty to administer, preserve, settle, and distribute the estate, and must mail or deliver each instrument the affidavit says will be sent, including the copy of the affidavit showing the date of filing and the will where there is one, within 30 days after filing (ORS 114.525(1); ORS 114.545(1)(a) and (d)); claims may be presented to the affiant within four months after filing and are otherwise barred (ORS 114.540(1)); property may not be transferred out until that four-month period has run, unsecured creditors are paid, and no petition to appoint a personal representative has been filed (ORS 114.555(1)); and a claiming successor or the affiant may petition for a summary review of administration within two years after filing (ORS 114.550(1)). If the estate turns out to exceed the caps, the affiant's authority ends and notice must be filed with the court (ORS 114.515(7)).

Notice to interested persons is published once, not weekly. Upon appointment the personal representative must cause a notice to interested persons to be published once in a newspaper published in the county where the estate proceeding is pending, or in a newspaper the court designates if none is published there, and the notice must require all persons having claims to present them within four months after the date of publication (ORS 113.155, as amended by 2023 c.18). Publication is not required where the petition states that no assets are known (ORS 113.155(5)). Do not import another state's three-week publication rule.

Creditor claims: a four-month bar with a 45-day branch, and claims go to you, not the court. Claims are presented to the personal representative, and "Filing a claim with the court does not constitute presentation to the personal representative" (ORS 115.005(1)(a)); the personal representative may also authorise presentation by a designated email address or fax number. During the three months following appointment the personal representative must make reasonably diligent efforts to investigate the decedent's financial records and affairs, must notify each known claimant not later than 30 days after that period with a warning that a claim not presented within 45 days of the notice may be barred, and must file proof of compliance not later than 60 days after the period (ORS 115.003). A claim is then barred unless presented within its own statute of limitations and before the later of four months after publication or 45 days after that notice (ORS 115.005(2)), and the four-month rule is not exceptionless: a later claim is still paid where it comes in before the final account, from a claimant who received no notice mailed more than 30 days earlier, and would otherwise be allowable (ORS 115.005(3)).

The inventory is 90 days, and accountings are annual and priced. Within 90 days after the date of appointment, unless the court grants longer, the personal representative files an inventory of all estate property that has come into the personal representative's possession or knowledge, at estimated fair market values as of the date of death, and files one saying so even if nothing has come in (ORS 113.165). Property found later goes into a supplemental inventory within 30 days or the next accounting (ORS 113.175). Accounts are then filed annually within 60 days after the anniversary of appointment unless the court orders otherwise, and at final settlement (ORS 116.083(1)), each with the statutory accounting fee (ORS 21.170(2)). A statement in lieu of an annual account is available with the distributees' written consent, and a statement in lieu of the final account where they consent and all creditors other than those owed administrative expenses are paid in full (ORS 116.083(3) and (5)); where a statement in lieu of the final account is filed, no notice of a time for objections is required (ORS 116.083(6)).

Oregon has a state estate tax, and the return deadline is 12 months. Oregon imposes an estate transfer tax under ORS chapter 118, administered by the Department of Revenue and reported on Form OR-706. Both "Oregon estate tax" and "Oregon estate transfer tax" are correct names for it. The return and the payment are due no later than 12 months following the date of death (ORS 118.100(1)); the Department of Revenue explains that the shorter deadline applied only to deaths before January 1, 2022. Source: ORS chapter 118 and the Oregon Department of Revenue, oregon.gov/dor, verified July 2026.

E-filing is statewide, mandatory for lawyers, optional for everyone else, and absent in six counties. OJD eFile, which is Tyler Technologies' Odyssey File and Serve, lets filers electronically file, serve, distribute, and deliver court documents in Oregon's circuit courts and the Oregon Tax Court, 24 hours a day, with filing kiosks in most courts during business hours. An active licensee of the Oregon State Bar must use it instead of conventional filing unless the document must be filed conventionally under UTCR 21.070(3) or the filer has a waiver, which is sought by petition for a judicial district or by motion in one case and requires documents to be captioned as exempt per the waiver (UTCR 21.140(1) and (2)). A self-represented filer is not required to e-file but may: any person who completes the online registration and obtains a login is an authorized filer (UTCR 21.030(1)). The e-filing deadline is 11:59:59 p.m. in the court's time zone (UTCR 21.080(2)), and circuit courts may not make their own e-filing rules except through Supplementary Local Rule 21.011 under a Chief Justice Order (UTCR 21.020). Because the system covers circuit courts, a probate filed with a county court in Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman, and Wheeler Counties is filed on paper at the counter or by mail. Effective July 1, 2026 the document submission limit rose to 50 MB and the envelope limit to 75 MB.

One probate document still has to be paper. A document that the law requires to be filed in original form, including an original will, a certified document, or a document under official seal, must be filed conventionally (UTCR 21.070(3)(h)), unless a Chief Justice Order or a Presiding Judge Order issued under one authorises otherwise (UTCR 21.070(8)). The workaround is in the rule: e-file an image of the original with the other documents, say so in the Filing Comments field, and conventionally file the original within seven business days, and the original is deemed filed on the date of the image (UTCR 21.070(3)(h)(i)). Documents filed under seal or for in camera inspection are also conventional-only (UTCR 21.070(3)(g)), as is any stipulated or ex parte matter a judicial district lists in its Supplementary Local Rule 2.501, so check the district's current rule before assuming a probate document must be paper.

Case search is an index, not a document library. The Oregon Judicial Department's Records and Calendar Search offers free online access to court calendars and basic case information for the Oregon circuit courts, the Tax Court, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court. The department states that results provide basic case information, party information, event entries, and dispositions, that what is displayed is not the official register record under ORS 7.020, and that documents are not currently available through the service. Fuller access is at a court kiosk, available in most circuit courts, or by paid subscription to OJCIN OnLine, for which not everyone qualifies. Certain records, including adoption, juvenile, mental health, and cases under the Violence Against Women Act, are not provided through the service, and guardianship and conservatorship files are treated as confidential in at least one large county. Decedents' estate cases are public and appear in the index. The statewide search does not reach the six county courts: one of them publishes its own probate index, and in the others records are requested from the county office.

Oregon terms to use, and the ones that do not apply here. Use personal representative, Circuit Court or County Court, Office of the Trial Court Administrator, County Judge and County Clerk for the six county-court counties, letters testamentary, letters of administration, simple estate affidavit, affiant, and claiming successors. Some courts run a named Probate Department or Probate Unit, and lowercase "probate court" is a correct Oregon function word (ORS 111.005(7)). Oregon has no county probate court as an institution, no probate division, and no statutory route to an unsupervised administration under some other name: an opened Oregon estate stays on the statutory schedule of inventory, accountings, and a judgment of final distribution. Oregon's Justice Courts and Municipal Courts are real courts with no probate jurisdiction, so a probate never goes there. The older names for the simple estate affidavit, small estate affidavit and affidavit of claiming successor, are still in wide use, including in the Oregon Judicial Department's own translations, but the current statutory term is simple estate affidavit (ORS 114.505(3)).

An Oregon attorney is advisable when the estate is or may become contested, including a will contest, a dispute over who should be appointed under the ORS 113.085 preference order, or a claim that a devise failed; when the will is missing, unsigned, or available only as a copy, which rules out the simple estate affidavit route; when the estate is insolvent or claims exceed assets, because the payment priorities in ORS 115.125 then control; when real property or a business interest has to be valued or sold; when the gross estate is at or near $1 million and an Oregon estate transfer tax return is due within 12 months of the death (ORS 118.100(1); ORS 118.160(1)(c)); when the natural resource property exemption is in play (ORS 118.145); and when the estate is in one of the six county-court counties and the family cannot get to the counter. Because Oregon publishes no statewide petition form and requires no particular form of pleading (ORS 111.205(2)), the petition, the order, the inventory, and the accountings are drafted rather than filled in, which is why many Oregon families use counsel even for an uncontested estate. For an estate that fits the simple estate affidavit, or where everything passes by survivorship, beneficiary designation, or a recorded transfer on death deed, many families complete the process without an attorney using the Oregon Judicial Department's packet. Sunset can connect families to a vetted Oregon probate attorney when the situation requires counsel.

Find the accounts and assets. Sunset searches more than 2,300 financial institutions and Oregon public records to surface bank and credit union accounts, retirement plans, brokerage holdings, life insurance, Oregon real estate, manufactured homes, vehicles, business interests, and unclaimed property, and flags how each asset is titled so the family can plan the estate settlement and tell what passes outside probate, whether the estate fits within the two simple estate caps of $75,000 in personal property other than manufactured homes and $200,000 in real property and manufactured homes (ORS 114.510(1)(a)), and whether the gross estate reaches the $1 million Oregon estate transfer tax filing threshold (ORS 118.160(1)(c)) or the federal exemption of $15 million per individual for deaths in 2026.

Generate the probate packet. Sunset assembles the packet for the estate settlement path that fits, whether the simple estate affidavit or the petition for probate of a will or for appointment of a personal representative drafted to the ORS 113.035 contents, together with the inventory, the notices to devisees, heirs, and the state agencies, and the accountings in the UTCR 9.160 format, ready to file with the Circuit Court in 30 counties or with the county court's counter in Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman, and Wheeler Counties (ORS 111.075).

Find a local probate attorney. When the situation calls for counsel, such as a contested appointment, an insolvent estate, a real-property sale, or an Oregon estate transfer tax return due within 12 months of the death, Sunset connects families to a vetted Oregon probate attorney serving the relevant county.

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).