How to send a notice to creditors during probate

Notifying creditors after a loved one’s death

• The notice is posted to let creditors know that your loved one has died, and that the estate is in probate.

• This gives them the chance to come forward so you can settle all of your loved one’s debts.

• It is usually posted in a newspaper with both local and national circulation to ensure creditors see it.

• A notice will contain the name of the person who passed away, the deadline for creditors to make claims, and the address they should contact.

• After the deadline has passed, the executor can begin distributing assets, and so creditors may lose out.

Once probate begins, one of the first tasks for an executor or administrator of an estate must do is to post a public notice to creditors. This is a formal notification published in a newspaper meant to let creditors know that the person has passed away and that the estate is going through probate.

It gives creditors the opportunity to file their claims within a given period of time, as well as allowing any debtors to come forward to pay the money they owe to the estate.

Depending on state law, this notice may have to run anywhere from several days to several weeks. It’s important to check the laws in your state, and consult a lawyer if the requirements are at all unclear. 

The purpose of an estate notice to creditors

As one of the very first steps in probate, you will post the notice to creditors publicly, usually in a newspaper that has both local and national circulation.

Some creditors may have seen your loved one’s obituary if you published one, but this notification is aimed specifically at them, and alerts them that probate has begun.

Ideally, creditors will see the post and will come forward to file a claim for debts that the estate owes them, while debtors will contact you to pay money into the estate that they owed to your loved one.

It’s important to note that such a notice can bring out people and businesses that might try to make deceitful claims. The executor has every right to reject a claim that doesn’t appear authentic. If the creditor wishes to pursue the issue, they can go to probate court and the judge will decide the legitimacy of their claim.

What the notice needs to say

There are three major points that a notice to creditors needs to contain: the name of the person who has passed away, the amount of time creditors have to come forward, and contact information for the executor or the executor’s lawyer.

Creditors who see the notice can file a claim against the estate (or debtors can pay what they owe), by sending the pertinent information to the person named in the notice at the listed address.

From the day the notice is posted, people and companies looking to file claims have until a specific date to do so. If a creditor misses the deadline listed, they may miss their chance to claim whatever is owed to them.

The deadline for creditors to file claims is a way of keeping the probate proceedings on track and moving forward. The estate has to pay off all creditors before the distribution of inheritance can take place, and thus the deadline gives the executor or administrator a time frame in which they can begin to transfer estate assets to beneficiaries or heirs. 

If a creditor comes forward after this date, they may still have a claim, depending on state law, the reasons for the delay, and the judgment of the probate court, but it is more difficult to claim assets once they have been distributed to their new owners.

How to publish the notice to creditors

Because circulation is key, state law or the court may require the notice to be published in both the paper and online versions of the newspaper the executor has chosen. As long as it contains the three important points, it qualifies as the formal notification.

After it’s posted, it’s just a matter of waiting for the deadline in order to make sure you have given the creditors the opportunity to come forward before paying all debts and then distributing assets.

Notices to creditors are very standard alerts posted to let creditors and debtors know that your loved one has passed and they have a window of time to take care of these financial loose ends. Taking care of this step ensures that the probate process will proceed as smoothly as it can, and can be brought to an end in a reasonable amount of time.

You may be eligible for free bereavement support. Empathy can help with everything from funeral planning to estate administration, with step-by-step guidance and real-time expert support. Many people get free premium access to Empathy as a benefit with their life insurance claim. We partner with New York Life, Guardian Life Insurance Company, Bestow, Lemonade, and other leading carriers. When you make your life insurance claim, talk to your representative about whether Empathy is a benefit they offer.