When you qualify before the Clerk of the Circuit Court, the Clerk will hand you a form titled “Notice Regarding Estate” (Form CC-1616). You must send a copy of this form to all of the heirs and other beneficiaries of the estate within thirty (30) days of your date of qualification (or the date of probating the will, if you did not qualify as a fiduciary). [1]
The Clerk should also hand you a form called the “affidavit of notice” (Form CC-1617). In this form, you will describe how you complied with the requirement to send notices to the heirs and beneficiaries of the estate. In certain situations, you will instead state that you were not required to send any notices. (This usually happens only when you are the surviving spouse of a deceased individual who did not have children in another marriage.) Please note that, even if you are not required to send any notices, you are still required to fill out and submit the affidavit of notice.
All executors, administrators, and proponents of wills must submit the affidavit of notice to the Clerk of Court within four (4) months of the date of qualification (or probate). [2] Please note that the affidavit of notice must be notarized before you submit it. If you submit the affidavit of notice to the Clerk’s Office in person, the Clerk will be able to notarize it for you.
Although you will not send the affidavit of notice to the Commissioner of Accounts, the Commissioner will obtain a copy of the affidavit of notice from the Court’s file. The Commissioner cannot approve your accounting until you have properly submitted the affidavit of notice. [3]
The materials contained on this website are provided for general informational purposes only and should not be construed as providing legal or tax advice. Please contact an attorney or accountant of your choosing if you need specific legal or tax advice.
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