Maryland Probate With No Will: What Happens to the House

Nearly half of Maryland estates are opened without a will. In Fiscal Year 2023, Maryland's registers of wills opened 28,556 estates, and 13,954 of them, 48.9 percent, were intestate, according to an analysis of the registers' own case data published by the Register of Wills for Howard County.

So here is the direct answer. When a Maryland homeowner dies without a will, the house does not go to the state, and it does not pass automatically to whoever lives in it. It becomes part of the probate estate, legal title goes to a personal representative appointed by the Register of Wills, and who inherits is set by statute.

That formula is where families go wrong, and it matters long before anyone works out the practical side of selling an inherited Maryland house.

I have spent more than 25 years on Maryland property matters, most of it at kitchen tables with a stack of unopened mail between us. Most of the homeowners we help never sell to us. Nothing below is a pitch.

The Short Version

• Maryland rewrote its intestacy statute effective October 1, 2023, so the shares turn on the date the person died.

• Under Estates and Trusts § 3-102, a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner takes the whole intestate estate, unless a minor child survives (one-half) or a descendant survives who is not the spouse's own (first $100,000 plus half the residue).

• Under § 1-301(a), a Maryland decedent's property, real estate included, passes at death to the personal representative, so no heir holds marketable title just because the owner died.

• Spouse, registered domestic partner, and children hold equal appointment priority under § 5-104.

• Bond is required under § 6-102(a) unless every interested person signs a waiver, because there is no will to excuse it.

Who Inherits the House When There Is No Will in Maryland

Maryland's intestate rules reach only the probate estate: property in the deceased person's sole name, plus any interest held as a tenant in common. A home held as tenants by the entirety, or as joint tenants with right of survivorship, passes to the survivor by law. Intestacy never touches it.

Check the date of death first. Maryland rewrote the statute through 2023 Maryland Laws Chapter 647, Senate Bill 792, effective October 1, 2023. The law is keyed to the date the person died, not the date the estate is opened, so an estate opened this year for a 2021 death runs on the old formula.

For a death on or after October 1, 2023, this is the table that matters.

Who survived	What the intestate estate does	Authority
Spouse or registered domestic partner, no descendants	Spouse or partner takes the entire intestate estate. Parents take nothing.	§ 3-102(a)
Spouse or partner, and any surviving minor child	Spouse or partner takes one-half. The other half goes to the decedent's issue, minors and adults alike, by representation.	§ 3-102(b); § 3-103
Spouse or partner, adult children only, all of them also the spouse's issue	Spouse or partner takes the entire intestate estate. Those adult children take nothing from it.	§ 3-102(a)
Spouse or partner, no minor child, one or more descendants who are not the spouse's issue	Spouse or partner takes the first $100,000 plus one-half of the residue. The rest goes to the decedent's issue by representation.	§ 3-102(c); § 3-103
No spouse or partner, children survive	Children take the whole net estate in equal shares by representation. A predeceased child's share passes to that child's issue.	§ 3-103; § 1-210(b)
No spouse or partner, no issue	To surviving parents; then to the issue of the parents by representation, meaning siblings and their children.	§ 3-104(a)
No spouse, issue, parent, or issue of a parent	To grandparents by pairs, the survivor of a pair, or that pair's issue by representation.	§ 3-104(b)
No surviving blood relative entitled to inherit	Equal shares to the decedent's stepchildren.	§ 3-104(c)
No heirs and no stepchildren	Escheat.	§ 3-105

The minor child rule catches almost everyone. Section 3-102(b) is unqualified: if a minor child survives, the spouse's share is one-half. It does not ask whether that child is also the spouse's. Per the University of Baltimore Law Forum article by Howard County's Register of Wills, Maryland is the only state whose spousal share turns on the age of the children.

Registered domestic partners count now, but only if they registered before the death. A partner who never filed a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Registers of Wills inherits nothing under intestacy. I have had to say that out loud to somebody.

One warning about sources. The Register of Wills publishes a current succession table on its website and it is correct. The same agency's General Estate Information Guide, the PDF, is internally dated 10/2022 and still shows the $40,000 spousal figure, the five-year marriage rule, and great-grandparents as heirs. Maryland law firm pages dated into 2025 repeat that figure as current law. If a page says $40,000, it is repealed law.

Does the state take the house if there is no will?

Almost never. Escheat is the last line of the statute, at Estates and Trusts § 3-105, and applies only where no heir survives and there is no stepchild. The estate then goes to the county Board of Education, or to the Maryland Department of Health if the person received long-term care benefits under Maryland Medical Assistance.

For scale, the Howard County analysis in the University of Baltimore Law Forum covered 413 intestate estates opened there in Fiscal Year 2021, and heirs were the surviving spouse or descendants in 77.75 percent of them. One county, one year, unpublished dataset. An indication, not a statewide number.

If you are not sure which row of that table describes your family, that is a five minute call. Free, and you are never required to sell.

Who Owns the House Before Anyone Is Appointed

Nobody in the family does. Under Estates and Trusts § 1-301(a), a deceased person's property, real estate included, passes at death to the personal representative, who holds legal title for administration and distribution. Maryland threw out the old common law rule that dropped land straight into the hands of heirs, a change the Maryland estates firm Franke Beckett dates to deaths on or after January 1, 1970.

Heirs hold a beneficial interest, not marketable title. Until Letters of Administration issue, nobody can convey that house.

A man in Prince George's County called me about his mother's split-level. He had lived there with her for years and cared for her at the end, and as far as he understood it the house was his. Somebody had approached him about buying it.

I drove out, we sat in the kitchen, and I asked whose name was on the deed. His mother's, alone. Every moral claim in the world and no legal authority to sign. Nobody had told him.

Living there is a separate question. Under § 7-102(a), property already held by the person presumptively entitled to it as an heir stays with that person unless possession is reasonably necessary for administration, so a daughter living in her late mother's house does not have to move out the day letters issue.

Can an heir sell the house before the estate is opened?

No. Legal title sits with the personal representative under § 1-301(a), and until the Register of Wills appoints one there is no personal representative. Heirs hold a beneficial interest, not marketable title, so nobody can sign a valid deed. The estate has to be opened first.

Once appointed, the authority is real. Section 7-401(n) permits the sale, mortgage, lease, or exchange of estate property, and § 7-401(a)(1) permits those powers to be used without court approval. In an intestate estate, with no will imposing limits, that reads as authority to sell without an Orphans' Court order, though some commercial sites claim otherwise. The personal representative still answers to every heir, and title insurers set their own requirements, which is the practical side of selling a house still in probate.

Who Gets Appointed, and What If More Than One Person Wants It

Estates and Trusts § 5-104 sets a twelve-rank priority order. In an intestate estate the top ranks refer to wills and legatees, so the practical list starts at rank three: the surviving spouse, the registered domestic partner, and the children, together as a single class.

That word class does heavy lifting. Everyone in the rank holds equal priority. No tiebreaker for age, for who lived in the house, or for who paid the funeral bill. Three things follow, and the third is usually when siblings and a forced sale becomes the question.

1. One person may petition alone if every interested person with equal or greater priority signs a Consent to Appointment of Personal Representative, Form 1118.

2. Two or more may serve as co-personal representatives, though the Register of Wills warns that Maryland law presumes they must act jointly, which it calls a source of delays.

3. If more than one qualified person applies and consent cannot be reached, the estate goes to judicial probate before the Orphans' Court.

The office is the Register of Wills for the county, or Baltimore City, where the person was domiciled at death. There are twenty-four. For most families I sit with, that is Prince George's County or Charles County. Staff will help with forms and will tell you, correctly, that they cannot give legal advice.

An out-of-state child can serve, but only after filing an Appointment of Resident Agent, Form 1106, naming a Maryland resident to accept service. The opening filing is the Petition for Administration, Form 1112, with Schedule A, Form 1136. The List of Interested Persons, Form 1104, names everyone who would inherit under intestacy and is due within 20 days after appointment. The rest is in the step by step walkthrough for heirs.

This is the point where an attorney earns their fee, and it helps to know when those fees come due before deciding you cannot afford one. We can connect you with someone who handles these in your county, and the introduction costs you nothing.

The Bond Is the Part Nobody Warns You About

Under Estates and Trusts § 6-102(a), every personal representative posts a bond to the State of Maryland unless bond is excused by the will or waived in writing by all interested persons. An intestate estate has no will. So the only door left is a unanimous waiver from every heir, including the ones not speaking to each other.

A version of this comes up every few months. Three siblings reached out after their father died, and the house outside Waldorf was the only real asset. The one who had not spoken to the other two in years would not sign anything.

We got him on the phone. He had no objection to the sale at all. He thought signing a waiver meant giving up his share, and nobody had explained what the form does.

Even when everyone signs, you are not clear. Section 6-102(b)(1) still requires a Nominal Bond sufficient to secure the decedent's debts and the Maryland inheritance tax, and under § 6-102(h)(2) it runs only to those two things. It does not protect the heirs.

The amount is usually smaller than people fear. Under § 6-102(e)(1) the penalty sum is capped at the probable maximum value of the estate's personal property. A house is real property. Section 6-102(e)(2) does let the court increase the sum for good cause, and sale proceeds are personal property once they reach the personal representative.

Who pays for a Maryland probate bond?

The estate does. Section 6-102(g) makes the premium chargeable against the property of the estate, not the personal representative personally. The timing is awkward, since the bond generally has to be arranged before letters issue, which is before anyone can touch estate funds. The forms are Form 1115 for the Bond of Personal Representative, Form 1116 for the Nominal Bond, and Form 1117 for a Waiver of Bond.

You do not have to figure this out alone. Free consultation, every option explained, including the ones that do not involve us.

What It Costs, and What the Deadlines Actually Are

Maryland sets no deadline that forces you to open an estate quickly, and estates get opened years after a death. The firm deadlines attach after appointment. A death does not pause a mortgage, though, so payments on the house still have to be made while the estate is open.

4. List of Interested Persons, Form 1104, within 20 days after appointment.

5. Inventory, Forms 1122 and 1123, and Information Report, Form 1124, within three months.

6. First account within nine months after appointment.

7. Creditor claims within the earlier of six months after the date of death, or two months after written notice.

The probate fee is assessed when the first account is filed, on the October 1, 2022 schedule published in the Register of Wills' General Estate Information Guide. Nothing is due below $50,000, and $200 applies between $100,000 and $500,000. The fuller accounting of what an estate actually pays out is a separate piece.

Where This Leaves You

Short version, one more time. The date of death decides which formula applies. The Register of Wills for the county where the person lived decides who gets appointed. Until then, nobody can sign a deed for that house.

None of this is fast, and almost none of it is an emergency. What hurts people is not the process. It is guessing, or taking a number off a page nobody has updated in three years. There is more in the rest of what I have written on Maryland probate.

If any of this sounds like where you are, you already know you need to talk to somebody who has been through it before. That is what we do, and it costs nothing to find out where you stand. Tell us what you are dealing with. Or start with the wider picture on inherited property in Maryland.

FAQ SECTION

Frequently Asked Questions

Who inherits the house if someone dies without a will in Maryland?

It depends on which relatives survived and on the date of death. For deaths on or after October 1, 2023, Maryland Code, Estates and Trusts § 3-102 gives a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner the entire intestate estate, unless a minor child survives, in which case the share is one-half, or a descendant survives who is not the spouse's descendant, in which case it is the first $100,000 plus half the residue.

Does the state of Maryland take your house if you die without a will?

Only where there is no surviving heir and no stepchild. That is escheat, under Maryland Code, Estates and Trusts § 3-105, and the net estate then passes to the Board of Education of the county administering the estate, or to the Maryland Department of Health if the person received long-term care benefits under the Maryland Medical Assistance Program. It is the last line of the statute, not the usual outcome.

Can you sell an inherited house in Maryland before probate is opened?

No. Under Maryland Code, Estates and Trusts § 1-301(a), legal title passes at death to the personal representative, and there is no personal representative until the Register of Wills issues Letters of Administration. Heirs hold a beneficial interest in the estate rather than marketable title, so nobody has authority to sign a deed until the estate is opened.

Do you need a bond to be personal representative in Maryland if there is no will?

Usually yes. Maryland Code, Estates and Trusts § 6-102(a) requires bond unless it is excused by the decedent's will or waived in writing by all interested persons, and an intestate estate has no will. Even with a full waiver, § 6-102(b)(1) still requires a Nominal Bond covering the decedent's debts and Maryland inheritance tax. The premium is chargeable to the estate under § 6-102(g).

How long do you have to open an estate in Maryland after someone dies?

Maryland sets no deadline that forces you to open an estate promptly, and estates are routinely opened years after a death. The firm deadlines start after appointment: the List of Interested Persons within 20 days, the Inventory and Information Report within three months, and the first account within nine months after appointment.