West Virginia Creditor Claim Period

Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: In West Virginia, once the personal representative publishes notice to creditors, a creditor has 2 months to file a claim.

What is the creditor-claim deadline in West Virginia?

“A statement that claims against the estate must be filed within sixty days of the date of first publication in accordance with article two or article three-a of this chapter.”

Source: W. Va. Code § 44-1-14a(a)(7) (see also §§ 44-2-26, 44-3A-32)

What makes West Virginia different

West Virginia’s bar runs only from newspaper publication of notice (60 days after first publication), with no independent outer bar from date of death if notice is never published.

Does this deadline apply the same way if the estate never opens probate?

These deadlines are creatures of the probate process itself; they run once an estate is opened (by publication, mailing, appointment, or the grant of letters, depending on West Virginia’s own rule above). A creditor of a decedent whose estate never enters probate at all is not cut off by this particular statute, though the underlying debt’s own ordinary statute of limitations still applies.

Sources

Every statute quoted on this page was read directly from the state’s own legislature/code site this session, or, where that site blocked automated access, from a reputable legal-citation mirror quoting the same official text with its official citation (disclosed below). General information, not legal advice; the exact deadline in a given estate can turn on facts (whether a personal representative was appointed, whether notice was ever published or mailed) that only your own probate court file can confirm.