Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: In District of Columbia, once the personal representative publishes notice to creditors, a creditor has 6 months to file a claim; and if notice is never published, the absolute deadline is 6 months from the date of death.
What is the creditor-claim deadline in District of Columbia?
| Once notice to creditors is published | 6 months |
| If notice is never published (absolute deadline) | 6 months from the date of death |
| Creditor personally mailed notice | No separate mailed-notice deadline |
“all claims against a decedent’s estate…shall be barred against the estate, the personal representative, and the heirs and legatees, unless presented within 6 months after the date of the first publication of notice of the appointment of a personal representative.”
Source: D.C. Code § 20-903
What makes District of Columbia different
DC runs everyone off the same single 6-month publication clock; there is no separate, shorter fixed deadline for creditors who receive individual mailed notice.
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 District of Columbia’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
| Statute | D.C. Code § 20-903 |
| District of Columbia courts (general reference) | District of Columbia judicial branch |
| District of Columbia Secretary of State / legislature | District of Columbia state government |
| Confidence | High |
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.
Related: how long you have to contest a will in District of Columbia.