Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: In Maine, once the personal representative publishes notice to creditors, a creditor has 4 months to file a claim; and if notice is never published, the absolute deadline is 9 months from the date of death; and a creditor who is personally mailed notice gets 60 days.
What is the creditor-claim deadline in Maine?
| Once notice to creditors is published | 4 months |
| If notice is never published (absolute deadline) | 9 months from the date of death |
| Creditor personally mailed notice | 60 days |
“…barred…unless presented within the earlier of the following: Nine months after the decedent’s death; or the time provided by section 3-801, subsection 2 for creditors who are given actual notice, and the time provided in section 3-801, subsection 1 for all creditors barred by publication. … 4 months after the date of the first publication… within 60 days after the mailing or other delivery of the notice, whichever is later…”
Source: Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 18-C, § 3-803 (see also § 3-801)
What makes Maine different
Maine requires publication for only 2 successive weeks; shorter than the 3-week run common in many peer states; before its 4-month notice clock starts.
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 Maine’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 | Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 18-C, § 3-803 (see also § 3-801) |
| Maine courts (general reference) | Maine judicial branch |
| 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.