Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: In Maryland, if notice is never published, the absolute deadline is 6 months from the date of death; and a creditor who is personally mailed notice gets 60 days.
What is the creditor-claim deadline in Maryland?
| Once notice to creditors is published | No separate publication-triggered period; see note below |
| If notice is never published (absolute deadline) | 6 months from the date of death |
| Creditor personally mailed notice | 60 days |
“a claim against an estate of a decedent,…is forever barred against the estate, the personal representative, and the heirs and legatees, unless presented within the earlier of the following dates: (1) 6 months after the decedent’s death; or (2) 2 months after the personal representative delivers… notice… notifying the creditor that the claim will be barred unless the creditor presents the claim within 2 months after the mailing or other delivery of the notice.”
What makes Maryland different
Maryland’s acceleration is tied to direct mailed/delivered notice to a KNOWN creditor (shortening to 2 months), not to newspaper publication generally; an unknown creditor keeps the full 6 months.
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 Maryland’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 | Md. Code Ann., Est. & Trusts § 8-103 |
| Maryland courts (general reference) | Maryland 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.