Probate Timeline Calculator

A contested estate means someone is formally disputing the will's validity, an heir's claim, or how assets are being distributed, which typically requires litigation, hearings, and a resolution process entirely separate from the standard probate administration timeline. This calculator adds a full extra year for a contested estate specifically because that legal dispute process, not the routine paperwork of probate, is what actually drives the delay.

Different states structure their entire probate process differently — some offer a simplified or small-estate procedure that shortens every step proportionally, while others mandate formal court supervision that adds friction throughout the whole process rather than at just one specific stage. Applying a multiplier to the full baseline (rather than a flat addition) reflects that a state's overall procedural complexity affects the pace of every phase, not just one isolated part of it.

Cost here is driven mainly by whether there's a valid will and whether the estate is contested, because those two factors most directly determine how much attorney and court involvement the estate actually requires. Real estate holdings or a larger beneficiary count add coordination time to the timeline, but they don't necessarily require proportionally more billable legal work the way a contested claim or an intestate administration does.

No — assets with a named beneficiary designation, such as retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and payable-on-death or transfer-on-death accounts, generally pass directly to that named person outside of probate entirely, regardless of what a will says. Only assets that don't have such a designation (or that are titled solely in the deceased's name without a beneficiary) typically need to go through the probate process this calculator estimates.