Rhode Island

Rhode Island has the most local probate system in the United States. There is no county probate
court — instead every city and town has its own Probate Court, thirty-nine of them, sitting in
the municipal offices and presided over by a probate judge appointed by the city or town council.

You file where the deceased lived, in that town's court, under that court's local practice. Ask
the town clerk what their procedure is; it genuinely varies.

The Rhode Island estate tax is low and moves every year

Rhode Island levies its own estate tax with a threshold that is adjusted annually for
inflation. For 2026 it is $1,838,056 — a precise figure precisely because it is indexed, and
one of the lower thresholds in the country.

Rhode Island uses a credit mechanism rather than a simple exemption, so the arithmetic near the
threshold is not intuitive. Confirm the current figure and the credit amount with the Division of
Taxation rather than relying on last year's number, which will be wrong.

For a state where a modest house and a retirement account can approach $1.8 million, this catches
more families than most people expect.

What the executor must do

Publish the notice to creditors, file an inventory, pay the debts and the final income tax
returns, and file an accounting for the town's Probate Court to approve.

Before distributing

Let the creditor period run, file the Rhode Island estate tax return where required, and obtain
the court's approval. Note that Rhode Island requires an estate tax lien discharge before
real property can be transferred cleanly — build that into the timetable.

A Rhode Island will must be in writing, signed by the testator (or by another in the
testator's presence and at their direction), and signed by two or more witnesses in the
testator's presence. The testator must be 18 or older and of sound mind.

Rhode Island does not allow holographic wills

A handwritten will with no witnesses is not valid in Rhode Island, with a narrow exception for
members of the armed forces and mariners at sea.

There is a saving provision worth knowing: Rhode Island will accept a holographic will that was
made and validly executed in a jurisdiction that recognises them. So a handwritten will made
while living in Pennsylvania or Virginia may still be probated here. That helps someone who moved;
it does nothing for someone who wrote one at a Rhode Island kitchen table.

Make it self-proving

Attach a self-proving affidavit before a notary. With thirty-nine separate town courts and varying
local practice, a will that proves itself avoids a great deal of friction.

Plan around the estate tax threshold

Rhode Island's threshold — $1,838,056 for 2026, indexed annually — is low enough to reach
ordinary families with property. Because the state uses a credit rather than a clean exemption,
estates just over the line can face a surprisingly abrupt bill.

If your estate is anywhere near that figure, this is worth an hour with a lawyer rather than a
generic online will. Advice pitched at the federal exemption is useless here.

Also

• Name an alternate executor and consider waiving bond.
• A surviving spouse has statutory rights, including a life estate in real property, whatever the
  will says.
• Review after a marriage, divorce, birth or a move to Rhode Island.

Yes. A Rhode Island executor is entitled to reasonable compensation for services rendered.
Rhode Island prescribes no statutory percentage.

What "reasonable" turns on

The size and nature of the estate, the time actually spent, the responsibility assumed, the skill
the work required, the difficulty of any problems encountered, and the results achieved.

Local practice really does vary

This matters more in Rhode Island than almost anywhere, because there are thirty-nine separate
municipal Probate Courts, each with its own judge and its own habits. What passes without
comment in one town may draw a question in the next.

Ask the town's probate clerk what is customary there before proposing a figure. It is a small
state and local practice is well established — it is simply not written down in one place.

Records decide it

With no schedule to point at, contemporaneous time records are the argument. Dated entries
from the first week showing what was done and how long it took.

How it is approved

Compensation is claimed on the accounting and allowed by the town's Probate Court, or agreed in
writing by all the beneficiaries. Settle it before taking it.

If the will fixes the figure

A will provision governs where the executor accepts the appointment on those terms.

The estate tax angle

Compensation is taxable income to the executor but a deductible administration expense
against the Rhode Island estate tax. With the threshold at roughly $1.84 million and indexed
annually, a meaningful number of Rhode Island estates are actually taxable — so unlike in most
small states, the deduction can be worth something. Where the estate is comfortably below the
threshold and the executor is also a beneficiary, taking a fee is usually a plain loss.

A Rhode Island executor is reimbursed from the estate for the reasonable expenses of
administration, separately from compensation. Where the estate approaches the $1.84 million
threshold these are also deductible against the estate tax.

Normally claimable

• Funeral, burial or cremation, the headstone, and a reasonable reception.
• Probate Court filing fees, certified letters, certified death certificates, and publication of
  the notice to creditors.
• Attorney's fees, and accountant's fees for the final Form 1040, any Form 1041, and the Rhode
  Island estate tax return — plus obtaining the estate tax lien discharge needed before real
  property transfers.
• Appraisals — the valuation decides whether the estate crosses an indexed threshold that
  moves every year, so it matters here more than in a no-estate-tax state.
• Appraisals of real property, shorefront and coastal property, boats and moorings, antiques
  and collections.
• Carrying costs on estate property until sale: insurance — including flood and windstorm cover
  on coastal property, which must not lapse — property tax, utilities, security, maintenance,
  landscaping and snow removal.
• Winterising a property and hurricane preparation — Rhode Island gets both, and an empty
  coastal house is exposed to each in turn.
• Mooring fees, boat storage and haul-out.
• Cleaning, clearing, storing, moving and shipping contents.
• Travel on estate business at a reasonable rate.
• Bond premiums where bond was not waived.

Normally not claimable

• The executor's lost wages, meals near home, or personal spending.
• Costs run up for one beneficiary's convenience rather than the estate's.
• Improvements beyond preparing a property for sale as it stands.
• Anything without a receipt.

The rule that decides it

Open an estate bank account and run every payment through it. The town's Probate Court
approves the accounting before distribution, so it will be read.

Most Rhode Island estates are administered by a family member working with the town's Probate
Court. A bank trust department or an attorney serving as executor earns its cost in particular
cases.

Consider a professional when

• The estate is near or above the roughly $1.84 million threshold. In Rhode Island that is not
  a wealthy estate, and because the threshold is indexed annually and operates through a
  credit, the arithmetic near the line is genuinely awkward. The return and the valuation choices
  reward getting it right.
• The estate includes shorefront or coastal property, where insurance, flood exposure, coastal
  regulation and storm damage all have to be actively managed rather than left.
• A family summer property is to be divided among children who all want it and none can buy
  out — the same problem Maine and Michigan produce, and just as corrosive.
• The estate holds an operating business or rental property.
• There is conflict among the beneficiaries, or a will contest looks likely.
• A beneficiary is a minor or incapacitated, so a trust runs for years.
• The named executor lives out of state and cannot attend a municipal Probate Court that may
  sit only once or twice a month.

What it costs

Corporate fiduciaries charge a negotiated percentage with a minimum annual fee that makes small
estates uneconomic. Attorneys generally bill hourly. Because Rhode Island prescribes no
percentage, ask precisely what the basis will be, in writing.

Middle ground

Appoint a family member, waive bond, and let them retain a Rhode Island attorney and an accountant
at the estate's expense. Given how local the courts are, choose an attorney who practises
regularly in that town's Probate Court.

A named executor who does not want the job can decline before appointment.