Maine probate leads and inheritance data, by county.
If you are researching Maine probate leads, the public court file is only one part of the inherited-property market. USLeadList starts with death and property records, typically about five weeks after death, and generates an average of 578 records a month across Maine.
Maine counties
Browse 16 counties.Every Maine county has its own page. Highlighted counties currently generate the largest monthly record volume.
How inherited property moves in Maine
Verified state rules behind the county data.Probate rules matter because they determine when a public court record appears and which inherited properties never appear in an ordinary probate case.
What changes for an heir
Maine makes probate avoidable and taxes almost no ordinary estate. Maine enacted the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act at 18-C M.R.S. 6-401 through 6-421, and 18-C M.R.S. 6-405 lets an owner transfer real property to one or more beneficiaries effective at death, so a house passing that way never produces a probate filing. The Maine estate tax exclusion is $7,000,000 for 2025 deaths and $7,160,000 for 2026 deaths, adjusted annually under 36 M.R.S. 4119, with rates of 8, 10 and 12 percent applying only above it, so an ordinary inherited house owes no Maine death tax. The small estate affidavit reaches $51,100 for a 2025 death but covers personal property only, so a house that was not deeded away still goes through the county probate court.
Where probate records appear
Probate Court Statewide docket search at maineprobate.net covering all 16 county probate courts, searchable by case number or by any combination of last, first and middle name, returning case number, case name, party, case type, filing date, county, appointment date, creditor claim due date and case status.
Ways property can avoid ordinary probate
Transfer on death deed under the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act at 18-C M.R.S. 6-401 through 6-421, authorized at 18-C M.R.S. 6-405, together with revocable living trusts and joint tenancy with right of survivorship. The affidavit at 18-C M.R.S. 3-1201 covers personal property only.
Small-estate route
Affidavit for collection of personal property where the estate does not exceed $51,100 for a 2025 death or $52,500 for a 2026 death, usable 30 days after death, and only where no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative is pending (18-C M.R.S. 3-1201). The statute itself states $40,000; that figure is adjusted annually for inflation under 18-C M.R.S. 1-108 against a 2017 reference base, and the Maine Probate Courts publish the operative amount by year of death. Real property is not covered.
Timing investors should understand
The personal representative publishes notice to creditors once a week for 2 successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the decedent was domiciled, and claims arising before death are barred unless presented within 4 months after the date of first publication (18-C M.R.S. 3-801). Claims are barred in any event 9 months after the decedent's death (18-C M.R.S. 3-803(1)(A)). The small estate affidavit cannot be used until 30 days after death (18-C M.R.S. 3-1201). No Maine court publishes a typical duration.
Maine inheritance volume
Updated monthly · September 2026 edition.Newly inherited residential properties recorded in Maine, from the same database that builds the lists. Published nationally in the Inheritance Property Index.
Biggest Maine counties by volume
- Cumberland 1,099
- York 1,083
- Penobscot 646
- Kennebec 606
- Androscoggin 450
- Aroostook 450
- Oxford 389
- Hancock 332
Free to cite with attribution: USLeadList Inheritance Property Index, September 2026 edition. See every state and download the data.
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