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ENROLLED ORIGINAL
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A RESOLUTION
26-398
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
May 5, 2026
To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend Chapter 3 of Title 20
of the District of Columbia Official Code to amend the definition of abbreviated probate,
to authorize the Register of Wills to refer proceedings to the Court to determine if one or
more personal representatives should be appointed and the will be admitted to probate, to
strike the reference to will admission in transfers by affidavit, and to allow for notice of
request for formal probate, notice from a foreign personal representative of a decedent
who owned any property located in the District of Columbia, and notice of appointment
to interested persons, creditors, and unknown heirs in a legal periodical or newspaper of
general circulation in the District; and to amend the Strengthening Probate Amendment
Act of 2024 to clarify that the act applies to estates for whom the decedent died on or
after March 21, 2025.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this
resolution may be cited as the “Strengthening Probate Administration Emergency Declaration
Resolution of 2026”.
Sec. 2. (a) The District’s probate system has long been criticized for being outmoded,
having not been updated since 2001. Economically vulnerable residents are encumbered by an
outdated and antiquated system while enduring the loss of a loved one. The D.C. Estate
Administration Working Group (“Working Group”) produced an extensive joint report in
February 2022 outlining the need to modernize the District’s probate system. In addition to
District residents having to face an arcane and outdated system, the Working Group observed
that 97% of small estates (those valued at $40,000 or less) are pursued by pro se litigants, that is,
those who are not represented by legal counsel. Last, the District’s outdated and complex District
probate system has caused assets and property to languish and remain irretrievable to
beneficiaries due to system inefficiencies.
(b) Because an inefficient probate system contributes to economic uncertainty and wealth
loss for District residents, on December 17, 2024, the Council passed on final reading the
Strengthening Probate Administration Amendment Act of 2024, effective March 21, 2025 (D.C.
Law 25-302; 72 DCR 780) (“Strengthening Probate Act”), which proposed to modernize and
update the legal and administrative processes and procedures around probate for District
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residents and estate lawyers, consistent with the recommendations of the Working Group’s 2022
report. These important updates included:
(1) Allowing certain letters of appointment designating personal representatives to
be issued by the Register of Wills, instead of relying only on judges to issue these letters;
(2) Streamlining the publication notice requirement;
(3) Raising the maximum threshold for “small estates”;
(4) Increasing allowable reimbursement rates for funeral expenses;
(5) Allowing for transfers of small estates by affidavit;
(6) Increasing homestead and family exemption allowances; and
(7) Adding a fee waiver provision for personal representatives.
(c) The Strengthening Probate Act requires technical amendments in order to be
implemented. The current statutory language has proven inadministrable and unclear, leading to
delays in appointing personal representatives and precluding access to decedents’ estate assets.
Important pieces of the law are, practically speaking, suspended.
(d) In particular, the Strengthening Probate Act needs to be amended to establish
administrability in probate processes and obviate delays in the timely appointment of personal
representatives. Emergency legislation would:
(1) Restore language that was unintentionally removed regarding the nature of
probate proceedings;
(2) Authorize the Register of Wills or the Court to issue letters of administration
and appoint personal representatives, so that if a petition is deemed insufficient by the Register
of Wills, it may be submitted to a judge for review and appointment;
(3) Clarify that the Strengthening Probate Act applies to estates for whom the
decedent died on or after March 21, 2025;
(4) Strike a reference to a will being “duly admitted to probate” in the transfer by
affidavit section, in order to allow individuals to transfer by affidavit in the event that the probate
process does not need to be initiated, which aligns with the law’s purpose of allowing for
property transfer external to the probate process; and
(5) Clarify that certain, required notices may be published in a newspaper of
general circulation in the District .
(e) Given that the Council is due to recess in the coming month, the legislative process
will take further time to move permanent technical fixes for this law. Emergency legislation is
necessary to allow the Strengthening Probate Act to actually be implementable, preventing
delays and access to estate access issues for a law already in effect. These changes represent an
urgent and necessary correction and clarification, and emergency legislation is justified by the
immediate need for the courts to administer probate and to ensure that District residents can
pursue probate and benefit from an updated and modernized system.
Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances
enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the
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Strengthening Probate Administration Emergency Amendment Act of 2026 be adopted after a
single reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.