North Dakota Estate & Inheritance Tax

What the North Dakota Estate Data Reveals

North Dakota imposes no state estate tax, so federal law under IRC § 2001 is the only estate-level levy that applies. With the federal exemption at $13,990,000 per decedent in 2025, the vast majority of North Dakota estates clear probate without owing estate tax at any level — though the scheduled 2026 sunset of the TCJA could cut that exemption roughly in half. There is no separate inheritance tax, so beneficiaries receive their share without a second state-level deduction at distribution.

IRS Statistics of Income data show 19 federal estate tax returns filed by North Dakota residents in the most recent available year (filing year 2023), reporting $0.97 billion in combined gross estate value. Across the multi-year IRS SOI series above, North Dakota averages roughly 6 taxable filings per year, with an effective federal rate on reported gross estates of about 0.0%.

Probate itself typically runs 6–12 months in North Dakota (roughly 9 months on average), with court filing fees of $45–$200. Attorney fees are negotiated rather than statutory, so engagement letters and hourly-vs-flat structures matter more to the total bill. North Dakota does offer a simplified small-estate track for estates under $50,000, which most families use to bypass full formal probate. Because North Dakota has adopted the Uniform Probate Code (since 1973), procedures are broadly standardized across counties. As a common-law (separate property) state, North Dakota treats each spouse's holdings individually unless jointly titled, so titling choices drive what actually enters the probate estate.