Nebraska 90-Day Probate Inventory: Requirements and How to File

Ninety days passes faster than most new executors expect. Between arranging the funeral, locating the will, petitioning the court for appointment, and handling the immediate financial chaos of a death, three months can disappear before you've had a chance to take a breath — let alone catalog every asset the decedent owned.

Then the county court asks for your Inventory and Appraisement, and you're scrambling.

Here's what Nebraska requires, how to value the assets correctly, and why getting this document right matters beyond just satisfying a court deadline.

The 90-Day Rule

Under Nebraska probate law, the Personal Representative must file an Inventory and Appraisement within three months (90 days) of the date of appointment. Not three months from the date of death. Three months from the date the county court issued your Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.

If you were appointed quickly — say, two weeks after death — you have roughly ten weeks left when you start the inventory process. If appointment was delayed by family disputes or court scheduling, your window is shorter still.

Courts can grant extensions, but you have to ask before the deadline, not after. If you simply miss it without requesting an extension, you're creating a record of non-compliance that can become leverage if beneficiaries later question your administration of the estate.

What the Inventory Must Include

The Inventory and Appraisement must list every asset owned by the decedent at the date of death, along with the fair market value of each asset as of that date. It must also note the type and amount of any liens or encumbrances attached to each asset.

"Every asset" means exactly that. This is not a list of assets you intend to distribute or assets that will pass through probate. It is a complete accounting of what existed at the moment of death — even if some assets will be transferred to surviving joint owners, beneficiaries under a TOD or POD designation, or a trust. Those non-probate assets are still inventoried because the inventory serves two purposes that go beyond distributing probate assets: establishing stepped-up cost basis and calculating inheritance tax.

A complete inventory typically covers:

• Real property: Every parcel the decedent owned or had an interest in, including fractional interests in family land
• Bank and financial accounts: Checking, savings, money market, CDs — valued by date-of-death balance
• Investment accounts: Brokerage accounts, stocks, bonds, mutual funds — valued by date-of-death market price
• Retirement accounts: IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s (even if they pass by beneficiary designation, they may need to appear)
• Life insurance: Policies owned by the decedent (not necessarily policies that pay to the estate)
• Vehicles: Cars, trucks, farm equipment, trailers
• Agricultural assets: Crops in the field or storage, grain elevator accounts, livestock, equipment
• Business interests: Shares in a family LLC, farm corporation, or closely held business
• Mineral rights: Oil, gas, and mineral interests are particularly common in Nebraska estates
• Personal property: Furniture, jewelry, collectibles, firearms, tools
• Receivables: Money owed to the decedent — installment sale notes, loans to family members, rent arrears

If there are liens — a mortgage on real estate, a loan against farm equipment, a margin balance in a brokerage account — you note both the gross value and the encumbrance. The inventory reports gross values; net equity figures come into play later for inheritance tax and distribution calculations.

How to Value Different Asset Types

Getting the valuation right is where most executors need to be careful. Nebraska courts and the Department of Revenue both scrutinize inventory values because they feed directly into inheritance tax calculations. Understating values reduces the tax owed but can create problems if the undervaluation is challenged. Overstating values costs beneficiaries money they didn't need to pay.

Liquid Assets: The Easy Part

Bank accounts and publicly traded securities are straightforward. Pull the date-of-death statement from the bank or the brokerage, find the closing balance or closing price on that date, and that's your value. There's no judgment call here — these assets have an objective, verifiable market price at the moment of death.

For accounts where death fell on a weekend or holiday, use the last business day's closing price or balance before the date of death, or the first business day after, depending on the institution. A brief explanatory note in the inventory avoids questions later.

Agricultural Real Estate: The Hard Part

Nebraska is a significant agricultural state, and farm estates are where inventory valuation gets complicated and expensive.

County assessors use a mass appraisal methodology that values agricultural land at 75% of actual market value for property tax purposes. This number is not what you use for probate. The Nebraska Department of Revenue and the IRS require individualized fee appraisals reflecting actual fair market value — what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller in an arm's-length transaction on the date of death.

For actively farmed ground in eastern Nebraska, where land values have run $8,000–$15,000 per acre in recent years, the difference between the county assessed value and a proper fee appraisal can be enormous. You need a licensed real estate appraiser with agricultural expertise to perform this work.

Budget $300 to $500 per distinct asset type requiring professional appraisal. Complex agricultural operations — multiple parcels in different counties, growing crops, grain in storage, farm equipment, farm corporation interests — can easily require $2,000–$5,000 in appraisal fees to inventory properly.

Growing Crops and Grain Inventory

If the decedent died during the growing season, crops in the field have value. How much depends on the commodity, the stage of growth, the county's expected yields, and current futures prices. An agricultural appraiser or a grain elevator statement can establish this.

Grain stored in an elevator account or on-farm bin is easier — get the scale tickets or warehouse receipts dated closest to the date of death and apply the cash price for that commodity on that date.

Mineral Interests and Royalties

Nebraska has scattered oil, gas, and mineral production. Mineral interests are valued based on production history, current commodity prices, and reserve estimates. This requires a petroleum engineer or a specialized mineral appraiser — a general real estate appraiser typically doesn't have the tools for this.

If the mineral interest is non-producing, the value is still not zero unless there is no production anywhere in the formation. Get an opinion from someone who knows the local mineral market.

If you're working through a Nebraska estate with multiple asset types and you're not sure what forms to use or in what order to file them, the Nebraska Probate Process Guide includes a step-by-step sequence with the actual documents involved.

Get the Nebraska Probate Process Guide

Why the Inventory Matters Beyond the Court Deadline

Filing on time is obviously the immediate priority. But the inventory document does work long after the court receives it.

Stepped-Up Cost Basis for Heirs

Assets inherited from a decedent receive a stepped-up cost basis equal to their fair market value at the date of death. This means a beneficiary who inherits farmland that the decedent bought for $200 per acre in 1965 now worth $10,000 per acre pays capital gains tax only on appreciation above $10,000 per acre if they later sell — not $200.

The inventory values become the foundation for those stepped-up basis calculations. A sloppy inventory — one that undervalues assets to reduce inheritance tax — can inadvertently set a lower stepped-up basis that costs the beneficiary far more in capital gains tax later. The math usually favors a higher inventory value.

Nebraska Inheritance Tax Calculation

Nebraska is one of a small number of states that still imposes an inheritance tax. The county court treasurer uses the inventory values to calculate how much each beneficiary owes. Getting the values right — neither inflated nor understated — matters for the accuracy of those tax bills.

Public Record

The Inventory and Appraisement is a public document filed with the county court. Anyone can request a copy. Beneficiaries, creditors, and potential claimants can see what the estate was worth. This is one reason some families prefer to hold as many assets as possible outside of probate (through trusts, joint ownership, or beneficiary designations) — it keeps those asset values private.

Nebraska Supreme Court Timeline Standards

The Nebraska Supreme Court has established case progression standards for probate. Estates that do not require a federal estate tax return (Form 706) should reach final disposition within 18 months of the initial filing.

The inventory is your first major filing after the initial petition. It signals to the court — and to beneficiaries — that you're moving. Falling behind on the inventory often foreshadows a slow estate administration overall.

If you're approaching the 90-day mark and don't have complete valuations for complex assets, file what you have (liquid assets, real estate with preliminary values) with a note that professional appraisals are pending. An incomplete but timely filing is better than a late filing.

Complete the appraisals as they come in and file an amended inventory. Courts expect this for agricultural and business interests — it's not a sign of incompetence, it's a sign that you're doing the job properly.

The Nebraska Probate Process Guide covers the inventory filing sequence, the inheritance tax forms that follow it, and the full court timeline from appointment to final settlement.

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