Maine Estate Planning: Free Wills, Trusts & Calculators

Estate planning in Maine involves navigating a specific set of state laws that differ in important ways from neighboring states. Understanding these distinctions helps ensure your documents will be valid and your wishes carried out as intended.

Like all states, Maine recognizes formally executed wills and living trusts as valid estate planning tools. A standard will here requires 218-C M.R.S. § 2-502Verified Jul 15, 2026View source adult witnesses, and adding a notarized self-proving affidavit can streamline the probate process later. The state also recognizes holographic (handwritten) wills, though these have stricter proof requirements and are more vulnerable to legal challenges.

The state adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act in 2017, modernizing its rules around financial powers of attorney. Documents created before 2017 may not reflect the current law's protections.

If you die without a will in Maine, your heirs must survive you by at least 120 hours18-C M.R.S. § 2-102Verified Jul 15, 2026View source to inherit anything. This "survival period" exists to prevent property from passing through multiple estates in quick succession when family members die close together in time, such as in an accident. The amount a surviving spouse inherits without a will depends on whether your parents are still alive. If they are, your spouse may have to share the estate with them—a result that surprises many people and underscores why having a will matters. Maine uses "per capita at each generation" distribution when dividing assets among descendants. This modern approach ensures that grandchildren whose parent predeceased you share equally with other grandchildren, rather than splitting only their parent's portion.

Maine imposes its own estate tax on estates exceeding $7,160,00036 M.R.S. §§ 4102, 4103, 4119Verified Jul 13, 2026View source, with a top rate of 12%36 M.R.S. §§ 4102, 4103, 4119Verified Jul 13, 2026View source. This is separate from the federal estate tax and applies at a much lower threshold—the federal exemption is $15,000,00026 USC 2001(c), 2010; P.L. 119-21 §70106Verified Jul 13, 2026View source. Families with estates near this threshold often use trusts and lifetime gifting to reduce exposure.

Maine allows transfer-on-death deeds for real estate, enabling property to pass directly to named beneficiaries without probate. This is a significant probate avoidance tool that doesn't require creating a trust. Transferring property into a revocable trust does not trigger a property tax reassessment in Maine, so property taxes remain at their current level.

Maine provides a statutory homestead exemption protecting up to $80,000 in home equity from creditors. While not as strong as the constitutional protections in states like Texas or Florida, this still provides meaningful protection for the family home. Executors must publish a notice to creditors, who then have 4 months18-C M.R.S. § 3-801(1) (4 months from first publication); § 3-803(1) (outer bar: earlier of 9 months after death or the § 3-801 period)Verified Jul 14, 2026View source to file claims against the estate.

Maine automatically revokes an ex-spouse as beneficiary on life insurance, retirement accounts, and similar designations upon divorce. However, these automatic revocations can be overridden by a divorce decree or by re-designating the ex-spouse after the divorce.

Maine authorizes remote online notarization (RON), allowing trusts, healthcare directives, powers of attorney to be notarized via video call from anywhere. However, wills are excluded from RON and still require in-person notarization.