How Do I Get Appointed as Executor in Mississippi?

In Mississippi, the Chancery Court of the county where the decedent had a fixed place of residence appoints the personal representative and the Chancery clerk issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration; an informal (registrar) track is available.

State

Document Type

Getting appointed in Mississippi

Personal Representative (Executor/Executrix if testate; Administrator/Administratrix if intestate)

The form that opens the estate

No statewide fill-in form

Attorney-drafted pleading

Where you file

Chancery Court of the county where the decedent had a fixed place of residence (testate, if no fixed residence: the county where devised land lies. Intestate, if no fixed residence: the county where the intestate owned land; if none, the county where the intestate died)

What the court issues (with a will)

Letters Testamentary

issued by Chancery clerk

Letters are an output — the court issues them after granting the petition.

At a glance

UPC adoptedInformal trackE-filing (self-represented)Self-represented filingLocal/county forms

MEC e-filing is rolled out per chancery district by Supreme Court order, so availability varies by county — and MEC itself is attorney-only. The MEC Administrative Procedures provide that parties proceeding pro se shall not file electronically (unless the pro se party is a Mississippi-licensed attorney) and that no one other than an admitted attorney may register as an MEC user; self-represented filings are made conventionally at the clerk's office. The gating factor is not e-filing, though — it is the attorney mandate. Uniform Chancery Court Rule 6.02(A) requires every fiduciary who is not a Mississippi-licensed lawyer to retain an attorney "during the entire term of the fiduciary's appointment," and Rule 6.01 applies Part Six to "all fiduciary matters, including estates, administrations, guardianships, and trusts." The rule's only escape (6.02(E)) reaches guardianships of the person and undue-burden ward estates — not a decedent's estate. So a non-lawyer executor or administrator cannot proceed without counsel of record.

There is no statewide probate form set. Each of Mississippi's chancery court districts adopts its own local rules and required filings (some districts require a probate information worksheet and an order invoking the chancery clerk's § 9-5-141 powers). The opening petition itself is an attorney-drafted pleading conforming to Miss. Code § 91-7-1 et seq. and the Uniform Chancery Court Rules.

Bond

Required before Letters: Yes
Waivable by will: Yes
Waivable by beneficiaries: Yes

What to file with the petition

Original will and any codicils, with a copy of the will attached as an exhibit to the petition (UCCR 6.15)
Petition to admit the will to probate / for letters (attorney-drafted, personally signed and sworn to by the fiduciary — UCCR 6.14) under Miss. Code § 91-7-1 et seq.
Death certificate — NOT required by any Mississippi statute, court rule, or official form as a condition of opening an estate or obtaining Letters; commonly supplied at intake. (A CERTIFIED copy is required by statute only downstream, to obtain a deceased user's digital assets from a custodian — § 91-23-13.)
Oath of the executor/administrator (taken at or before Letters issue)
Fiduciary bond unless waived in the will (§ 91-7-45) or waived/reduced by the chancellor (§ 91-7-67)
Entry of appearance of the fiduciary's Mississippi-licensed attorney (UCCR 6.02)

Small-estate alternative

Bypasses full Letters: Yes

State-specific notes

Decedents' estates are heard in chancery court, not a separate probate court. The chancery clerk may admit a will in common form and grant Letters under Miss. Code § 9-5-141. Small-estate alternatives that bypass Letters entirely: (1) Miss. Code § 91-7-322 successor's affidavit — the entire probate estate of the decedent, wherever located, excluding liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $75,000; at least 30 days have elapsed since the death; and no personal representative is appointed or pending. (2) Miss. Code § 91-5-35 — where the decedent died testate owning Mississippi real property that the will devises, the will may be admitted as a muniment of title only, by signed and sworn petition and without administration, if the decedent's probate estate (exclusive of any interest in real property and of exempt property under § 91-7-117) did not exceed the sum set forth in § 91-7-322, and all known debts including estate and income taxes are paid. NOTE: § 91-5-35 is NOT a "$75,000 of real property" test and carries no 30-day waiting period — the $75,000 figure is the cross-referenced cap on the probate estate EXCLUDING real property, and the 30-day wait belongs to § 91-7-322.

General information about how a personal representative is appointed, not legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney for legal questions. Data verified Aug 24, 2026

Mississippi has no single statewide fill-in petition; the opening document is prepared to statute and filed with the Chancery Court of the county where the decedent had a fixed place of residence. Chancery clerk issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration after the court grants the petition.

Along with the petition, Mississippi generally requires: Original will and any codicils, with a copy of the will attached as an exhibit to the petition (UCCR 6.15); Petition to admit the will to probate / for letters (attorney-drafted, personally signed and sworn to by the fiduciary — UCCR 6.14) under Miss. Code § 91-7-1 et seq; Death certificate — NOT required by any Mississippi statute, court rule, or official form as a condition of opening an estate or obtaining Letters; commonly supplied at intake. (A CERTIFIED copy is required by statute only downstream, to obtain a deceased user's digital assets from a custodian — § 91-23-13.).

Yes. Mississippi requires a bond by default before Letters issue. A will can waive it. The beneficiaries can also waive it in writing.

Mississippi restricts self-represented filing. The Mississippi self-file probate assessment sets self-filing against attorney costs.

Yes. A revocable living trust passes its assets to the beneficiaries without a court appointment in Mississippi: no petition, no Letters, no bond. A revocable trust built with SimplyTrust takes about fifteen minutes.

Getting Appointed in Mississippi

Authority to act for the estate comes from Letters issued in Mississippi by Chancery clerk, on appointment by the Chancery Court of the county where the decedent had a fixed place of residence. The document is Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (no will). Mississippi has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code.

Mississippi publishes no single statewide fill-in petition; the opening document is prepared to statute and filed with the court. The filing fee is $143. Mississippi offers an informal (registrar) appointment track for qualifying estates.

Mississippi requires a bond by default before Letters issue, though a will can waive it and the beneficiaries can waive it in writing.

For smaller estates, Mississippi offers a small-estate procedure for estates under $75,000 that can transfer assets without a full appointment or Letters. The Mississippi self-file probate assessment compares self-filing and attorney costs.

SimplyTrust Editorial·Updated September 8, 2026

Legal Sources

Data sourced from Mississippi statutes and official state code. How we research.

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