After you file
Filing is the middle of the claim, not the end. The state reviews, the clock runs, and — in a large share of heir claims — a letter arrives asking for one more document. This guide covers the post-filing season: the published timelines, how to read a deficiency letter, and when a status demand is in order.
Your packet lands with an examiner who checks the chain link by link: the death, the identity match, the kinship documents, the authority paper, the signatures. Complete packets move to payment. Incomplete ones generate the deficiency letter — a written list of exactly what's missing. That letter is not a denial; it's the state's worklist, and answering it point by point, in writing, is how claims finish.
| State | Published pace |
|---|---|
| Florida | 90-day determination window from a complete filing, +60 days for cause (§717.124) |
| California | Allow ~90–180 days; the Controller has a 180-day statutory decision window |
| Ohio | ~120-day average processing pace, published by the Division |
| Everywhere else | No standard published window we could verify — completeness decides the pace |
The kit's tracking calendar and recovery chapter run this rhythm for you, including the deficiency-recovery letters. And if the state's answer is a true denial — not a deficiency — the letter will say so and state the appeal route; that route, followed in writing, is the next door.
Run your own claim. The free checker takes your state, your relationship, and your amount — and returns the probate-skip verdict, your document chain in order, the signatures you'll need, and the finder fee you'd avoid. Run the checker →
The pages above are the map. The kit is the paperwork: the per-state checklists, the Table of Heirs worksheet, the letters that line up every heir's signature, and the chapter for the state's reply.
One payment, yours to keep. We never file for you and never touch your money — you file everything yourself, with the state. See everything inside the kit →