Short answer. No. Rule 86, Section 10 requires the executor or administrator to allege in offset, in the answer itself, any claim the decedent had against the claimant before death, and states that failure to do so shall bar the claim forever. Forgetting to raise it in the answer permanently forecloses it.
What the law says
The executor or administrator in his answer shall allege in offset any claim which the decedent before death had against the claimant, and his failure to do so shall bar the claim forever.
Rule 86, Section 10 — Answer of executor or administrator. Offsets. Read the full provision →
What the law says
Within fifteen days after service of a copy of the claim on the executor or administrator, he shall file his answer admitting or denying the claim specifically, and setting forth the substance of the matters which are relied upon to support the admission or denial.
Rule 86, Section 10 — Answer of executor or administrator. Offsets. Read the full provision →
What the law says
The court in its discretion may extend the time for filing such answer.
Rule 86, Section 10 — Answer of executor or administrator. Offsets. Read the full provision →
The offset must go in the answer, or it is barred forever
Section 10 answers this without leaving room for a second chance: the executor or administrator in his answer shall allege in offset any claim which the decedent before death had against the claimant, and his failure to do so shall bar the claim forever. The word forever is deliberate. If the decedent's claim against the creditor is not raised in offset in the answer, it cannot be brought up in a later pleading or a separate proceeding.
What the answer is supposed to contain
The same section describes what the answer has to do generally: within fifteen days after service of a copy of the claim on the executor or administrator, he shall file his answer admitting or denying the claim specifically, and setting forth the substance of the matters which are relied upon to support the admission or denial. Alleging the decedent's offsetting claim is part of that same answer, not a separate filing that could come afterward.
The fifteen-day deadline can be extended, but that is a different question
The rule does give the court some flexibility over timing: the court in its discretion may extend the time for filing such answer. That flexibility is about when the answer itself must be filed, not about reviving an offset that was left out of an answer that has already been filed. Once the answer is in without the offset alleged, the extension provision does not reopen that omission.
What this means for the estate's claim against the creditor
If the administrator's answer was already filed without alleging the decedent's claim against the creditor as an offset, Section 10's own language treats that claim as barred, not merely delayed. There is no separate mechanism in this section for raising it afterward once the answer that should have contained it has already been submitted, whatever the reason the omission happened.