Short answer. Three months from appointment. Rule 83, Section 1 requires every executor or administrator to return to the court a true inventory and appraisal of all the real and personal property of the deceased that has come into his possession or knowledge, and the court may direct inheritance tax appraisers to assist in the valuation.
What the law says
Within three months after his appointment every executor or administrator shall return to the court a true inventory and appraisal of all the real and personal estate of the deceased which has come into his possession or knowledge.
Rule 83, Section 1 — Inventory and appraisal to be returned within three months. Read the full provision →
The deadline and where it starts
The rule is one sentence long and leaves little room for argument: Within three months after his appointment every executor or administrator shall return to the court a true inventory and appraisal of all the real and personal estate of the deceased which has come into his possession or knowledge. The three months run from the appointment — the grant of letters — not from the death, and the document goes to the probate court itself. It is one of the first concrete obligations of the office, before debts are paid or anything is distributed.
What the inventory must contain
Two things, really: a listing and a valuation. The inventory must be true, and it must cover all the real and personal estate — land, buildings, vehicles, bank deposits, shares, receivables, personal effects — that has come into the administrator's possession or knowledge. That last phrase matters: the duty is not limited to assets physically in the administrator's hands. Property he knows of but does not hold — land occupied by a relative, funds in another's custody — belongs in the list too. Alongside the listing goes an appraisal, and for that the court may order one or more of the inheritance tax appraisers to give his or their assistance.
Why the inventory matters to heirs and creditors
The inventory is the baseline for everything that follows. It tells the court, the heirs and the creditors what the estate actually consists of, what it is worth, and therefore whether debts can be paid and what will be left to distribute. Every later accounting by the administrator is measured against it. For an heir, the filed inventory is the first document worth reading in the case record: an asset missing from it, or valued suspiciously low, is a problem best raised early with the probate court, which supervises the administrator it appointed.
If the three months pass with no inventory
The period is short precisely because the estate should not sit unmapped while the administration runs. If you are the executor or administrator, treat the three months seriously: file what you know within the period, and account for after-discovered assets as they surface, rather than waiting until the picture is complete. If you are an heir or creditor and no inventory has appeared, the remedy is in the same proceeding — bring the omission to the probate court's attention. A lawyer reviewing the situation will ask for the date of the letters and the case record, since those two facts settle whether the deadline has already run.