Short answer. As a rule, it is barred forever. Rule 86, Section 5 provides that money claims against the decedent not filed within the time limited in the notice are lost, with one notable exception: you may still raise the claim as a counterclaim if the executor or administrator sues you.
What the law says
must be filed within the time limited in the notice; otherwise they are barred forever, except that they may be set forth as counterclaims in any action that the executor or administrator may bring against the claimants.
Rule 86, Section 5 — Claims which must be filed under the notice. Read the full provision →
Which claims the deadline covers
The bar applies to the money claims Rule 86, Section 5 enumerates: all claims for money against the decedent, arising from contract, express or implied, whether the same be due, not due, or contingent, together with claims for funeral expenses and expenses for the last sickness of the decedent and money judgments against the decedent. Notice how wide the net is — a debt that has not yet matured, and even one that is merely contingent, must still be filed within the period fixed in the notice to creditors. Waiting for the loan to fall due, or for the contingency to happen, is precisely the mistake the rule punishes.
Barred forever — the point of the rule
The consequence is stated without softening: claims not filed on time are barred forever. The deadline works as a statute of non-claims. Settlement of an estate is meant to be finished — debts collected in one proceeding, the balance distributed to the heirs — and that is impossible if creditors can surface years after distribution. So the rule forces every money claim into the probate case within a fixed window, and treats silence as abandonment. Once the period in the notice lapses, you generally cannot sue the estate, the executor, or the heirs on that claim in a separate action.
The counterclaim and set-off exception
The section itself preserves one route for a late creditor. A barred claim may be set forth as counterclaims in any action that the executor or administrator may bring against the claimants. In other words, if the estate comes after you — say, to collect something you owe the decedent — you may answer with the claim you failed to file, and mutual claims may be set off against each other in such action. The rule goes further: if final judgment is rendered in your favour as defendant, the amount determined is treated as the true balance against the estate, as though the claim had been presented in the administration proceedings themselves.
What to check now
Start with the notice to creditors: what period did the court fix, when was it published, and has it actually expired? Your claim may still be alive on the correct count. Confirm, too, that your claim is the kind the section covers — a claim for money against the decedent — since obligations resting on a different footing are not what this provision addresses. If the period has truly lapsed, watch for any suit the executor or administrator files against you, because that is where the counterclaim door opens. Bring the contract, receipts, and the notice itself to a lawyer so the dates can be verified against the record.