Short answer. There's no way to know for certain in advance, but the rule provides a backstop. Rule 74, Section 1 states that a decedent is presumed to have left no debts if no creditor files a petition for letters of administration within two years after death. Until that two-year window closes, the presumption has not yet arisen.
What the law says
It shall be presumed that the decedent left no debts if no creditor files a petition for letters of administration within two years after the death of the decedent
Rule 74, Section 1 — Extrajudicial settlement by agreement between heirs. Read the full provision →
What the law says
a bond with the said register of deeds, in an amount equivalent to the value of the personal property involved as certified to under oath by the parties concerned and conditioned upon the payment of any just claim that may be filed
Rule 74, Section 1 — Extrajudicial settlement by agreement between heirs. Read the full provision →
What the law says
The fact of the extrajudicial settlement or administration shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation
Rule 74, Section 1 — Extrajudicial settlement by agreement between heirs. Read the full provision →
What the law says
If the decedent left no will and no debts and the heirs are all of age
Rule 74, Section 1 — Extrajudicial settlement by agreement between heirs. Read the full provision →
The rule's own backstop: a two-year window
Rule 74, Section 1 builds in a specific answer to this exact worry: "It shall be presumed that the decedent left no debts if no creditor files a petition for letters of administration within two years after the death of the decedent." The presumption of no debts is tied to that two-year window staying clear of any creditor petition — it is not something the rule lets you conclude the moment your parent passes away.
The safeguards that apply while that window is open
The rule does not simply trust that no debts exist while the two years run. It requires the heirs to file "a bond with the said register of deeds, in an amount equivalent to the value of the personal property involved as certified to under oath by the parties concerned and conditioned upon the payment of any just claim that may be filed," filed at the same time as the settlement itself. It also requires that "the fact of the extrajudicial settlement or administration shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation."
Why the presumption cannot tell you the answer in advance
Because the presumption depends on nobody having filed a creditor's petition within two years of death, it necessarily operates in hindsight — you find out the presumption has taken hold only once that period has run without incident, not on the day you decide to settle the estate. The rule does not offer a way to be certain, before those two years pass, that no creditor will come forward; the bond and publication requirements exist precisely because that certainty is not available upfront.
No debts is also a condition for using this process at all
It is worth noting that the rule's opening sentence already requires the absence of debts as a condition for extrajudicial settlement in the first place: it applies "if the decedent left no will and no debts and the heirs are all of age." The two-year presumption and the eligibility requirement are related but distinct — the requirement describes who may use this process, while the presumption is the rule's own mechanism for treating the debts question as settled once enough time has passed unchallenged.