Which States Don't Require Probate Bonds?

Most explanations of “states without a bond requirement” assume the will has to say something. In a genuine Bucket 1 state, it doesn't. Maine's codification of the Uniform Probate Code splits bond into two separate tracks: informal proceedings (the common, unsupervised path most routine estates use) and formal proceedings (used when there's a dispute or someone specifically requests court supervision). In the informal track, bond simply is not required — full stop — unless one of three things happens: a special administrator is appointed without notice to interested parties, the will itself contains an express requirement of bond (the opposite of a waiver, and rare), or an interested party files a demand under the state's equivalent of §3-605. No waiver clause, no heir signatures, no court hearing.

The formal-proceedings track in the same statute runs a more familiar pattern — bond isn't required if the will relieves the personal representative of it, unless bond has been requested by an interested party and the court agrees it's desirable. Most estates in these states never leave the informal track, which is why the no-bond default matters more in practice than the formal-track waiver clause that most articles focus on instead.

Not every state that adopted the Uniform Probate Code replicates Maine's exact structure. Alaska is the clearest example: although it substantially adopted the UPC, its own bond statute (AS 13.16.255, covered in Bucket 2 below) is written as an affirmative-exceptions list rather than an informal/formal default split — so Alaska doesn't belong in Bucket 1 despite the UPC label. Confirm your specific state's version before assuming it matches Maine's pattern exactly.

California is the clearest verified example. Prob. Code §8481(a) waives bond the same way most Bucket 2 states do — a will provision, or every beneficiary's written consent. But subsection (b) hands the court a separate, freestanding power: “notwithstanding a waiver of bond, the court may for good cause require that a bond be given” — on petition of any interested person, or on the court's own motion, before or after letters issue. There's no exhaustive list of what counts as good cause; it's left to judicial discretion, which is exactly what makes this bucket different from Bucket 2's more mechanical exceptions.

New York layers a second, narrower override onto the same idea: SCPA §710 lets a court require bond from an otherwise-waived executor specifically because they are a non-domiciliary — living outside the state where probate is filed. Utah (Code §75-3-605) and New Mexico (NMSA §45-3-605) take a third approach, giving creditors and interested parties over a dollar threshold ($5,000 in Utah, $7,500 in New Mexico) a standing demand right that operates independently of whatever the will says.