You Inherited a House in Prince George’s County and the Other Heirs Won’t Sell

In Prince George’s County the estate and the disagreement are handled in two different places. The Register of Wills opens the estate. A partition — the case that resolves what happens when co-owners cannot agree — is filed in the Circuit Court. Families lose weeks standing in the wrong queue. This page is the county map: which office, which building, what it costs.

Investors: we don’t publish or sell heir lists, and we name no one from a probate docket. This page is for the family that owns the house.

Free and no-obligation. If holding the house together is the better move, we will tell you that.

Find Out Where You Stand — Free

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First: Which Problem Do You Actually Have?

Two situations get confused constantly, and they go to different offices.

The estate is still open, or was never opened. Nobody has been appointed yet, or a personal representative is in place and administering. This is estate work — the Register of Wills, and the Orphans’ Court if something is contested. Our Prince George’s County probate guide walks that path in full.

The estate is closed and the deed is in several names. You and your siblings own it together now, and one of you will not sell. That is not an estate problem any more. It is a co-ownership problem, and in Maryland it is resolved — if it has to go to court at all — by a partition action in the Circuit Court.

What each co-owner can and cannot do on their own, and the buyout right Maryland created in 2022, are set out on our main guide: what each co-owner can do alone. This page assumes you have read that and answers the county half — where you go, what it costs, who you are dealing with.

Two Buildings, Two Proceedings

Both sit at the Upper Marlboro courthouse complex on Main Street, which is exactly why people end up in the wrong one.

The estate: Register of Wills, Room D4001

The Register of Wills for Prince George’s County is The Honorable Cereta A. Lee. The office is in Room D4001 at the Upper Marlboro courthouse, and the Register’s own filing instructions direct mail to P.O. Box 1729, Upper Marlboro, MD 20773. Main line 301-952-3250, toll free 888-464-4219, Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Two practical things about this office. New Estates and Auditing run by appointment only, limited to two people, and the office asks you to arrive twenty minutes early. And filings cannot be accepted by fax or email — mail them, drop them off, or use the drop box at the Commissioner’s Entrance. Plan a trip, not an email.

The Orphans’ Court for Prince George’s County is Maryland’s probate court and sits at the same courthouse, on (301) 952-3790 — a different number from the Register, and worth dialling correctly. Its three judges are the Hon. Wendy A. Cartwright (Chief), the Hon. Jason A. DeLoach, and the Hon. Athena Malloy Groves. It has authority to direct a personal representative’s conduct, which matters when heirs are in conflict but the estate is still open.

The partition: Circuit Court for Prince George’s County

A partition is not an Orphans’ Court matter. Maryland’s partition statute gives the power to the circuit courts, so a co-ownership case is filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, 14735 Main Street, Upper Marlboro, MD 20772, main line 301-952-3655. If you have been told to “take it to the Orphans’ Court,” that is the wrong building for this particular fight.

Tell us where the estate stands and who is on the deed. An offer costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

What It Costs — and Which Cost Belongs to Which Proceeding

These are two separate bills and they are routinely confused. Keep them apart.

Probate fees — paid to the Register of Wills, on the estate path only

Maryland’s probate fee is set by the value of the probate estate, for estates opened on or after October 1, 2022. Under $50,000 the fee is $0. From $50,000 to under $100,000 it is $100; $100,000 to under $500,000 is $200; $500,000 to under $1 million is $1,000; $1 million to under $2.5 million is $2,000; $2.5 million to under $5 million is $5,000; $5 million to under $7.5 million is $7,500; $7.5 million to under $10 million is $10,000; above $10 million it is $10,000 plus 0.02% of the excess.

These are probate fees. They are what the Register charges to administer an estate — nothing on this list is a court filing fee for a partition.

Circuit Court filing costs — separate, and not listed here

The Circuit Court civil filing fee is separate from the probate fee brackets above — confirm the current amount with the Clerk of the Circuit Court when you file. You can reach the Clerk on 301-952-3655.

Beyond the filing fee, the real money in a contested partition is the appraisal and the lawyers. Maryland requires the court to determine the property’s fair market value before the buyout step runs, ordinarily by ordering an appraisal, and that expense lands on the parties.

What “determining value” actually involves

It is worth knowing the shape of this step, because it is where the calendar goes. If the property qualifies as heirs property, the court orders an appraisal by a disinterested real estate appraiser licensed in Maryland, valuing the property as if it were owned outright by one person. The appraiser files a sworn appraisal with the court.

Within ten days of that filing, the court sends every party with a known address a notice stating the appraised value, that the appraisal can be seen at the clerk’s office, and that a party may object within thirty days. A hearing follows no sooner than thirty days after that notice went out — whether or not anybody objected — and the court may weigh other evidence of value alongside the appraisal. Only after that hearing does the court fix the value and notify the parties.

Two exceptions shorten it. If every co-owner agrees on a value, or on a method of arriving at one, the court adopts it. And if the court decides an appraisal would cost more than it is worth as evidence, it holds a hearing and sets the value itself. Agreement on the number, where it is possible, is the cheapest thing a family in this position can do.

If the family needs a number to work from, that is a phone call. An offer costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Maryland inheritance tax

Usually not an issue for close family. The inheritance tax is 10% of the clear value of property passing from a decedent, but spouses, registered domestic partners, children and lineal descendants, parents, grandparents, siblings and stepchildren are exempt. The Register of Wills determines and collects it. Nieces, nephews, cousins and friends are not exempt.

One of You Is Living in the House

This is the most common version of the Prince George’s standoff: one sibling has been in the house since the funeral, is not paying rent to anyone, and does not want it sold. The others want their share.

Maryland’s heirs-property statute does not treat that occupancy as a nuisance to be cleared. It makes it something the court is required to weigh. Before a court can find that dividing the property physically would cause great prejudice to the owners as a group — the finding that opens the door to a sale — the statute directs it to consider, among other things:

• how long the co-owner and their relatives before them have owned or possessed the property;
• any sentimental attachment, including attachment arising because the property has ancestral or other unique value to that co-owner;
• the lawful use being made of the property by a co-owner, and how much that co-owner would be harmed if they could not continue that use;
• the degree to which each co-owner has contributed their pro rata share of property taxes, insurance and other ownership costs, or contributed to improvement, maintenance and upkeep.

And the statute expressly bars the court from treating any one of those factors as decisive without weighing the totality.

Read practically, that cuts both ways, and it is worth being honest about both. The sibling in the house has real statutory standing — occupancy and upkeep are on the list. So are contributions to taxes and insurance, which is the strongest card held by the siblings who have been paying for a house they do not live in. Whoever has receipts is in a better position than whoever has arguments.

Free and no-obligation, and we will say so plainly if what you have needs a lawyer rather than a buyer.

If the Taxes Are Behind

An inherited house that nobody is clearly in charge of is exactly the house whose property taxes stop getting paid. Two Prince George’s specifics are worth knowing, because both were written with heirs in mind.

The county’s minimum-delinquency thresholds set for FY2026 withhold a property from the tax sale below $1,000 where it is owner-occupied or held by the heir of a deceased owner, and below $750 otherwise. And on certificates from the May 2026 sale, the redemption interest rate is 10% a year for owner-occupied property and for the heir of the deceased owner, against 20% for non-principal residences and vacant parcels. Being the heir of the deceased owner is a status the county’s own rules recognise — it is worth making sure they know that is what you are.

Maryland also expanded heir protections in its 2026 session: Tax Sale Ombudsman services were opened to heirs and to people acting for deceased homeowners, heirs not yet on record title can qualify for the homestead and homeowners’ credits for tax years beginning after June 30, 2026, and an Heirs Legacy Protection Program begins July 1, 2027.

The tax clock runs on its own schedule and does not pause for an estate or a family disagreement. Our Prince George’s County tax delinquency guide covers the sale process, the heir rules and every exit in detail.

Free and no-obligation. If the better move is holding the house or going to the county first, we will tell you that.

When You Want a Maryland Lawyer

Maryland does not require a personal representative to hire one, and the Registers’ own guidance says so plainly — many estates are simple enough to run without counsel, and complexity and personal circumstances decide it. That is the official position, not ours.

But the situation this page is about is the one where that calculus changes. If a partition is being threatened or filed, if a co-owner is disputing what anyone owns, if title is unclear or an heir cannot be found, or if the buyout clock is running and you intend to use it — that is work for a Maryland probate or partition attorney licensed in this state, engaged before a contract is signed rather than after. We are not one, we do not provide legal advice, and we will tell you when what you have needs a lawyer rather than a buyer.

Where We Fit

We are a buyer. We purchase houses directly, for our own account, in Prince George’s County and across Maryland, Virginia, the District and Florida. We are not a law firm or a probate service, we do not represent anyone before the Register of Wills, the Orphans’ Court or the Circuit Court, and we have no role in a partition action.

We can sometimes purchase an individual heir’s interest directly. Whether that works depends on the title, the other heirs’ rights under state law, and the numbers — tell us what you own and we’ll tell you straight whether it’s something we can buy.

Most often what a family in this position needs first is simply a real number. What does the Upper Marlboro house actually convert to in cash, and how fast? That figure ends more standoffs than any argument does, because the sibling who wants to keep it finally knows what buying the others out costs. If that is how it ends, good — we would rather you knew.

We buy as-is: no repairs, no clean-out, nothing to fix in a house several people are arguing about. We cover normal closing costs and an offer costs nothing. Most of our closings take two to three weeks, and we have closed in as little as seven days when title was ready — but an unopened estate, a missing heir or a pending partition takes considerably longer, and nobody can promise you a closing date against a court’s calendar. We won’t.

Recorded liens, delinquent taxes and settlement costs are paid from the proceeds at closing through the title company. The funded closing pays the debt.

Tell us where things stand in Upper Marlboro and we will tell you plainly what we can and can’t do.

Official Contacts — Verify Everything Here

Tell Us What You’re Holding

How many owners, whether the estate was opened in Upper Marlboro, and what everyone wants. That is enough for us to tell you whether there is a transaction here — and if there isn’t one yet, what has to happen first.

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