Loading page
MORTL → State Guides → Rhode Island
State Guide
What Rhode Island law actually says about death, probate, cremation, advance directives, and estate taxes. No legal jargon. Just what you need to know.
Common questions
Someone just died in Rhode Island? The first 24 hours, step by step →
Guide Status
● Last reviewed August 2026
Laws change. Each section shows when it was last verified. Always confirm with a licensed Rhode Island attorney for your specific situation.
This is general information, not legal advice. Rhode Island law changes. Your situation is specific. For anything that matters, talk to a licensed Rhode Island attorney. Our directory doesn't list attorneys, so you'll find one on your own.
The short answer
In Rhode Island, estates under $15,000 can skip full probate through a simplified process or affidavit. Cremation requires a 24-hour wait. Rhode Island has its own estate tax on estates over $1.84 million. Every figure below names its source and the date it was checked.
Reviewed August 2026 · Rhode Island
Someone just died in Rhode Island: the first 24 hours →Verified providers in Rhode Island →
Last verified: August 7, 2026
Source: R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 23-3-16, 23-3-25, 23-1-54 ↗At a Glance
File within 7 days · Restricted for 25 years · Then public
A death certificate for each death in Rhode Island must be filed with the state registrar of vital records, or as the state registrar otherwise directs, within seven calendar days after the death and before the body leaves the state. The funeral director who first takes custody files it and gets the medical certification from whoever is responsible for signing it. (R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-3-16)
Ask each bank, insurer, court, agency, and property office whether it requires a certified copy. Order an initial quantity based on those actual needs, and confirm the current fee and process for ordering more.
Certified copies of death records are confidential and may only be issued to the registrant's issue, spouse, parent(s), sibling, legal guardian, attorneys, title examiners, members of genealogical societies, by court order, funeral directors, or persons requiring information for the determination or protection of a personal or property right.
Order certified copies from Rhode Island's vital records office; this section's source link is the official process. The funeral home or cremation provider usually orders the first copies for you. Ask each bank, insurer, court, and agency whether it needs its own certified copy before you decide how many to order.
$20 per certified copy in Rhode Island, as shown above. Additional-copy pricing varies; the official source linked in this section has the current fee schedule.
Last verified: August 9, 2026
Source: R.I. Gen. Laws Title 33; § 33-24-1 (small estates) ↗At a Glance
Small estate threshold vs. national average
In Rhode Island, probate is generally required for estates with assets exceeding $15,000 (excluding tangible personal property) that don't have a designated beneficiary or other non-probate transfer mechanisms. The Probate Court has jurisdiction over these matters.
The probate process in Rhode Island can take several months to over a year, depending on the complexity of the estate.
If a Rhode Island resident dies without a valid will (intestate), their property will be distributed according to the state's laws of intestate succession, found in RIGL Title 33, Chapter 33-1. The court will appoint an administrator to manage the estate.
Common strategies to avoid probate in Rhode Island include establishing a living trust, designating beneficiaries on financial accounts (e.g., bank accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance policies), and holding property in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship.
A straightforward Rhode Island probate typically runs Several months to over a year, as shown in this section. Contested wills, missing heirs, or real property in other states stretch it well past that.
$15,000. Estates under that figure can use the simplified process or affidavit covered above instead of full probate.
Not always. If the estate qualifies for the simplified process covered above, many people handle it without a lawyer. Hire one for full probate, a contested will, or property in more than one state. Before you hire anyone, know the fee structures: hourly, flat, and (in a few states) statutory percentages. Our probate attorney cost guide covers what each should run you.
No will yet, or one that's out of date? How to write a will covers what belongs in one and the signing requirements, step by step. The rules on this page are what Rhode Island law adds.
No. Rhode Island has no transfer-on-death deed statute. A living trust or joint ownership with survivorship does the same job here; a 2026 bill (S 2050) got a committee hearing but wasn't enacted.
Rhode Island doesn't require a private employer to give bereavement leave, paid or unpaid. Whatever you get is your employer's policy, and it can be changed or refused.
Who it covers. Not applicable. No private-employer mandate.
How much. Not applicable. No private-employer mandate.
Paid or unpaid. Not applicable. No private-employer mandate.
Rhode Island has three leave programs and none of them cover a death. RIPFMLA applies to employers with 50 or more employees and gives 13 consecutive weeks of unpaid leave in any two calendar years to employees with 12 consecutive months of service, but only for serious illness of a family member or birth or adoption. Temporary Caregiver Insurance pays wage replacement for bonding or caring for a seriously ill family member, and it ends when the person dies. Paid sick and safe leave can't be used for a funeral. So the honest reader answer is that a Rhode Island worker relies on the employer's policy. Reports that Rhode Island state employees get up to four days of paid funeral leave circulate on HR sites, but I couldn't confirm that against an official state HR source, so don't publish it.
Yes. Rhode Island enforces pet trusts under R.I. Gen. Laws § 4-23-1, so money you set aside for an animal is legally binding on whoever you put in charge of it. The trust ends when your animal dies, or when the last of them dies if you covered more than one, and there's no year limit. Whoever you name in the trust enforces it, and if you name nobody the court appoints someone. Anyone with an interest in the animal's welfare can ask the court to appoint an enforcer or to remove the one in place, and that enforcer gets a beneficiary's rights, which means accountings, notices and other information from the trustee. A judge can cut the amount back if it's worth more than the animal needs. Surplus money, and whatever's left when the trust ends, follows a set order: what your trust says first, then to you if you're living, then under the residuary clause of your will, then to your heirs under Rhode Island's inheritance rules. Rhode Island keeps its pet trust rule in the animal chapter of the code rather than in a trust code, so if you go looking for it yourself, it's in Title 4, chapter 23. If nobody you named as trustee is willing or able to serve, the probate court names one, so the money still gets handled.
Last verified: July 17, 2026
Source: R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 33-1-1 to 33-1-13 ↗If you die intestate (without a valid will) in Rhode Island, R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 33-1-1 to 33-1-13 decides who inherits everything a will would have covered. The shares depend on exactly who survives you: spouse, children, parents, siblings. What you told people you wanted doesn't matter. Only a signed will changes these defaults.
A Rhode Island spouse never inherits the real estate outright while any kindred survive: only a life estate plus a discretionary set-off of up to $150,000 in fee, which requires a probate court petition within six months. The kindred line runs 'without end,' and even a dead spouse's relatives take before the state, so escheat almost never happens.
What your spouse inherits depends on who else survives you. The four common family shapes:
The children take the real estate and the personal property in equal shares, with a dead child's share passing to that child's descendants.
After children come parents, then siblings and their descendants, then paternal and maternal halves running through grandparents, aunts and uncles, great-grandparents and onward without end; if no kindred exist at all, the estate goes to the surviving spouse or a deceased spouse's kindred, and it escheats to the state only when all of that fails.
Last verified: August 7, 2026
Source: RIGL § 23-4.10-2 (statutory form of durable power of attorney for health care) ↗At a Glance
Living Will
Specifies end-of-life care wishes
Healthcare Proxy
Names a decision-maker for you
DNR / POLST
Do-not-resuscitate orders
Rhode Island law provides for advance directives, which include a living will and a durable power of attorney for health care. The state provides a statutory form for the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care (R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-4.10-2). That form has to be witnessed by two qualified adult witnesses or by one notary public, and the form itself warns that it isn't valid unless you follow the witnessing procedure printed at the end of it. You have to be at least 18 and a Rhode Island resident.
Discuss your advance directives with your family and healthcare providers so your wishes are understood and respected.
In Rhode Island, a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care allows you to appoint an agent to make healthcare decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. This is often combined with a living will in a single advance directive document, but the statutory form for the power of attorney must be used.
Rhode Island recognizes Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST) forms. MOLST is a bright pink, two-sided, standardized medical form containing valid medical orders about life-sustaining treatment for individuals with serious advanced illnesses. It's distinct from an advance directive, which is for future care, as MOLST reflects current medical orders based on a patient's current health status and wishes.
Start with RIGL § 23-4.10-2 (statutory form of durable power of attorney for health care), linked as this section's source. Use the current form or sample that the official source provides or identifies. Form authority and execution requirements vary by state, so confirm the source before signing and get legal help if your situation or the instructions are unclear.
Rhode Island requires 2 adult witnesses; notarization isn’t required. Anyone 18 or older of sound mind can make one.
Last verified: August 7, 2026
Source: RIGL §§ 23-3-18 (cremation permits, 24-hour rule), 5-33.2-13.2 (cremation of human remains) ↗At a Glance
In Rhode Island, cremation can't take place until at least 24 hours have passed from the time of death, unless the person died of a contagious or infectious disease. Two documents have to reach the crematory first: the burial permit required before any burial, and a cremation certificate issued by the Rhode Island Office of State Medical Examiners, which issues one only after deciding no further examination or judicial inquiry into the cause and manner of death is needed. That certificate travels with the body in duplicate. Once the crematory has custody, the remains are to be cremated without unreasonable delay. (R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 23-3-18(e), 5-33.2-13.2)
Rhode Island allows green burial, with several cemeteries offering natural burial options. All interments in Rhode Island must occur in developed cemeteries. Human composting and alkaline hydrolysis aren't explicitly addressed in current Rhode Island statutes as widely available or regulated alternatives, and home burial is generally not permitted outside of established cemeteries.
Funeral homes in Rhode Island are regulated by the state and must be licensed. They're also subject to the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Funeral Rule, which requires them to provide itemized price lists and other disclosures to consumers.
Rhode Island sets this order by statute. The first person on the list who is available and willing decides, and a funeral home takes its instructions from them.
Naming someone in advance. Yes, a separate instrument: the funeral planning agent designation under R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 5-33.3. Section 5-33.3-3 lets any person 18 or older and of sound mind name a primary agent and, optionally, an alternate. Section 5-33.3-4 prints the form, which is signed by the principal, witnessed, and notarized, and which is also signed by the agent(s) to accept. Executing a new designation revokes all previous ones. A signed notarized original goes to the principal, the primary agent, and the alternate.
When the same tier disagrees. Not stated. Section 5-33.2-24 sets no tie-break for disagreement inside a tier and names no court. It also states no majority rule for the multi-person tiers (adult children, siblings, grandchildren, nieces and nephews). The only related protection is § 5-33.2-24(3), which holds licensed funeral directors, establishments, crematories, cemeteries, and their agents harmless from civil suit for complying with the chapter.
Accepting the appointment in Rhode Island costs money. Under § 5-33.3-3(d), a person who accepts a funeral planning agent appointment "shall assume ultimate responsibility for ensuring full payment of all expenses and costs connected to the funeral of the principal from the principal's resources, or in the event the principal's resources are insufficient to ensure full payment, from the agent's own personal financial resources." The same subsection caps agents at one non-relative at a time. Rhode Island also counts a domestic partner equal to a spouse, and § 5-33.2-24(4) sets out the affidavit test for that status: 18 or older, neither partner married to anyone else, not related within the degrees that bar marriage, living together for at least one year at the time of death, and financially interdependent on at least two listed proofs.
Three separate pots of money, on three different agencies' websites, collected nowhere. A family that qualifies for all three usually claims none of them.
1. When nobody can pay. General Public Assistance (GPA) Burial Program, under RIGL § 40-6-3.10 and 218-RICR-20-00-3 Rhode Island Department of Human Services
What it pays. From the DHS regulation, § 3.22.8: 'An amount up to nine hundred dollars ($900.00) may be authorized to meet funeral expenses of an adult or child.' On top of that, when required: 'Cost of a lot - one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00); Opening and closing of the grave - one hundred seventy-five dollars ($175.00); Cement liner, if required by the cemetery - one hundred twenty-five dollars ($125.00); and Crematory fee - one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00).' Anything above those amounts needs the GPA Program Administrator to document special circumstances.
What disqualifies you. 'Payment is made to meet the cost of funeral and burial expenses up to the cost standard for any person who dies and leaves no, or insufficient, resources and/or income to meet these expenses.' All of the deceased's resources come off the top (life insurance where the beneficiary is the estate or a legally liable relative, cash, securities, bonds, nursing home patient accounts, non-homestead real property). Veterans' benefits are excluded from that count. Non-exempt resources over $400 belonging to legally liable relatives (spouses living together, parents of minor children) are treated as available. Nobody in the custody of the Department of Corrections, DCYF, or BHDDH at the time of death is eligible.
2. If the death was caused by a crime. 'the maximum award for funeral and burial expenses shall be limited to ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00)', covering funeral home charges, cemetery services, headstones and other reasonable costs. The overall program cap is '$25,000.00 plus any attorney fees awarded', and the claim window is three years from the death.
Rhode Island crime victim compensation ↗
3. Money the person was already owed. Search Rhode Island's unclaimed property before you borrow anything. Searching and claiming are free.
Rhode Island unclaimed property ↗
There's a hard 30-day clock: 'application for payment of funeral and burial expenses must be made on behalf of the deceased within thirty (30) days of the date of death.' File with DHS before services are arranged if you can. If nobody claims the body, the rule treats a call to DHS from whoever has custody as the application.
Last verified: July 16, 2026
Source: RI Division of Taxation ↗At a Glance
Rhode Island imposes an estate tax on the net value of assets of decedents with property in the state. For deaths occurring on or after January 1, 2026, an estate is required to file a Rhode Island estate tax return if its value exceeds $1,838,056. The tax rate is progressive, ranging from 0.8% to 16%.
The Rhode Island estate tax exemption is indexed for inflation annually. For 2026, the exemption is $1,838,056. This is separate from the federal estate tax.
Rhode Island doesn't impose an inheritance tax. An inheritance tax is paid by the beneficiaries who receive inherited property, while an estate tax is paid by the estate itself before assets are distributed.
The federal estate tax applies to estates over $15 million per person (2026), $30 million for married couples. This is separate from any state estate or inheritance tax. The Working Families Tax Cuts Bill (Public Law 119-21, 2025) made the higher exemption permanent, so the drop to roughly $7 million once scheduled under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act never took effect.
Yes. Rhode Island levies its own estate tax, with a state exemption of $1.84 million and rates of 0.8%-16%. The federal estate tax can also apply, but only to estates over $15 million per person (2026).
No. Rhode Island doesn’t tax inheritances. Heirs owe no state tax on what they receive, though the estate itself can owe state estate tax before anything is distributed.
$15 million per person, $30 million for a married couple, indexed for inflation. The Working Families Tax Cuts Bill (Public Law 119-21, 2025) made the higher exemption permanent. Estates below the threshold owe no federal estate tax.
Last verified: August 8, 2026
Source: RIGL ch. 23-18.6.1 (Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act) ↗At a Glance
In Rhode Island, you can register as an organ donor through the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) when obtaining or renewing your driver's license or state ID. You can also register online through the New England Organ Bank (NEOB) or indicate your wishes in an advance directive.
In Rhode Island, a registered organ donor decision is legally binding. Nobody else can make, amend, or revoke the gift after your death (R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-18.6.1-8(a)). One exception: if the donor is an unemancipated minor, a parent who is reasonably available can revoke or amend the gift (R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-18.6.1-8(g)). Organ procurement organizations still consult families in practice, so tell yours what you decided.
Need Help in Rhode Island?
Wills, trusts, advance directives, and probate all benefit from a licensed professional. We've compiled a directory of funeral directors, grief counselors, hospice providers, and financial advisors. Sorted by state. Before a listing appears, we check the provider's phone and address against the provider's own website.
Find Help in Rhode Island →From The MORTL Edit
Sources: Rhode Island General Laws, Rhode Island Department of Health, Rhode Island Division of Taxation. Individual sections are updated and re-dated whenever a law changes, which is why the date at the top of the guide can be newer than this one. The whole guide also gets a front-to-back review on a schedule. Last front-to-back review: June 2026.
Common questions
Planning tools
The Death Dispatch
This guide is correct today. Statutes move, thresholds shift, and a figure on this page can change with one legislative session. Subscribe and we'll flag the Rhode Island changes that matter. No noise, no euphemisms.