Nebraska Probate Guide
County-specific probate filing-office contacts, filing fees, required forms, and step-by-step guidance for families settling an estate in Nebraska.
Find Your County
Types of Probate in Nebraska
Nebraska runs probate in the county court of each of its 93 counties, which holds exclusive original jurisdiction over decedents' estates under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 24-517(1), so there is no separate probate court and no probate division to choose between. What changes is the route, not the courthouse. Two affidavits stay out of court entirely and run in parallel rather than in tiers: § 30-24,125 collects personal property worth $100,000 or less, wherever located, on a sworn affidavit handed to whoever holds it, and § 30-24,129 passes Nebraska land worth $100,000 or less by assessed value on an affidavit recorded with the register of deeds. Above them sit informal probate before the registrar, formal probate before a county judge, and the § 30-24,127 summary administrative procedure, which runs inside an existing administration once the inventory shows the estate is smaller than the allowances and expenses it owes.
See the full comparison of Nebraska probate typesWhich procedures exist, who qualifies, and how the timelines compare.Find your county
Nebraska Probate Filing Offices by County
Choose your county to get its probate court contacts, filing fees, and required forms. 93 counties have detailed data.
Show all 93 countiesShow fewer counties
Want a probate attorney to handle this?
Free match with a local attorney in Nebraska. No obligation.
Settled Estate is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.
Browse Nebraska guide topics
Jump to court, executor, tax, planning, property, and probate-avoidance guides that match your next task.
Browse Nebraska guide topics
Jump to court, executor, tax, planning, property, and probate-avoidance guides that match your next task.
Probate Basics
6Taxes & Deadlines
9Planning Documents
7Property Transfer
3Avoiding Probate
2Nebraska Probate Self-Help and Online Resources
Nebraska probate resource map by source type
State court, form, statute, agency, and self-help sources for general probate and estate-settlement questions.
County court, clerk, register, or filing-office pages for local probate divisions, filing paths, local forms, fee references, and courthouse-specific resources.
Referral paths for finding certified lawyer-referral services when a family wants help locating counsel.
All Nebraska self-help resources (18 links)Official court, form, law-library, referral, and legal-education links, plus how to use each source
Nebraska probate source navigation starts with state court, form, agency, legal-help, or referral links that are already tracked in Settled state data. These links are state-level starting points, not county-specific filing instructions.
Which Nebraska probate source should you use?
- Start with the state court, form, or self-help source for general Nebraska probate context.
- Use county filing-office, clerk, register, or court pages for local filing locations, local forms, fee schedules, and records portals.
- Use legal-help, law-library, or referral links as research or referral paths, not as a substitute for counsel.
- Verify current filing steps with the county office, court, clerk, register, legal-aid source, or counsel before filing.
Statewide process, forms, and code sources
State court, form, statute, agency, and self-help sources for general probate and estate-settlement questions.
- Nebraska Judicial Branch Self-Help, Estates
The judiciary's own estate material: the two affidavits that avoid probate, claims against an estate, depositing a will for safekeeping, and what an informal proceeding involves. This is the first stop for a family that wants the court system's own plain-language explanation before deciding whether to hire counsel.
- Nebraska Free Legal Answers
A free online clinic where qualifying low-income Nebraskans can ask a volunteer attorney a question about a civil legal problem and get a written answer. It answers questions; it does not take a case or file anything.
- Nebraska Judicial Branch, Master Forms List, Probate / Estates
The judiciary's own Probate / Estates filter over the statewide forms library. Use it rather than the master list, which runs to six alphabetical pages covering every kind of case.
- Nebraska Judicial Branch, Master Forms List
Every court form Nebraska publishes, alphabetical by title. Nebraska sets its forms statewide, so the published version is the one to use rather than a form found elsewhere.
- Nebraska Judicial Branch, Filing Fees and Court Costs
The statewide schedule implementing Neb. Rev. Stat. section 33-125, effective July 1, 2026. It prints $44.00 as the amount collected at filing for an informal probate, and the twenty-step ladder that prices a formal one against the gross value of the estate.
- Nebraska Judicial Branch, Self-Help, Claims Against an Estate
How a creditor presents a claim and how a personal representative handles one, from the judiciary. Nebraska's non-claim window is two months from first publication, one of the shortest in the country, so timing matters more here than in most states.
- Nebraska court form CC 15:40, Affidavit for Transfer of Personal Property without Probate
The Nebraska small-estate affidavit for personal property, revision 07/2022. It is PRESENTED to whoever holds the property rather than filed with a court, and it is usable thirty days after the death where the estate's personal property is $100,000 or less after liens.
- Nebraska court form CC 15:41, Affidavit for Transfer of Real Property without Probate
The Nebraska small-estate affidavit for real property, revision 10/2025. It is FILED WITH THE REGISTER OF DEEDS rather than with a court, and its separate $100,000 ceiling is measured from the assessment rolls for the year of death, not market value.
- Nebraska court form CC 15:2, Statement of Claim
Revision 04/2018. The claim a creditor presents against a Nebraska decedent's estate, in the manner Neb. Rev. Stat. section 30-2486 prescribes.
- Nebraska court form CC 15:1, Demand for Notice
Revision 03/2022. A person with a financial or property interest in an estate uses it to demand mailed notice of orders and filings in the proceeding.
- Nebraska Judicial Branch flowchart AD 2:26, Informal Probate with a Will
A one-page map of a simple informal probate with a will. The self-help page that links it says plainly that it does not cover every situation, so read it as an orientation rather than as instructions.
- Nebraska Judicial Branch Self-Help, Guardians and Conservators
Nebraska publishes forms for RUNNING a guardianship and deliberately does not publish forms for STARTING one, which this page states. That distinction is the thing families get wrong.
- Nebraska DHHS, Office of Vital Records
Where certified Nebraska death certificates come from, at $16.00 each under Neb. Rev. Stat. section 71-612(1). That $16.00 is a search fee as well as a copy fee, and it is retained whether or not a record is found.
- Nebraska Vital Records certificate request portal
The state's online ordering portal for certified copies, chargeable to Visa or MasterCard. Note the leading 'ne' in the host name. Expedited service is mail-in only; the portal does not offer it.
County filing-office sources
County court, clerk, register, or filing-office pages for local probate divisions, filing paths, local forms, fee references, and courthouse-specific resources.
- Nebraska Judicial Branch, County Court Contacts
Clerk name, e-mail, phone, fax and address for all 93 county courts on one page. This is the directory to use when you need the office that will actually take the filing, and it is the right first call for procedure questions.
Referral-navigation sources
Referral paths for finding certified lawyer-referral services when a family wants help locating counsel.
- Legal Aid of Nebraska
Statewide civil legal aid, also named and linked by the Nebraska Judicial Branch from its own legal-resources page. It publishes an AccessLine for applications rather than taking walk-in probate questions.
- Nebraska Find-A-Lawyer
The Nebraska State Bar Association's referral service, and the one the Nebraska Judicial Branch links from its own legal-resources page. A referral is not advice and does not decide whether an estate needs a court proceeding.
- Nebraska Judicial Branch, Legal Resources and Information
The judiciary's own list of where to get help, including the state referral service, the law school clinics and the self-help material. Nebraska's online case search is not free, and the judiciary says so on this page.
Settled pairs these Nebraska source links with county pages, forms, first-step guides, transfer guides, and source notes so families can move from statewide context to the local office that handles the estate.
Nebraska Estate Law Overview
Nebraska Estate Tax Info
Nebraska has NO estate tax for anyone who died on or after January 1, 2007, and no gift tax.
Federal estate tax info
Federal estate tax only applies to estates exceeding $15,000,000 (2026).
Who Inherits Without a Will?
Rules for property distribution when someone dies without a valid will.
Nebraska Homestead Protection
Nebraska protects a home in two separate ways and they answer different questions. Chapter 40 exempts a homestead from judgment liens and forced sale up to $120,000 in value and a stated acreage. Separately, the Nebraska Probate Code gives a surviving spouse a homestead ALLOWANCE, which is a cash entitlement out of the estate that has priority over creditors.
Exempt Property
Nebraska gives a surviving spouse, and in some cases the decedent's children, three separate protections that come off the top of the estate: a homestead allowance, an exempt property amount, and a family allowance for maintenance during administration. They stack, and each has priority over ordinary creditor claims.