Douglas County Court Guide

Not a court proceeding and nothing is filed with the Douglas County Court. Thirty days after the death, a successor may present a sworn affidavit to whoever holds the decedent's personal property and take delivery of it, provided the value of the ENTIRE ESTATE of the deceased, less liens and encumbrances, is $100,000 or less and no personal representative has been appointed and none is pending anywhere in Nebraska. The Judicial Branch publishes the affidavit as form CC 15:40. The cap was raised to $100,000 by Laws 2025, LB85, § 1; sources printing $50,000 are stale.

• Thirty days have passed since the death.
• A certified or authenticated copy of the death certificate is attached to the affidavit (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-24,125(a)(2) also accepts an abstract of death as defined in § 71-601.01).
• The value of the entire estate of the deceased, less liens and encumbrances, is $100,000.00 or less.
• No personal representative has been appointed and no application or petition for appointment is pending.
• The claiming successor is entitled to payment or delivery of the property, and swears to the affidavit under penalty of perjury under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-915.

Qualifies:

$100,000

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

THIS DOES NOT REACH REAL ESTATE. Nebraska runs a SEPARATE affidavit for land under § 30-24,129 with its own $100,000 cap, its own valuation basis and its own filing office. The two $100,000 figures are concurrent caps on different property classes, not one figure that moved.

Filed with the Douglas Register of Deeds, NOT with the county court. Thirty days after the death, a successor to the decedent's interest in Nebraska real property may record an affidavit describing the property, provided the decedent's interest in ALL Nebraska real property does not exceed $100,000 valued FROM THE ASSESSMENT ROLLS FOR THE YEAR OF DEATH less real estate taxes and interest due at death. The affidavit is prima facie evidence of the facts it states, and gives the successor the same protection a distributee gets from a personal representative's deed of distribution. The Judicial Branch publishes it as form CC 15:41.

• Thirty days have elapsed since the death, shown by a certified or authenticated copy of the death certificate attached to the affidavit.
• The value of the decedent's interest in all Nebraska real property does not exceed $100,000, taken from the assessment rolls for the year of death less real estate taxes and interest due at death.
• No application or petition for appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted anywhere in Nebraska.
• The claiming successor is entitled to the property by homestead allowance, exempt property allowance or family allowance, by intestate succession, or by devise under the will, with a copy of the will attached if claiming under it.
• The successor has investigated and could not find any later will, and no other person has a right to the decedent's interest in the property.
• Signed by all persons claiming as successors and sworn under penalty of perjury under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-915.
• Recorded in EVERY Nebraska county where the described real property sits, with the death certificate.

Qualifies:

$100,000, measured from the assessment rolls for the year of death less real estate taxes due, not from market value

Filing fee:

$10

source

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

THE VALUATION BASIS IS THE TRAP. An heir who compares a house's market value to $100,000 will rule this route out when the assessed value on the year-of-death rolls may qualify it, or the reverse. Use the assessment rolls for the year the decedent died, less real estate taxes and interest then due.

Nebraska's court-supervised shortcut has NO dollar threshold, and quoting one would be inventing it. A personal representative has to be appointed and an inventory and appraisal taken first. If the inventory shows the value of the entire estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the homestead allowance, exempt property, family allowance, costs and expenses of administration, reasonable funeral expenses and the reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness, the personal representative may disburse and distribute the estate immediately WITHOUT giving notice to creditors, and close with a sworn statement under § 30-24,128.

• A personal representative has been appointed, informally or formally, in the Douglas County Court.
• An inventory and appraisal has been taken under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2467.
• The inventory shows the entire estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed homestead allowance, exempt property, family allowance, costs and expenses of administration, reasonable funeral expenses and reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness.
• The personal representative files the closing sworn statement described in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-24,128.

Qualifies:

No dollar figure exists. The test compares the estate against the allowances and the costs of administration, not against a number.

Filing fee:

$44

source

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

The comparison runs against the statutory allowances (homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance under §§ 30-2322 to 30-2324) plus administration, funeral and last-illness costs, so whether an estate qualifies cannot be computed from an estate value alone. Also note § 30-2446(1): a petition alleging the estate will permit summary procedures under § 30-24,127 is one of the grounds on which no bond is required.

Heard by the Douglas County Court, which has EXCLUSIVE ORIGINAL JURISDICTION of all matters relating to decedents' estates under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 24-517(1). Nebraska has no separate probate court and no probate division of another court: the county court IS the probate forum in all 93 counties. A formal testacy proceeding is commenced by a petition for an order probating a will, setting aside an informal probate, or determining the decedent died intestate, and it is heard on notice. Venue is the county of the decedent's domicile at death (§ 30-2410), which is what puts a Douglas estate in this court.

• A petition filed with the clerk of the Douglas County Court stating the interest of the petitioner and the facts § 30-2426 requires.
• Notice of the hearing on the petition, given as Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2427 directs.
• The original will, or an authenticated copy of a will probated at the testator's domicile, where a will is offered.
• A certified copy of the death certificate, or an abstract of death as defined in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 71-601.01.
• A bond, unless one of the Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2446(1) exceptions applies (the will excuses it, all heirs or devisees waive in writing, the representative is a bank or chartered trust company, or the petition alleges the estate will permit summary procedures).
• Commenced within three years of the death, subject to the narrow exceptions in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2408.

Qualifies:

No dollar threshold. Formal proceedings are litigation before a county judge, used when the will, the heirs, the priority for appointment or the conduct of the estate is contested or uncertain.

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

Formal fees under § 33-125(1)(b) are charged in full for ALL services performed by the court, and no additional fee is charged for the petitions, hearings and orders in the course of that administration. The court provides one certified copy of the letters of appointment without charge.

The ordinary way a Nebraska estate is opened. An application is made to the REGISTRAR of the Douglas County Court rather than heard by a judge, and where the registrar is satisfied the will was properly executed and the applicant has priority, the will is informally probated and a personal representative is informally appointed without a hearing. Informal probate is UNAVAILABLE in the situations Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 30-2417 and 30-2424 list, in which case the matter goes formal.

• An application to the registrar containing everything Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2414 requires, including the applicant's interest and priority.
• The original will where one is offered, executed as Nebraska requires and apparently unrevoked.
• A certified copy of the death certificate, or an abstract of death as defined in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 71-601.01.
• No proceeding is pending elsewhere in Nebraska and the registrar has no reason to be dissatisfied (Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 30-2418 and 30-2422).
• Commenced within three years of the death, subject to the narrow exceptions in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2408.

Qualifies:

No dollar threshold. This is Nebraska's ordinary route where nothing is contested.

Filing fee:

$44

source

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

Informal probate is the flat-fee route and formal probate is the value-scaled one, which is the opposite of the intuition that a simpler process costs a bit less. § 33-125(1)(a) also caps the informal fees so they can never exceed what the same estate would have paid formally.