Kearney County Court Guide

Not a court proceeding and not filed with the Kearney County Court. Thirty days after the death, a successor of the decedent may collect personal property by presenting a sworn affidavit to whoever holds it, provided the value of ALL of the decedent's personal property, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000, and no application or petition for the appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted in any jurisdiction. The measure counts personal property outside Nebraska and does not count real property at all. Real property has its own separate affidavit and its own separate $100,000 cap.

• Thirty days must have elapsed since the death
• The value of all of the decedent's personal property, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, must not exceed $100,000
• No application or petition for the appointment of a personal representative may be pending or granted in any jurisdiction
• The claimant must be the successor of the decedent and entitled to payment or delivery of the property
• Attach a certified or authenticated copy of the death certificate, or, where the certificate is delayed, an abstract of death as defined in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 71-601.01
• For a motor vehicle, motorboat, all-terrain vehicle, utility-type vehicle or minibike title, also furnish the Department of Motor Vehicles an affidavit showing the section applies and was complied with

Qualifies:

$100,000

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

There is no court fee because nothing is filed with a court. The $100,000 figure was set by Laws 2022, LB1124, § 1; sources saying $50,000 or $25,000 are stale. Laws 2025, LB85, § 1 added the abstract-of-death alternative and a Department of Motor Vehicles waiver where ten years have elapsed since the estate closed. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-24,126 discharges the person who pays or delivers on the affidavit as if dealing with a personal representative.

A SECOND, PARALLEL AFFIDAVIT WITH ITS OWN SEPARATE $100,000 CAP, and it is not filed with the county court either. Thirty days after the death, where the decedent's interest in ALL real property in Nebraska does not exceed $100,000, the claiming successors may record an affidavit with the register of deeds in a county where the property lies. THE VALUE IS TAKEN FROM THE ASSESSMENT ROLLS FOR THE YEAR IN WHICH THE DECEDENT DIED, less real estate taxes and interest due at the time of death, and not at market value. Ask the Kearney County Assessor for the assessed value for that year before assuming the estate is over or under the limit.

• Thirty days must have elapsed since the death
• The decedent's interest in all Nebraska real property must not exceed $100,000 on the assessment rolls for the year of death, less real estate taxes and interest due at the time of death
• No application or petition for the appointment of a personal representative may be pending or granted in the State of Nebraska
• ALL claiming successors must sign the affidavit
• The affidavit must state that the successor investigated and could not find a later will, that no other person has a right to the interest, and the value of the entire estate subject to probate
• Where the successor claims by devise, attach a copy of the will
• Attach a certified or authenticated copy of the death certificate. Unlike the personal-property affidavit, this route does NOT accept an abstract of death
• Record the affidavit with the register of deeds in a county where the real property lies, and in every other Nebraska county where the decedent owned real property

Qualifies:

$100,000, measured from the county assessment rolls for the year of death

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

The $100,000 figure was set by Laws 2024, LB1195, § 4, which also added the deduction for real estate taxes and interest due at death. Under § 30-24,130 the successor takes the same protection as a distributee who received a deed of distribution from a personal representative. THE TWO $100,000 FIGURES IN NEBRASKA ARE NOT ONE FIGURE THAT MOVED: they sit in different sections, measure different classes of property on different valuation bases, and are presented to different offices, so an estate can use both.

NEBRASKA'S THIRD SHORTCUT HAS NO DOLLAR FIGURE AT ALL. Where the inventory and appraisal show that 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 reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness, the personal representative may without giving notice to creditors immediately disburse and distribute the estate and close it by sworn statement. It is not a way to avoid administration: it requires an appointed personal representative and a filed inventory before the test can even be run. It shortens an estate that is already open.

• A personal representative must already be appointed
• The inventory and appraisal must be prepared and filed
• The whole estate less liens and encumbrances must not exceed the 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
• Close by the sworn statement described in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-24,128, which may be filed at any time after disbursement and distribution

Qualifies:

No dollar limit exists. The test compares the estate against the allowances and the cost of settling it.

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

Because the comparison is against allowances and the cost of administration rather than a fixed figure, whether this route fits cannot be worked out from the size of the estate alone. Ask a Nebraska lawyer or the clerk of the Kearney County Court, especially where most of the estate would go to the funeral bill and last medical expenses.

The litigated route, used where the will is contested, the heirs are disputed, an interested person demands notice and a hearing, or the court is asked to settle a question the registrar cannot. A formal proceeding is heard by the Kearney County Court on notice. THE FILING FEE IS GRADUATED ON THE GROSS VALUE OF THE ESTATE ACROSS TWENTY BRACKETS, from $44.00 for an estate of $1,000 or less to $1,670.00 for an estate over $5,000,000, so no single figure describes it. Gross value means the real and personal property in Nebraska at the time of death, less liens and joint tenancy property. Most Nebraska estates never use this route; see the informal probate option above.

• File the petition with the clerk of the Kearney County Court in the county of venue
• Give notice to interested persons; a formal proceeding is decided after a hearing rather than by the registrar
• Pay the Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-125(1)(b) fee for the bracket the gross value of the estate falls in, plus ten percent judges retirement and $20.00 of court costs
• No probate or appointment proceeding may be commenced more than three years after the death (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2408)

Qualifies:

No dollar threshold. The fee, not the eligibility, turns on the value of the estate.

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

Formal fees are charged in full for all services performed by the court, and no additional fee is charged for petitions, hearings and orders during that administration. The court provides one certified copy of the letters of appointment without charge. Where a formal fee was charged, the § 33-126.03 inheritance tax determination costs nothing extra. KEY NAMING, READ BEFORE EDITING: this entry sits in the shared corpus slot named formal_administration and holds Nebraska's FORMAL probate. Nebraska's ORDINARY route is INFORMAL probate and lives in the informal_probate entry. Both words are terms of art in the Nebraska Probate Code, so read local_name rather than the key.

The usual way a Nebraska estate is opened. An application for informal probate of a will or for informal appointment of a personal representative is filed with the clerk of the Kearney County Court, which under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 24-517(1) has exclusive original jurisdiction of all matters relating to decedents' estates. Venue is the county where the decedent was domiciled at death, or, for a decedent not domiciled in Nebraska, any county where property was located at the death. The registrar acts on the application without a hearing, and the total collected at filing is a flat $44.00 whatever the estate is worth, or $45.00 in a testate case.

• File the application with the clerk of the Kearney County Court, in the county where the decedent was domiciled at death (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2410)
• Lodge the original will with the court if there is one
• No probate or appointment proceeding may be commenced more than three years after the death (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2408)
• The clerk publishes notice to creditors once a week for three successive weeks, with the first publication within thirty days of the appointment
• Where the decedent was 55 or older, or resided in a medical institution, the same notice must also go to the Department of Health and Human Services in the manner that department publishes, or it is void
• File the inventory within three months of appointment (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2467)
• File the closing statement no earlier than five months after appointment, and only once first publication is more than four months old (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-24,117)

Qualifies:

No dollar threshold. This is the ordinary Nebraska route and most estates use it.

Filing fee:

$44

source

Typical duration:

Six months at the earliest, because the closing statement cannot be filed until five months after appointment and until first publication is more than four months old.

Attorney:

not required by law, though many families use one

The $44.00 is $22.00 under § 33-125(1)(a)(i) plus $2.00 judges retirement under § 24-703(3)(a) plus $20.00 of statutory court costs, and it does not move with the size of the estate. KEY NAMING, READ BEFORE EDITING: informal_probate has no entry in the shared PROBATE_TYPE_CONFIGS map, so this card takes its heading from local_name and sorts after the keyed routes. That ordering understates how common this route is; the formal_administration entry, which holds Nebraska's FORMAL probate, opens by pointing back here.