Oregon Simple Estate Affidavit

Oregon settles a smaller estate with a sworn affidavit filed at the courthouse instead of a full probate. ORS 114.510 opens that route on two limits that must both hold: not more than $75,000 of the estate's fair market value from personal property other than manufactured homes, and not more than $200,000 from real property and manufactured homes combined.

Oregon retired the name "small estate affidavit" in 2023, so the instrument you are looking for is now the simple estate affidavit. The two figures are the part readers get wrong, because $75,000 and $200,000 add to $275,000 and the old law really did carry a $275,000 total. That aggregate cap is gone. This page covers what the two limits measure, how a manufactured home moved sides on January 1, 2026, who may file and who may not, what the affidavit reaches, and the four-month and two-year clocks that follow it. Read it beside full Oregon probate before deciding, and take a live date to the court handling the file, listed in the Oregon probate court directory, or to a licensed Oregon attorney. It is general information about Oregon law rather than advice about one estate.

Two Limits, and Both Have to Hold

ORS 114.510(1)(a) writes the test in two subparagraphs joined by "and". Neither one is a total.

Work an estate through it. A house appraised at $195,000 and $60,000 in bank accounts passes both limits, so the affidavit is available. A single brokerage account of $250,000 and no land fails limb (A) by a wide margin, and the fact that $250,000 sits below $275,000 changes nothing. Reading Oregon as one $275,000 test reports "you qualify" on an estate whose route is closed.

The reverse case matters as much. A $260,000 house with $10,000 in cash fails limb (B), so the whole estate goes to a full administration even though the personal property is trivial.

There Is No $275,000 Oregon Limit

The 2025 Edition of ORS chapter 114 contains the string $275,000 zero times. Here is where the figure comes from and why it survives.

Before 2020, the former ORS 114.515(2) required all three of a $275,000 total, $75,000 of personal property and $200,000 of real property. 2019 Or. Laws ch. 165 moved the criteria into what is now ORS 114.510 and deleted the aggregate cap, and section 33 of that act applies the change to decedents who die on or after its effective date of January 1, 2020. The deleted sentence is printed in brackets in section 4 of the act, which is the section that rewrote ORS 114.515. Section 1 of the same act rewrote ORS 114.505, the definitions, and section 3 created the new value-limitation section that is now ORS 114.510.

The Oregon Judicial Department instruction packet has not caught up. Its June 2026 revision still opens the eligibility section with "the total value of the estate is under $275,000 and" before listing the two limits. Nothing turns on it for most filers, because two limits that must both hold cannot sum to more than $275,000 anyway. The danger is a reader who takes the total on its own and skips the two figures underneath it.

A Manufactured Home Counts With the House, Not the Cash

This changed recently and the change is keyed to the date of death.

2025 Or. Laws ch. 34 and ch. 342 both amended ORS 114.510, and both apply to estates of decedents dying on or after their effective date of January 1, 2026. The dollar figures did not move. What moved is where a manufactured home sits: it came out of the $75,000 personal-property measure and went into the $200,000 measure alongside real property.

ORS 114.510(3) supplies the definition. A manufactured home is a structure constructed for movement on the public highways with sleeping, cooking and plumbing facilities, intended for human occupancy, used for residential purposes, and built to the federal manufactured housing construction and safety standards in force at the time of construction.

For a death before January 1, 2026 the prior text governs, and there a manufactured home counted as personal property. The ORS chapter page shows only the current version, so an older death has to be read against 2025 Or. Laws ch. 34 section 2, which prints the pre-amendment wording in brackets.

Value Is Counted Without Subtracting the Mortgage

ORS 114.510(2)(b) is the sentence that disqualifies estates people expect to pass. In determining fair market value, the fair market value of the entire interest in the property included in the estate is used "without reduction for liens or other debts".

So a house worth $260,000 with a $180,000 mortgage counts at $260,000, not at $80,000 of equity. A financed car counts at its full value. Anyone reasoning from what the family would actually receive will over-qualify the estate.

The valuation date has its own rule. ORS 114.510(2)(a) fixes fair market value as of the date of death, or, where the death is more than one year before the affidavit is filed, as of a date within 45 days before filing. An estate sitting untouched for two years cannot use the old numbers.

One more measurement rule sits outside the section. ORS 114.537(1) stops anyone who knows the decedent was the sole or last surviving lessee of a safe deposit box from filing at all until an inventory of the box has been requested from the bank or credit union. The contents count toward the limits, and the affidavit has to state their value.

Who May File, and Who May Not

ORS 114.515(1) lists three groups: one or more claiming successors; any person named as personal representative in the will where the decedent died testate; and the Director of Human Services, the Director of the Oregon Health Authority or an attorney approved under ORS 114.517 where the decedent received public assistance, medical assistance or institutional care that may be recovered from the estate.

"Claiming successors" is defined at ORS 114.505(2): the heirs where the decedent died intestate, the devisees where the decedent died testate, and a creditor entitled to payment from the estate under ORS 114.545(1)(f) who has gone unpaid for 60 days after the death.

Two disqualifications are absolute. ORS 114.515(2) blocks anyone who would be disqualified from acting as a personal representative under ORS 113.095, which reaches a minor, a person who is incapacitated or financially incapable, a suspended or disbarred lawyer and most funeral service practitioners. It also blocks anyone convicted of a felony in Oregon or in any other jurisdiction. A felony conviction closes this route even where the same person would be the sole heir.

A creditor filing on an intestate estate with no heirs faces one more gate. ORS 114.520(1) requires written authorization from the State Treasurer, who consents only where it appears after investigation that the estate is insolvent, unless the Treasurer's own rules say otherwise, and ORS 114.520(3) makes the affidavit carry a notation at the top that a creditor filed it. The clerk may not accept it without the authorization attached.

Where It Gets Filed, and What It Costs

The affidavit goes to a court, which separates Oregon from the states where a small estate affidavit is handed to a bank. ORS 114.515(1) sends it to the clerk of the probate court in any county where there is venue for appointing a personal representative, and ORS 113.015 puts venue in the county of the decedent's domicile or place of abode, any county where property was located at death or sits when the proceeding starts, the county where the decedent died, or the county where a personal injury or wrongful death claim could be brought.

Which court is the probate court is a per-county question in Oregon. ORS 111.075 vests probate jurisdiction in the county courts of Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman and Wheeler Counties, and in the circuit court everywhere else. The Judicial Department instructions say to file in the circuit court and then add that some counties take these filings elsewhere. Check the county before mailing anything, using the Oregon probate court directory.

The Oregon Judicial Department circuit court fee schedule effective January 1, 2026 carries every one of those rows with the same authority printed beside it. The figures are statewide. ORS 21.170(5) applies the probate schedule to county courts exercising probate jurisdiction, so no Oregon county sets its own number.

The Judicial Department publishes an official statewide package for this, a seven-page instruction sheet and a ten-page Simple Estate Affidavit, both stamped OJD OFFICIAL and revised June 2026. It carries no form number. The version stamp is the only identifier, so treat any "Oregon simple estate affidavit form number" you find elsewhere as invented.

What the Affidavit Has to Say

ORS 114.525(1) runs from paragraph (a) to paragraph (w). Several of those requirements catch filers out.

Paragraph (s) is not optional and it is the one people miss. Sending the affidavit and the death record to the Department of Human Services or the Oregon Health Authority is how Oregon protects a claim for assistance it paid, and the statement is required whether or not the decedent ever received any. Full Oregon probate carries a parallel duty at ORS 113.145(6).

Two documents ride along. ORS 114.525(2) requires a certified copy of the death record, filed as a confidential document. ORS 114.525(3) requires the original will, or a certified copy where the original is filed in another jurisdiction, plus proof of the will meeting ORS 113.055. The Judicial Department instructions add the practical warning: a photocopy of the will is not enough, and an estate with only a copy belongs in a regular probate.

Signing has its own rule. The instructions tell the affiant not to sign until a court clerk or notary is watching, and ORS 114.515(8) lets the clerk of the probate court acknowledge the affidavit on presentation of the affiant's identification and a statement under penalty of perjury.

What the Affidavit Moves

Once filed, a certified copy of the affidavit does the work a letter of appointment would do in a full probate.

ORS 114.535(1) requires anyone holding personal property of the estate or owing the decedent a debt to pay or hand it over on receipt of a certified copy. Subsection (2) extends that to whoever controls access to property, including a safe deposit box. Subsection (5) makes a transfer agent change the registered ownership of a corporate security. Subsection (6) makes the State Department of Agriculture change the registered ownership of a recorded brand.

A refusal has a defined answer. ORS 114.535(7) lets the affiant serve a written demand by certified mail, and if the holder still refuses after 30 days, file a motion to compel, with attorney fees available against whichever side acted without an objectively reasonable basis.

Vehicles run through the Department of Transportation. ORS 114.547(4) tells an affiant selling or transferring a vehicle to follow the DMV requirements under ORS 803.094, and the DMV form for it is 735-6797, the Simple Estate Certification. Work that through on Oregon vehicle title after death. A manufactured structure assessed as personal property goes to the Department of Consumer and Business Services instead, under ORS 114.555(4).

Real property is where Oregon differs from most states, and it needs the four months to run first. ORS 114.555(1)(a) tells the affiant to transfer the decedent's remaining interest to the people the affidavit names, once no petition for a personal representative has been filed within four months of the affidavit and unsecured creditors have been paid to the extent of the estate. ORS 114.555(3) then requires a bargain and sale deed recorded in the deed records of the county where the land sits, executed as ORS chapter 93 requires.

Selling before that is possible on tighter terms. ORS 114.547(1)(a) lets the affiant sell real property for adequate consideration if every heir or devisee who would take the interest joins in the conveyance. Personal property that is the subject of a specific devise needs that devisee's consent, and everything else the affiant may sell alone.

The Affiant Is a Fiduciary, Not a Claimant

ORS 114.545(1)(a) makes the affiant a fiduciary under a general duty to administer, preserve, settle and distribute the estate under the will, the law of intestate succession and ORS 114.505 to 114.560, as expeditiously and with as little sacrifice of value as is reasonable.

The list under it is concrete. No commingling of estate property with the affiant's own. Take control of estate property and collect its income. Mail or deliver every instrument the affidavit promised within 30 days of filing. Pay administration expenses, funeral costs, listed undisputed claims, allowed claims presented in time and claims the court allows, in the ORS 115.125 order of priority. Keep the records until the two-year review period in ORS 114.550 closes.

ORS 114.549 sets out what the affiant answers for, and it reaches beyond bad faith: neglect or unreasonable delay in collecting assets, failure to pay taxes or close the estate in a reasonable time, unauthorized self-dealing and any other negligent act in the administration. ORS 114.545(4) adds that any claiming successor who receives estate property is personally answerable to creditors, up to the value received, and to any personal representative appointed later.

Four Months for Claims, Two Years for Review

Filing the affidavit starts a clock that runs from the filing date rather than from a published notice.

• Four months to present a claim. ORS 114.540(1)(a) lets a creditor present a claim to the affiant within four months after the affidavit was filed, and within four months after any amended affidavit. A later claim is barred except under ORS 114.550 or ORS 130.350. Filing a claim with the court is not presentment. The Oregon creditor claim rules cover how presentment works.
• Sixty days to disallow. ORS 114.540(2)(a) treats an unlisted claim presented to the affiant as allowed unless the affiant mails a notice of disallowance stating the reason within 60 days.
• Thirty days to contest a disallowance. ORS 114.542(1)(a) gives the creditor 30 days from the disallowance notice to petition for summary determination. A creditor whose claim the affidavit listed as disputed has four months from filing to do the same.
• Two years for summary review. ORS 114.550(1)(a) lets the affiant, or any claiming successor who has not been paid in full, petition for summary review of the administration within two years of filing. The court may order sales, order payments, remove the affiant and surcharge them for loss.
• Two years of creditor exposure on transferred property. ORS 114.555(2) keeps property the affiant conveyed subject to the rights of the decedent's creditors until that two-year period ends.

Distribution waits for two conditions at once, which the Judicial Department instructions state plainly: four months have passed since the affidavit or the latest amended affidavit was filed, and all claims, expenses and taxes have been paid.

An amended affidavit restarts the four months for every unpaid creditor, not only for the ones the amendment adds. ORS 114.515(6) requires one to correct a material error or omission or to add property left out.

The amendment has a hard stop. ORS 114.515(7) says that where the value of the estate exceeds the ORS 114.510(1)(a) limits, or the testamentary bequests fail ORS 114.510(1)(b), the affiant may not amend at all. Their authority ends, estate assets go to a personal representative on request, and they must promptly file notice with the court and serve everyone who received a copy. Finding a forgotten account that pushes the estate over $75,000 does not mean a bigger affidavit. It means a probate.

When Full Probate Is the Better Route

The affidavit wins on cost and on speed, and it gives up the finality a probate buys. An estate with a disputed claim, a solvency question, heirs who disagree or property that has to be sold to pay debts is usually better off with an appointed personal representative, even where the two limits are satisfied. The Oregon probate timeline shows what the longer route actually costs in months.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the simple estate affidavit limit in Oregon?

Oregon has two limits and both have to hold. ORS 114.510(1)(a) allows the affidavit only where not more than $75,000 of the fair market value of the estate comes from personal property other than manufactured homes, and not more than $200,000 comes from the combined value of real property and manufactured homes. An estate of $250,000 in bank accounts fails the first limit even though it sits under the two figures added together, so the affidavit is closed to it.

Is there a $275,000 small estate limit in Oregon?

Not in current law. The 2025 Edition of ORS chapter 114 contains no $275,000 figure at all. A $275,000 aggregate cap did exist in the former ORS 114.515(2), and 2019 Or. Laws ch. 165 deleted it for decedents dying on or after January 1, 2020. The number still circulates because $75,000 and $200,000 add to $275,000, and because the Oregon Judicial Department instruction packet still prints a $275,000 total. The two limits in ORS 114.510(1)(a) are what the filing has to satisfy.

Is Oregon's small estate affidavit the same as the simple estate affidavit?

Yes. Oregon retired the old name in 2023. ORS 114.505(3) now defines a simple estate affidavit, ORS 114.510 is captioned Simple estate criteria, and 2023 Or. Laws ch. 17 applies that vocabulary to affidavits filed on or after January 1, 2024. The Oregon Judicial Department form is the Simple Estate Affidavit and the DMV form is the Simple Estate Certification, so a search for a small estate affidavit lands on the same route under a name the courts no longer use.

Can an Oregon simple estate affidavit transfer real estate?

Yes, which sets Oregon apart from most states. ORS 114.510(1)(a)(B) allows up to $200,000 of combined real property and manufactured homes. ORS 114.555(3) then tells the affiant to record a bargain and sale deed in the deed records of the county where the land sits, executed as ORS chapter 93 requires, once the four-month claim period has run and unsecured creditors have been paid to the extent of the estate.

How long do you have to wait to file an Oregon simple estate affidavit?

Thirty days. ORS 114.515(3) bars filing until 30 days after the death of the decedent. A creditor waits longer, because ORS 114.505(2)(c) treats a creditor as a claiming successor only once 60 days have passed since the death without full payment. A creditor filing on an intestate estate with no heirs also needs written authorization from the State Treasurer under ORS 114.520(1).

Does a will stop you from using the Oregon simple estate affidavit?

No. ORS 114.510(1)(b) is an express route for a testate estate, and it is more generous than the plain route. Where the will makes specific devises of no more than $75,000 of personal property other than manufactured homes and no more than $200,000 of real property and manufactured homes to devisees other than a trustee, and leaves the balance to the trustee of a trust the decedent settled before death, the affidavit still works. ORS 114.525(4) requires the trust instrument or a certification under ORS 130.860 to be filed with it.

How much does it cost to file a simple estate affidavit in Oregon?

$124. ORS 114.515(5) directs the clerk of the probate court to collect the fee established under ORS 21.145, which sets $124, and the Oregon Judicial Department circuit court fee schedule effective January 1, 2026 lists the same figure under Simple estates. The same subsection makes an amended affidavit free. Compare that with ORS 21.170(1), where a petition to appoint a personal representative runs from $278 to $1,176 depending on the value of the estate.

Related Guides

• Oregon Probate Guide
• Oregon Creditor Claims
• Oregon Probate Timeline
• Oregon Intestate Succession
• Oregon Executor Duties
• Oregon Vehicle Transfers
• Oregon Probate Courts by County

Sources:

• Title: ORS Chapter 114, Administration of Estates Generally, 2025 Edition, including ORS 114.505 (definitions), 114.510 (simple estate criteria), 114.515 (simple estate affidavit), 114.517, 114.520, 114.525 (content of affidavit), 114.535, 114.537, 114.540, 114.542, 114.545, 114.547, 114.549, 114.550, 114.552 and 114.555. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors114.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 21, State Court Fees, 2025 Edition, including ORS 21.135 (standard filing fee), ORS 21.145 (simple proceeding filing fee) and ORS 21.170 (probate filing fees and accounting fees). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors021.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 115, Claims; Actions and Suits, 2025 Edition, including ORS 115.005 (presentation of claims; time limitations) and ORS 115.125 (order of payment of expenses and claims). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors115.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 116, Accounting, Distribution and Closing, 2025 Edition, including ORS 116.213 (discharge of personal representative). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors116.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 130, Uniform Trust Code, 2025 Edition, including ORS 130.350 and ORS 130.860 (certification of trust). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors130.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 93, Conveyancing and Recording, 2025 Edition, cited by ORS 114.555(3) for execution of the bargain and sale deed. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors093.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 803, Vehicle Title and Registration, 2025 Edition, including ORS 803.094, the section ORS 114.547(4) points a vehicle transfer to. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors803.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 111, General Provisions, 2025 Edition, including ORS 111.075 (probate jurisdiction vested) and ORS 111.115. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors111.html
• Title: ORS Chapter 113, Initiation of Estate Proceedings, 2025 Edition, including ORS 113.015 (venue), ORS 113.055 (proof of will) and ORS 113.095 (persons not qualified to act as personal representatives). Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly, Legislative Counsel Committee. Publication Date: Not listed, accessed 2026-08-25. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors113.html
• Title: Oregon Laws 2019, Chapter 165 (House Bill 3007), sections 3 and 33, deleting the former $275,000 aggregate cap and applying the change to decedents dying on or after January 1, 2020. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: Approved May 24, 2019. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2019orLaw0165.pdf
• Title: Oregon Laws 2023, Chapter 17, section 27, applying the simple estate affidavit vocabulary to affidavits filed on or after January 1, 2024. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: Approved March 29, 2023. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2023orLaw0017.pdf
• Title: Oregon Laws 2025, Chapter 34 (Senate Bill 168), sections 2 and 6, amending ORS 114.510 and applying the change to estates of decedents dying on or after January 1, 2026. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: Approved May 7, 2025. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2025orLaw0034.pdf
• Title: Oregon Laws 2025, Chapter 342 (Senate Bill 15), sections 1a and 2a, moving manufactured homes into the real property limit for deaths on or after January 1, 2026. Publisher: Oregon Legislative Assembly. Publication Date: Approved June 17, 2025. URL: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/lawsstatutes/2025orLaw0342.pdf
• Title: Simple Estate Affidavit and Instructions, OJD OFFICIAL, revised June 2026. Publisher: Oregon Judicial Department. Publication Date: June 2026. URL: https://www.courts.oregon.gov/forms/Documents/ProbateSimpleEstate.pdf
• Title: Oregon Judicial Department Circuit Court Fee Schedule (Public Version), effective January 1, 2026. Publisher: Oregon Judicial Department. Publication Date: January 1, 2026. URL: https://www.courts.oregon.gov/Documents/2026_CircuitFeeSchedule_public_eff-2026-01-01.pdf
• Title: Form 735-6797, Simple Estate Certification, revision 3-26 as printed on the form. Publisher: Oregon Department of Transportation, Driver and Motor Vehicle Services. Publication Date: March 2026. URL: https://www.oregon.gov/odot/Forms/DMV/6797fill.pdf

It is not legal advice.