Small Estate Affidavit: When Simplified Transfer Works
A small estate affidavit is a sworn statement that lets a deceased person's heirs claim assets without opening full probate, available when the estate's value falls under the state's small-estate threshold. It can be one of the cleanest ways to avoid probate, but the label is misleading if you treat it like a universal form. Some states use a true affidavit, some use a simplified court procedure, and some impose separate rules for personal property, real estate, or surviving spouses. This page helps you decide whether the simplified path is worth exploring before you commit to full probate.
Start with your state
Small-estate rules vary sharply by state. Some states offer a direct affidavit, while others use summary administration, voluntary administration, or a court order with a similar simplified purpose. Use the state selector before you rely on any threshold, waiting period, or real-estate rule.
What this page is meant to answer
This page is not meant to be a 50-state filing chart. It is meant to answer one decision question: should you check a small-estate shortcut first, or does this estate already look like a full-probate case?
Small-Estate Affidavit Limits by State
The procedure varies, but the one fact worth putting in a chart is the dollar limit: the maximum estate value that can use the simplified path. Below is the small-estate limit, the waiting period before it can be used, and the governing statute for each state we cover. Open your state’s guide for the full requirements.
| State | Small-estate limit | Waiting period | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | About $47,000 for 2026 deaths (combined homestead, exempt-property, and family allowances) | No fixed wait to file, but notice must be published first and the court generally does not act until at least 30 days after publication. Total elapsed time from death is typically longer | Ala. Code Sections 43-2-690 through 43-2-696.02 |
| Arizona | $200,000 personal property; $300,000 Arizona real property | 30 days for personal property; 6 months for real property | A.R.S. 14-3971 and A.R.S. 14-3972 |
| Arkansas | $100,000 | 45 days after death | Ark. Code 28-41-101 |
| California | $208,850 | 40 days | California Probate Code sections 13100-13116 |
| Colorado | $88,000 for 2026 deaths (indexed annually by year of death) | At least 10 days after death | C.R.S. 15-12-1201 and 15-12-1202 |
| Connecticut | $40,000 or less in solely owned tangible and intangible personal property, with no solely owned Connecticut real property at death | None before filing. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-273 sets no waiting period after death. The 30 days runs against the COURT: on receiving the affidavit the court sends a copy to the Department of Administrative Services and may not issue its decree until 30 days after that copy was sent. Apart from that hold, the court may act without notice and hearing. | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-273 (settlement of small estates without probate of will or letters of administration); Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-107 (fees for settlement of a decedent’s estate); Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-365 (order of payment of claims, expenses and taxes); Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-392 (estate tax return filed with the Probate Court); Conn. Gen. Stat. § 45a-274 (ex parte administrator for benefits of $1,000 or less) |
| Florida | $75,000 for Summary Administration; narrower Disposition Without Administration rules for certain personal-property estates | No fixed wait for the general final-expense route; more than 1 year after death for the intestate $10,000 route | Florida Statutes Chapter 735 |
| Georgia | No generic dollar cap (Georgia has no classic small-estate affidavit); the bank-deposit affidavit covers deposits up to $15,000 | No fixed wait for No Administration Necessary; the bank-deposit funeral-expense payout option becomes available 45 days after death | O.C.G.A. § 53-2-40, O.C.G.A. § 7-1-239, and O.C.G.A. § 53-3-1 |
| Illinois | $150,000 of personal estate, excluding registered motor vehicles | None; 755 ILCS 5/25-1 sets no waiting period after the date of death | 755 ILCS 5/25-1 (small estate affidavit); 755 ILCS 5/9-8 (summary administration); 755 ILCS 5/18-10 (classification of claims) |
| Indiana | $100,000 gross probate estate, less liens, encumbrances, and reasonable funeral expenses (deaths after June 30, 2022) | 45 days after death (5 days for a motor vehicle or watercraft title at the BMV) | Ind. Code § 29-1-8-1 (distributee affidavit for small estates); Ind. Code §§ 29-1-8-3 and 29-1-8-4 (summary administration and closing statement); Ind. Code § 33-37-4-7 (probate costs fee and exemptions) |
| Iowa | $100,000 (gross value of personal property) | 40 days after death | Iowa Code § 633.356 (distribution by affidavit); Iowa Code § 635.1 and § 635.8(4) (chapter 635 small estate administration) |
| Kentucky | $30,000 in distributable personal property, within the surviving-spouse-and-children exemption of KRS 391.030, alone or together with preferred claims paid | No waiting period set by statute; the petition is filed with the District Court (KRS 395.455) | KRS 395.455 and KRS 395.450 (transfer of assets without administration); KRS 391.030 ($30,000 surviving-spouse-and-children exemption and $2,500 bank withdrawal); KRS 396.095 (order of payment of preferred claims); KRS 395.470 (dispensing with administration by agreement) |
| Louisiana | $200,000 gross value, or any value if the death occurred 20+ years ago | No fixed statutory waiting period for the affidavit itself; asset holders may set their own timing | Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure arts. 3421 and 3431-3434 |
| Maine | $52,500 for deaths in 2026 (the inflation-adjusted figure under 18-C M.R.S. § 1-108; $40,000 statutory base, $51,100 for deaths in 2025); personal property only, and no real property | 30 days after death | 18-C M.R.S. § 3-1201 (collection of personal property by affidavit); 18-C M.R.S. § 1-108 (cost-of-living adjustment of the dollar threshold); 18-C M.R.S. § 3-1204 (summary administrative closing statement) |
| Maryland | $50,000 or less in property subject to administration, or $100,000 or less when the surviving spouse is the sole legatee or heir | No fixed statutory waiting period; the small-estate petition is filed with the Register of Wills once the property subject to administration is established at $50,000 or less, or $100,000 or less when the surviving spouse is the sole legatee or heir | Md. Est. & Trusts §§ 5-601 to 5-607 (small estate); Md. Est. & Trusts § 2-206 (Register of Wills probate fee schedule); Md. Est. & Trusts § 8-103 (limitation on creditor claims) |
| Massachusetts | $25,000 in personal property, plus one motor vehicle the decedent owned, which sits outside that ceiling; no real estate | 30 days after the date of death | M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1201 (collection of personal property by affidavit, filed as the voluntary administration statement); M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1202 (effect of affidavit); M.G.L. c. 190B, §§ 3-1203 and 3-1204 (small estates, summary administration procedure and closing by sworn statement); M.G.L. c. 262, § 40 and M.G.L. c. 262, § 4C (filing fee and surcharge) |
| Michigan | $53,000 for 2026 deaths (statutory base $50,000, adjusted) | More than 28 days after death for the successor affidavit path | MCL 700.3982 and MCL 700.3983 |
| Minnesota | $75,000 | 30 days after death | Minn. Stat. 524.3-1201 and 524.3-1202 |
| Mississippi | $75,000 (value of the entire probate estate, excluding non-probate property) | 30 days after death | Miss. Code § 91-7-322 |
| Missouri | $40,000 (entire estate, less liens, debts, and encumbrances) | 30 days after death | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.097 (small estate; distribution of assets without letters); Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.090 (refusal of letters) |
| Nevada | $25,000 of personal property (general claimant); $150,000 if the claimant is the surviving spouse | 40 days after death | NRS 146.080 (and NRS 146.070, NRS 145.040) |
| New Hampshire | None. New Hampshire sets no dollar limit for a simplified estate, because it has no small estate affidavit. Waiver of administration under RSA 553:32 and summary administration under RSA 553:33 both qualify on relationship and consent, and either one is open at any estate value. | None before opening. A New Hampshire estate can be opened as soon as the certified death record is in hand, and RSA 553:3 gives the surviving spouse, and then the next of kin, a 30-day preference window to apply before anyone else may be appointed. The waiting periods come at the end instead. A waiver-of-administration estate closes on an affidavit of administration filed not less than 6 months and not more than one year after appointment. A Motion for Summary Administration cannot be filed until the estate has been open at least 6 months. Both track the creditor window, which runs 6 months from the original grant of administration under RSA 556:3, not from the death and not from a published notice. | RSA 553:32 (waiver of administration); RSA 553:33 (summary administration); RSA 553:1 (administrator defined); RSA 553:13 (bond); RSA 553:16 (publication of notice of appointment, not required at a gross value of $10,000 or less); RSA 554:1 (inventory); RSA 554:26-a (accounts); RSA 556:3 (creditors exhibit their demands within 6 months of the original grant of administration); RSA 563-D (Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act); N.H. Circuit Court Probate Division Rule 169 (the statewide fee schedule); N.H. Circuit Court Probate Division Rule 88 (fiduciary and attorney fees) |
| New Jersey | $50,000 or less in real and personal assets where a spouse, civil union partner, or domestic partner survives, or $20,000 or less where none survives and the remaining heirs consent in writing | None. Neither affidavit route carries a statutory waiting period. The 10-day floor in N.J.S.A. 3B:3-22 applies to admitting a will to probate, and these affidavits are available only where the decedent left no will. | N.J.S.A. 3B:10-3 (surviving spouse, partner in a civil union, or domestic partner) and N.J.S.A. 3B:10-4 (heirs, with written consent); N.J.S.A. 3B:10-5 (payment on a true copy of the affidavit); N.J.S.A. 22A:2-30 (surrogate fee schedule); N.J.S.A. 3B:22-4 (creditor claims) |
| New Mexico | $50,000 (value of the entire estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances) | 30 days after death | NMSA 1978, Section 45-3-1201 (and Sections 45-3-1202, 45-3-1203, 45-3-1204, 45-3-1205) |
| New York | $50,000 or less in personal property | No fixed waiting period in the staged data; file after death once you have required documents and county instructions. | SCPA Article 13 |
| North Carolina | $20,000, or $30,000 for certain surviving-spouse cases | 30 days after death | N.C. Gen. Stat. Chapter 28A, Article 25 |
| Ohio | Release from Administration: $35,000, or up to $100,000 if all probate assets pass to the surviving spouse; Summary Release: funeral/burial reimbursement or spouse support allowance plus up to $5,000 funeral amount | No fixed statutory wait; creditor claims generally run 6 months from death | Ohio Revised Code §§ 2113.03, 2113.031, 2106.13 |
| Pennsylvania | $50,000 | No fixed statewide waiting period in Section 3102 | 20 Pa.C.S. Sections 3101, 3102, and 3121 |
| Rhode Island | $15,000 or less in personal property that would otherwise be listed on a probate inventory, excluding the decedent’s tangible personal property, and no real property in the estate at all | 30 days from the date of death. R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 33-24-1(a) and 33-24-2(a) allow the statement to be filed only "after the expiration of thirty (30) days from the death of the decedent", and only where no petition for letters testamentary or letters of administration has already been filed in the probate court of the city or town where the decedent resided. The clock runs from the death itself, not from a notice or a publication. | R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-24-1 (voluntary informal administration of small estates); R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-24-2 (small estates where an executor is named in the will); R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-9-1 (the inventory that measures the ceiling, and which leaves out real property); R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-22-21 (probate court fees); R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-12-11 (order of preference of debts); R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-14-13 (reopening for newly discovered assets of $5,000 or less); R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-23-1 (statement filed with the tax administrator); R.I. Gen. Laws § 8-9-9 (which probate court hears the estate) |
| South Carolina | $45,000 | 30 days after death | S.C. Code Sections 62-3-1201, 62-3-1202, 62-3-1203, and 62-3-1204 |
| Tennessee | $50,000 (value of probate property) | 45 days after death | T.C.A. § 30-4-101 et seq.; T.C.A. § 30-4-102 (definition of small estate); T.C.A. § 30-4-103 (petition procedure); T.C.A. § 8-21-401 (filing fee) |
| Texas | $75,000 (excluding homestead and exempt property) | 30 days | Texas Estates Code Chapter 205 |
| Vermont | $45,000.00 in fair market value, and the estate must consist entirely of personal property. Both tests come from 14 V.S.A. § 1901(a) and both have to be met; a time-share estate under 32 V.S.A. § 3619(a) is the only real-property-flavoured asset the route allows. | None before filing. 14 V.S.A. § 1901(a) lists eight things to file and a waiting period is not one of them, so a Vermont small estate can be commenced as soon as the death certificate and the inventory are ready. The waiting happens afterwards. An interested party who has not consented in writing must be given notice and has 14 days from receiving it to object under § 1901(b), and claims that arose before the death are barred four months after the first publication of notice to creditors under § 1203(a)(1), or one year after the death where notice was never given. | 14 V.S.A. § 1901 (commencement of a small estate, the $45,000.00 fair-market-value limit and the personal-property-only test); 14 V.S.A. § 1902 (letters of administration, small estates, notice); 14 V.S.A. § 1903 (closing a small estate, and the order of dividend where it is insolvent); 14 V.S.A. § 1851 and 14 V.S.A. § 1852 (waiver of administration); V.R.P.P. Rule 80.3(g) (the affidavit procedure, promulgated October 6, 2025 and effective January 1, 2026); 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(1)-(8) (the banded entry fee) and 32 V.S.A. § 1434(a)(30) (the $50.00 affidavit-procedure fee); 14 V.S.A. § 906 (bond); 14 V.S.A. § 1051 (inventory); 14 V.S.A. § 1201 and 14 V.S.A. § 1203 (notice to creditors and the claim bar); 27 V.S.A. chapter 6 (Enhanced Life Estate Deed Act); 4 V.S.A. § 272 (one probate district in each county) |
| Virginia | $75,000 personal probate estate (successor affidavit); $35,000 single small asset (voluntary payment) | 60 days after death | Va. Code 64.2-601 and 64.2-602 |
| Washington | $100,000, measured on the value of the decedent's entire estate subject to probate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, and leaving out the surviving spouse's or surviving domestic partner's community property interest in assets subject to probate (RCW 11.62.010(2)(c)). | Forty days after the death, plus a second clock most summaries drop. RCW 11.62.010(1) allows the affidavit only after 40 days have elapsed, and RCW 11.62.010(2)(h) makes the claiming successor swear that written notice of the claim was served on or mailed to every other successor at least 10 days earlier. Serve the other successors first and the two periods overlap; leave it to the end and the 10 days run after day 40. | RCW 11.62.010 (contents and effect of the affidavit) and RCW 11.62.020 (discharge of the person who pays or delivers), with the court-fee comparison at RCW 36.18.020(2)(f), (5)(c) and (6) |
| West Virginia | $50,000 or less in probate personal property (small assets) and no probate real property for the § 44-1A-2 affidavit; a small estate with West Virginia real estate of $100,000 or less uses the separate recorded affidavit under § 44-1A-4 | 30 days after death for a successor nominated in the will; 60 days after death for any other successor | West Virginia Code § 44-1A-1 et seq. (West Virginia Small Estate Act; definitions); West Virginia Code § 44-1A-2 (administration of a small estate by affidavit without appointment); West Virginia Code § 44-1A-4 (small-estate real estate by recorded affidavit); West Virginia Code § 59-1-10 (clerk of the county commission recording fees) |
| Wisconsin | $50,000 or less in gross value of property subject to administration in Wisconsin | No universal statewide waiting period; a holder of money due the decedent may wait until 30 days after receiving an affidavit from a will-named representative | Wis. Stat. 867.03 (transfer by affidavit), 867.01 (summary settlement), and 867.02 (summary assignment) |
Limits change: several states index them to inflation or update on a set schedule, so the linked state guide carries the effective date. A dollar figure alone does not mean an affidavit fits, since some states use a court-supervised procedure at the same value.
What a small-estate procedure usually does
A small-estate procedure is a simplified transfer path for less involved estates. The usual goal is the same: allow heirs or beneficiaries to collect certain assets without going through a full formal probate administration. In the cleanest version, the heir presents a sworn affidavit and supporting documents directly to a bank or other asset holder. In other states, the simplified path still involves a court filing, but it is narrower, cheaper, and faster than formal probate.
The reason this matters is that a simplified procedure can dramatically reduce delay and filing burden, but only if the estate truly fits the state rules. If the estate includes the wrong asset mix, unresolved debts, heir disputes, or property types the simplified path does not cover, you lose time by forcing the wrong route.
The five questions that decide whether a small-estate shortcut fits
1. Which state's rules control?
The state where the decedent lived at death usually controls the first analysis. Start there before comparing numbers or downloading forms.
2. Which assets are actually probate assets?
Beneficiary-designated accounts, trust assets, and many jointly owned assets may bypass probate entirely and may not count toward the small-estate calculation.
3. Does the estate include real estate?
Real property is the issue that most often breaks the affidavit route. Some states exclude it entirely, while others use a separate process or court-supervised shortcut.
4. Is there a waiting period or no-pending-probate rule?
Many states require a minimum number of days after death and also require that no full probate case is already pending.
5. Are the heirs, debts, and signatures straightforward?
Simplified procedures work best when the heirs are clear, the shares are not disputed, and creditor exposure is limited or manageable.
Estates that usually fit vs. estates that usually do not
Usually a good fit
- Only a few bank, wage, refund, or vehicle assets are involved.
- The estate looks clearly under the state limit after exclusions are applied.
- The heirs are known and there is no serious dispute.
- No full probate case has already started.
- The state's rules clearly allow the asset type at issue.
Usually not a good fit
- The estate includes a house, land, or complicated title issues.
- The estate is close to the limit and the calculation is not obvious.
- There are creditor problems, tax issues, or business interests.
- Heirs disagree or there is uncertainty about who should sign.
- A court-supervised proceeding is already pending or clearly required.
Why real estate changes the answer
Real estate is where many families get tripped up. A state may offer a small-estate affidavit for personal property but still require a separate real-estate procedure, a summary court filing, or full probate to move title. That means an estate that looks “small” in everyday language may still fail the simplified route if a house or land is involved.
If the estate includes a vehicle, bank accounts, or other titled assets, pair this page with the vehicle transfer guide and the bank-account transfer guide so you can match the transfer method to the asset type.
Use the assessment before you rely on the shortcut
The fastest way to misuse a small-estate procedure is to assume the estate is small before you sort out what assets are probate assets and whether a different transfer rule already applies. The safer sequence is:
Assess the estate path
Start with the probate assessment to decide whether probate, a small-estate shortcut, or no probate is more likely.
Check the state rule
Use the state small-estate guide to confirm the local limit, waiting period, and whether real estate changes the analysis.
Only then pull forms or courts
Move to the forms or courts pages only after you know which simplified or full probate route actually applies.
Official sources we use
Frequently Asked Questions
Does every state have a small estate affidavit?
Can I use a small estate affidavit if the estate includes a house?
How do I know whether the estate is under the small-estate limit?
Do I need a lawyer for a small estate affidavit?
Information current as of April 11, 2026
Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in your state can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.