Small Estate Affidavit by State: Limits, Waiting Periods and the Heir List Behind Every One

When someone dies, a bank will not hand their account to a relative on the relative’s say-so. Normally it waits for a court to appoint a personal representative — an executor or administrator — and releases the money to that person. For a large or complicated estate that is the point of probate: one accountable person collects everything, pays the debts and distributes the rest under court supervision.

For a small estate, the legislature in most states has decided that the process costs more than it protects. So the statute lets the person entitled to the property swear to a short list of facts instead: that the decedent has died, that the estate is under the dollar limit, that the waiting period has run, in many states that nobody has been appointed or applied to administer the estate, and that the signer is the one entitled to receive the property. That sworn statement is what the holder relies on in place of a court order.

Three things follow from that design, and they explain almost every row of the table below. First, the affidavit only works for property somebody is holding — an account, a stock, a car title, a final paycheck — so most versions reach personal property only. Second, the protection depends on the facts sworn being true, so the limit, the wait and the list of who is entitled are conditions, not formalities. Third, the names vary enormously. Nebraska calls it collection of personal property by affidavit, Virginia payment of a small asset by affidavit, Oregon a simple estate affidavit, Wisconsin transfer by affidavit. And some states do not have one at all: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Vermont use a court procedure instead, and New Hampshire has no dollar-capped procedure of any kind.

So before anyone fills in a form, the first question is not “how much?” but “which procedure, in which state?” The state is usually the one where the decedent lived, though a few statutes measure only property located in that state and some are limited to residents — Kansas’s applies when a resident of the state dies, and Rhode Island’s requires both the decedent and the person signing to be Rhode Island residents.

For California, see our California small estate affidavit guide, which walks through the figure for each date of death and the separate procedures for land.

State limits checked against each state’s own statute or court publication on September 23, 2026. Limits change, several are indexed to inflation, and a court or bank will apply the version in force for the date of death. “Net” means value less liens and encumbrances. “Affidavit to holder” means the signed affidavit goes straight to the bank or other holder; the other entries involve a court, clerk or register.

1. Alabama: the cap equals the combined homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance as adjusted for inflation (Act 2025-431, effective October 1, 2025). The $47,000 total comes from a state Finance Department memo to probate judges dated January 6, 2026, not from the statute; adjusted values are republished every three years. Also unavailable where the decedent left a minor child who is not the surviving spouse’s child.
2. Arizona: raised by HB 2116, effective September 26, 2025; values as of the date of death.
3. Arkansas: the requirement to publish notice when the estate includes real property is confirmed only from a county clerk’s reproduction of the statute. The legislature’s enacted text also lets the distributee open an estate bank account without probate.
4. California: the figure is keyed to the date of death under Probate Code 890 and published on Judicial Council form DE-300; the statute’s own text still prints an older base figure, and a lower figure applies to earlier deaths. Next adjustment April 1, 2028. Real property uses a separate court-filed affidavit (up to $69,625 of California real property for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, six months after death) or a court petition for a primary residence.
5. Colorado: indexed each year by year of death (2024: $82,000; 2023: $80,000), per the Judicial Branch’s April 28, 2026 revision of form JDF 999. The cap covers property subject to disposition by will or intestacy.
6. Delaware: raised by 85 Del. Laws c. 281, approved June 10, 2026, with no date-of-death transition clause. Many published tables still show the old figure.
7. District of Columbia: the affidavit and the $80,000 court figure come from D.C. Law 25-302 (effective March 21, 2025). Temporary D.C. Law 26-164 (effective August 14, 2026, expiring after 225 days) applies them to deaths on or after March 21, 2025; for earlier deaths the court small estate limit is $40,000 and there is no affidavit. Check whether a permanent version has been enacted.
8. Florida: both figures were raised by ch. 2026-57, effective July 1, 2026; the act states no date-of-death transition. Summary administration is also available, whatever the value, if the decedent has been dead more than two years.
9. Georgia: no small-estate affidavit and no statutory dollar cap. Heirs may petition the probate court for an order that no administration is necessary (O.C.G.A. 53-2-40), which requires all heirs to agree on the division and the estate to have no unpaid debts or creditor consent. The standard court form is for intestate estates.
10. Illinois: for deaths before August 15, 2025 the limit was $100,000 including vehicles. From January 1, 2027 (P.A. 104-624) the figure stays at $150,000, but motor homes, trailers, commercial vehicles, implements of husbandry and buses no longer count as excluded vehicles.
11. Iowa: raised by HF 2660, effective July 1, 2026, which also replaced the old “no real property” test with a requirement that probate assets be personal property only. The printed 2026 Code still shows the earlier figure. There is no date-of-death transition clause. Reading the new wording, real property passing outside probate appears not to bar the affidavit, but that is an inference from the text.
12. Kentucky: there is no dollar-capped affidavit. The court may dispense with administration when the spouse and children exemption (KRS 391.030, $30,000 for deaths on or after July 15, 2020), alone or with preferred claims paid, equals or exceeds the distributable assets. How real property is handled under this mechanism was not verified.
13. Louisiana: raised by Acts 2026, No. 293, effective August 1, 2026; how it applies by date of death was not examined. The article 3432 affidavit is for intestate successions.
14. Maine: the statute sets $40,000 adjusted for inflation by year of death under 18-C M.R.S. 1-108. The figures shown are computed from that formula and federal CPI data; the county probate courts publish the adjusted value each year, and that publication could not be read.
15. Missouri: notice must be published when the property listed exceeds $15,000.
16. Nevada: excludes registered motor vehicles and Armed Forces pay from the value. Debts, including funeral costs and any Medicaid recovery, must be paid or provided for, and a false affidavit is a felony.
17. New Hampshire: estates go through the probate court; waiver of administration (RSA 553:32) and summary administration (RSA 553:33) simplify a court administration. The one exception found: up to $500 of unpaid wages may be paid to a surviving spouse on affidavit (RSA 560:20).
18. New Mexico: the affidavit may not be used to perfect title to real estate. A surviving spouse may record a separate affidavit for a community-property homestead (assessed value up to $500,000) six months after death, if the estate otherwise need not be probated and the listed debts are paid.
19. North Carolina: separate sections cover intestate and testate estates; in the testate version the will must first be admitted to probate.
20. Pennsylvania: separately, 20 Pa.C.S. 3101 allows direct payments to family without letters: wages up to $10,000 and deposit accounts up to $20,000.
21. Rhode Island: the decedent and the person filing must be Rhode Island residents; the filing fee is $30 plus $5 for the certificate the clerk issues.
22. South Dakota: the real-property affidavit covers the decedent’s interest in South Dakota real property (assessed value; agricultural land at fair market value). Neither affidavit is available if the decedent incurred Department of Social Services debt for nursing-home or institutional care.
23. Tennessee: the property measured excludes survivorship and tenancy-by-the-entirety property and property payable to a beneficiary. The court may waive the 45-day wait for good cause.
24. Texas: the affidavit must be sworn by two disinterested witnesses and by each distributee who has legal capacity, and it is unavailable if the decedent left a will.
25. Virginia: set by 2025 Acts ch. 148. Assets of $35,000 or less may be paid to a successor without an affidavit after 60 days (64.2-602). Any will must be probated first.
26. Washington: the decedent must have been a Washington resident, and all debts, including funeral and burial costs, must be paid or provided for. A copy of the affidavit must be mailed to the office of financial recovery of the Department of Social and Health Services.
27. West Virginia: since 2025 HB 2867, an estate with probate real property needs a personal representative. The decedent must have died domiciled in West Virginia.
28. Wisconsin: a second affidavit arriving during the 30-day hold stops the transfer without a court order. Prior notice to the state Department of Health Services is required where the decedent or spouse received long-term care or Medicaid benefits.

Full administration, with a court-appointed personal representative, is the route when the estate is over the limit for the date of death, when it holds real property that no affidavit in that state can reach, when the family disagrees about who inherits or in what shares, when a will has to be proved first, or when a holder simply refuses the affidavit and insists on letters. It is also the usual route when an heir cannot be found and the affidavit needs that heir’s signature or notice. A court procedure has its own ways of dealing with an heir who cannot be found, such as notice by publication, which a private affidavit does not.

A court appointment also gives one person authority to act for the estate as a whole, which an affidavit collecting a single account does not. Where that authority is needed, letters of administration explains how the appointment works, and probate without a will explains who inherits and who is appointed when there is no will. Families weighing the cost can compare probate fees by state, and how long probate takes sets out the stages. Where the estate includes land and the question is only who the heirs are, some families record an affidavit of heirship instead — a different document with the same dependence on a complete list of heirs.

Nothing on this page replaces advice from a lawyer who practices in the state concerned. Statutes change, courts read them, and banks have their own compliance rules. Use the table to find the right statute and ask the right questions, and confirm the answer with the court, the clerk or a probate attorney before anyone signs.