Small Estate Affidavit Limits in 21 States and DC (2026): Dollar Caps, Waiting Periods, House Rules

What an affidavit does, and what it is not

A small estate affidavit lets a relative or other successor collect money and receive property of a person who died, without a court appointing an executor, if the estate is under a dollar limit and a waiting period has passed. The uniform probate code wording appears nearly word for word in several states we read. Maine’s says that thirty days after the death of a decedent, any person indebted to the decedent or holding the decedent’s property “shall make payment of the indebtedness or deliver the personal property” to the claiming successor on being presented the affidavit (Title 18-C, section 3-1201). The fine print differs: the limit, whether a court must approve the affidavit, and whether real property is in or out. Connecticut, Texas and Oregon route the affidavit through the probate court; Maryland’s section opens a streamlined administration under sections 5-602 through 5-607 rather than a collection affidavit; Florida has no affidavit at all.

This page reads the limit and the waiting period. It does not say whether a given estate qualifies, because the count depends on facts the statute leaves to the person signing: who is a successor, what debts are unpaid, and which assets are owned in the decedent’s sole name. Procedures also vary by county, and a court clerk or a lawyer licensed in the state has the last word.

The state table: limits, what they count, real property and waiting periods

We read the statute section (or, where the legislature’s site would not load, a dated copy of it) for each jurisdiction in the table. Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming are not listed: their official code could not be read on November 12, 2026. Several limits move: California adjusts every three years and Maine every year. The history lines in the right-hand column show amendments to the section (Florida 2026, Virginia 2026, South Carolina 2025, Maine 2025, Kansas 2024, South Dakota 2022), but a history line shows that a section was amended, not that its dollar figure changed. Sources that are copies and not the legislature’s own page are named in the CSV: California (FindLaw copy current as of January 1, 2026 and the Judicial Council table), Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Texas (public.law copies of the legislature’s text dated May 2025, because the legislatures’ sites did not load or run by script) and Illinois (an Internet Archive copy of ilga.gov dated October 27, 2025). A change enacted after those dates would not be in them.

Small estate affidavit and summary-procedure limits in 21 states and the District of Columbia, as of November 12, 2026

Three patterns in the 22 jurisdictions we could read:

• The affidavit is mostly a personal-property tool. Iowa, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Connecticut and the District of Columbia either exclude real property or cover only personal property. Of the states we read, only Missouri, Oregon, Arizona and California give a real-property route, and Florida reaches a house only through a court proceeding.
• A limit that counts liens counts them differently. Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota and Washington take the estate “less liens and encumbrances” (the exact words vary), while Oregon says fair market value “without reduction for liens or other debts”. A mortgaged house counts at its full value in Oregon and at its equity in the others, where real property is counted at all.
• Waiting periods cluster at 30 days. Illinois, Kansas, New York, Maryland and Florida state none in the section we read; Colorado is 10 days; California, Iowa, Nevada and Washington are 40; Virginia and the District of Columbia are 60. California’s and Arizona’s real-property affidavits wait six months.

What never counts toward the limit

The limit is measured on what would pass by will or intestacy. The statutes say so in different words, and the words matter when an estate has a mix of accounts.

• South Carolina: “the value of the entire probate estate (the decedent’s property passing under the decedent’s will plus the decedent’s property passing by intestacy)”.
• Connecticut: aggregate value of solely owned property, “excluding property that passes outside of probate by operation of law”.
• Colorado: “The fair market value of property owned by the decedent and subject to disposition by will or intestate succession”.
• Texas: estate assets “excluding homestead and exempt property”; and only for a decedent who dies intestate.
• California: the 13100 total leaves out vehicles (section 13050) and any property in a 13151 petition.
• Nevada: leaves out registered motor vehicles and amounts owed for Armed Forces service.

Reading those together (our reading, not a ruling): a retirement account or life insurance policy with a named beneficiary, a bank or brokerage account with a TOD or POD designation, property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, a house covered by a recorded transfer on death deed, and assets titled in a living trust are not part of the estate the limit measures. Because they are outside the estate, they are also not moved by the affidavit: they follow their own paperwork. See transfer on death deeds by state for the real-estate version, and beneficiary designations and spousal consent for accounts. The statutes that say “entire estate” without the word probate (Maine, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota) leave the point to the court clerk’s form.

A house: which routes reach it

If the house is in the decedent’s sole name with no TOD deed, it is part of the estate, and the affidavit limits above mostly do not reach it.

• California has three layers. The 13100 affidavit counts real property in its $208,850 total but moves only money, tangible property and evidence of debt; title to a house needs the 13151 petition for a primary residence (up to $750,000 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, a ceiling set by Stats. 2024, ch. 331, wait of 40 days) or the 13200 affidavit (up to $69,625, six months after death, with a probate referee’s appraisal). Fees and the full fee schedule are in California probate fees.
• Texas: the chapter “does not transfer title to real property” except a homestead that is the only real property in the estate, and only if the estate passes the $75,000 test.
• Arizona: a separate affidavit filed in court after six months, with real property up to $300,000 valued from the assessment rolls.
• Oregon: the simple estate affidavit covers up to $200,000 of real property alongside up to $75,000 of personal property, filed with the probate court after 30 days.
• Missouri: distributees may establish title to real estate by recording the affidavit and the clerk’s certificate.
• Florida: summary administration up to $150,000 is a court proceeding; our reading of the section is that it is the route that can include a house. See Florida probate cost.
• Iowa, Nevada, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, New York: the affidavit does not reach a house; it needs letters, a deed route or another procedure. For selling a house in probate, see probate for real estate.

Brokerage and non-traded REIT accounts: what the other side asks for

A brokerage firm, bank or transfer agent decides in the end whether to honor an affidavit. Four of the statutes we read put the duty in writing. Maine: “A transfer agent of any security shall change the registered ownership on the books of a corporation from the decedent to the successor or successors upon the presentation of an affidavit”. North Dakota’s section says the same for a corporation or limited liability company, South Carolina’s repeats the Maine wording, and Illinois obliges any person “acting as registrar or transfer agent of any evidence of interest, indebtedness, property or right” furnished with the Illinois form to transfer it.

The published checklists we found ask for more than the statute, and they differ:

• Broadridge Shareholder Services (legal transfer form): “Your Legal Transfer will require a Medallion Signature Guarantee (MSG).” For a deceased shareholder it asks for a copy of the death certificate and a notarized affidavit of domicile, and, when an estate was probated, the certificate of appointment dated within one year (six months for New York). A separate line applies when the shareholder lived in California or Illinois and the estate will not be probated: “Estate Value is $100,000 or Less (IL) or $150,000 or Less (CA)”. California’s statute figure for deaths on or after April 1, 2025 is $208,850, so an agent’s form can carry an older threshold than the statute; ask the agent which one it applies.
• Bank of America (medallion signature guarantee page): clients provide either a “Small Estate Affidavit” or “Letters Testamentary dated within 60 calendar days”, and the page notes that New York allows letters dated within six months.

For shares of a non-traded REIT, BDC or interval fund the issuer’s own transfer agent forms control, the shares are valued at the issuer’s latest published value (usually a net asset value per share, our reading), and repurchase requests after a death follow the offering documents. We did not obtain an issuer-specific small-estate form for a non-traded vehicle, so we do not say that any particular issuer accepts an affidavit. What a REIT or BDC does about repurchases and heirs is in non-traded REITs and BDCs after a death or disability.

Worked example (our arithmetic): one estate, three states

An unmarried person dies intestate, owning in sole name a house worth $420,000 (the primary residence), a brokerage account of $60,000, $25,000 of a non-traded REIT and a checking account of $9,000, plus an IRA of $180,000 with a named beneficiary. Assume no joint owners, no TOD or POD designations and no living trust, and no debts. The probate estate is $420,000 + $60,000 + $25,000 + $9,000 = $514,000 (our arithmetic); the IRA is outside it. The personal property in the estate is $60,000 + $25,000 + $9,000 = $94,000.

Three things move the answer. First, a TOD deed on the house would take $420,000 out of the estate, and a TOD designation on the brokerage account another $60,000; the IRA already sits outside. Second, a debt or a funeral bill does not reduce the Texas or Illinois count unless the statute says “less liens”. Third, Arizona values the estate at the date of death and Texas at the date of the affidavit, so a market move between the two dates can change the result.

What a reader can do with this

• List the assets by how they are titled. Sort each account into sole name, beneficiary or TOD, joint, or trust before reading any limit. Only the sole-name group is the number the statute measures.
• Read the limit for the state where the person lived, and for any state where they owned real property. A house in a second state needs its own procedure; see ancillary probate and the state matrix.
• Ask the holder for its checklist before drafting anything. The same affidavit can satisfy a bank and be refused by a transfer agent that wants letters dated within 60 days.
• Check the date. California’s next adjustment is April 1, 2028; Maine publishes a new value each year; and a legislature can change a limit in a session that postdates the copy we read.
• Know what executors and heirs owe in tax. The affidavit does not remove income tax, the step-up in basis, or estate tax; see tax on inheritance by asset.

More for a family handling someone else's money: what a living trust costs against statutory probate fees; how executors get letters testamentary, with court fees; how long probate takes, from the creditor claim statutes; TOD and POD accounts, including non-traded REIT and BDC shares; financial power of attorney rules in 13 states; guardianship vs conservatorship under state law.

FAQ

Sources, read and saved on November 12, 2026: the statute text of Arizona (azleg.gov), Connecticut (cga.ct.gov, chapter 802b), the District of Columbia (code.dccouncil.gov, sections 20-351 and 20-361), Florida (flsenate.gov, 2026 Florida Statutes 735.201 and 735.301), Iowa (legis.iowa.gov, 633.356), Kansas (ksrevisor.org, 59-1507b), Maine (legislature.maine.gov, 18-C section 3-1201), Maryland (mgaleg.maryland.gov, Estates and Trusts 5-601), Minnesota (revisor.mn.gov, 524.3-1201), Missouri (revisor.mo.gov, 473.097), New York (nysenate.gov, SCPA 1301 and 1302), North Dakota (ndlegis.gov, chapter 30.1-23), South Carolina (scstatehouse.gov, 62-3-1201), South Dakota (sdlegislature.gov, 29A-3-1201), Virginia (law.lis.virginia.gov, 64.2-601) and Washington (app.leg.wa.gov, RCW 11.62.010); FindLaw copies of California Probate Code 13050, 13100, 13151 and 13200 (current as of January 1, 2026) and the California Judicial Council’s table of Probate Code 890 adjusted amounts; public.law copies of the Colorado Revised Statutes 2024 (15-12-1201, 15-11-403, 15-10-112), Nevada Revised Statutes 146.080, Oregon Revised Statutes 114.510 and 114.515 and Texas Estates Code chapter 205 (all dated May 2025); an Internet Archive copy of 755 ILCS 5/25-1 dated October 27, 2025; the Broadridge Shareholder Services legal transfer form and the Bank of America medallion signature guarantee page. Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming are not listed. Counts and classifications are ours. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.