Small Estate Affidavit Thresholds & Procedure in California

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law

The personal-property affidavit is Cal. Prob. Code §§ 13100–13106. The dollar figure it uses isn't fixed in that text — it's set by a separate adjustment statute, § 890, described next. Real property runs through two different chapters entirely: § 13200 (a filed affidavit) and §§ 13150–13158 (a court petition), covered under "Does it cover real property?" below.

Dollar threshold

Section 13100 caps the estate's gross value (real and personal property combined, for calculating eligibility) at "one hundred sixty-six thousand two hundred fifty dollars ($166,250), as adjusted periodically in accordance with Section 890." That $166,250 figure is deliberately stale — it was the original 2020 baseline. Section 890 requires the Judicial Council to recalculate every three years using a Consumer Price Index formula, rounded to the nearest $25, and to publish the current number. The Judicial Council's own table (published under § 890(c)) shows the actual current threshold for §§ 13100–13101 is $208,850, effective for any decedent who died on or after April 1, 2025 (the prior figure, $184,500, applied to deaths between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2025). The next scheduled adjustment is April 1, 2028. Always check the decedent's date of death against this schedule — the correct number is whichever was in effect on that date, not necessarily today's.

Court filing required?

No. The affidavit is presented directly to whoever holds the property — there is no petition, no judge's order, and no hearing for the personal-property procedure. (California's two real-property procedures are different: one is filed with the superior court's clerk without a hearing, and the other is a genuine court petition — see "Does it cover real property?" below.)

Waiting period after death

40 days must have elapsed since the death before the affidavit can be used for personal property. Either real-property procedure requires a much longer wait: 6 months.

Works with a will, intestacy, or both?

Both. The affidavit is available to the decedent's "successor," a term Section 13006 defines to include either a beneficiary named in a valid will or, if the decedent left no will, the heirs entitled to the property under California's intestate succession rules. Nothing in §§ 13100–13101 requires the estate to be intestate.

Does it cover real property?

No — this is the biggest trap in California's small-estate rules. The personal-property affidavit under §§ 13100–13101 cannot transfer real estate, even though a house's value is counted when checking whether the estate falls under the $208,850 cap. To actually transfer real property, California offers two separate, less-used procedures instead: a filed affidavit under § 13200 (real property worth $69,625 or less, requiring a probate referee's appraisal attached and a notary's acknowledgment on the affidavit, filed with the superior court but not requiring a hearing), or a court petition under §§ 13150–13158 (up to $750,000, but since a 2024 amendment restricted to the decedent's primary residence only — it can no longer be used for a rental house or vacant land). For deaths on or after April 1, 2022, § 13200(h)(2) makes the adjusted amount in effect on the date of death controlling.

Signature formalities

None beyond the declaration itself. The affiant signs "under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California" — no witnesses and no notary are required by statute for the personal-property affidavit. In practice, many banks and other institutions ask for notarization anyway as their own policy, even though the law doesn't require it. The real-property affidavit under § 13200 is stricter: it explicitly requires a notary public's certificate of acknowledgment for every person who signs.

Protection for the bank/holder

Strong. Once the affidavit satisfies §§ 13100–13104, the holder who pays out or transfers the property is fully discharged from further liability and — per § 13106 — "has no duty to inquire into the truth of any statement in the affidavit." That protection runs to the holder, not the person who received the property: § 13109 separately makes the person who collected the property (the transferee) personally liable to the decedent's unsecured creditors, capped at the fair market value of what they actually received.

What trips people up

The single biggest mistake is assuming the $208,850 threshold covers real estate transfers the way it covers a bank account — it doesn't. Someone who inherits a house worth $150,000 and a bank account worth $50,000 might be under the combined $208,850 cap, but they still can't sign the § 13100 affidavit to get the house; they need the separate real-property procedure (and a 6-month wait, not 40 days). A second trap is relying on the $166,250 figure printed directly in the codified text of § 13100 itself — that number is over five years stale by design; the statute exists to point to § 890's adjustment mechanism, and the actual current figure has to be pulled from the Judicial Council's own published table, not from the bare text of § 13100.

Common questions

Do I need a lawyer to use the affidavit? No — the statute is written for a layperson to use directly with the institution holding the property, though an institution unfamiliar with the process may initially ask for formal "Letters" of administration.

What if the decedent's total estate is worth more than $208,850? The small-estate affidavit isn't available at all; the estate generally needs a formal, court-supervised probate administration.

Can I use one affidavit for everything, or do I need a separate one for each account? Either approach is allowed — the statute lets an affiant list all property in one affidavit or use a separate affidavit for each item.

Statutes and sources

• Cal. Prob. Code § 13100 — "Excluding the property described in Section 13050 and any property included in a petition filed under Section 13151, if the gross value of the decedent's real and personal property in this state does not exceed one hundred sixty-six thousand two hundred fifty dollars ($166,250), as adjusted periodically in accordance with Section 890, and if 40 days have elapsed since the death of the decedent, the successor of the decedent may, without procuring letters of administration or awaiting probate of the will, do any of the following with respect to one or more particular items of property." — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=13100. (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Cal. Prob. Code § 890 — "On April 1, 2022, and at each three-year interval ending on April 1 thereafter, the dollar amounts specified in Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 6600) of Part 3 of Division 6 and in Division 8 (commencing with Section 13000) in effect immediately before that date shall be adjusted as provided in subdivision (b)." — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=890. (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Judicial Council, Probate Code Section 890 Adjusted Amounts — "The dollar amounts were adjusted on April 1, 2022, and April 1, 2025. ... §§ 13100, 13101 ... On or after April 1, 2025 ... $208,850" — https://courts.ca.gov/system/files/file/probate-code-890-adjusted-amounts.pdf (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Cal. Prob. Code § 13101(a)(11) — "The affiant or declarant affirms or declares under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct." — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=13101. (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Cal. Prob. Code § 13200(b) — "For each person executing the affidavit, the affidavit shall contain a notary public's certificate of acknowledgment identifying the person." — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=13200. (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Cal. Prob. Code § 13150(b)(1) — "The decedent's personal representative consents in writing to use of the procedure provided by this chapter to determine that real property that was the decedent's primary residence is property passing to the petitioners." — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=13150. (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Cal. Prob. Code § 13106(a) — "receipt by the holder of the decedent's property of the affidavit or declaration constitutes sufficient acquittance for the payment of money, delivery of property, or changing registered ownership of property pursuant to this chapter and discharges the holder from any further liability with respect to the money or property. The holder may rely in good faith on the statements in the affidavit or declaration and has no duty to inquire into the truth of any statement in the affidavit or declaration." — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=13106. (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Cal. Prob. Code § 13109(a)-(b) — "A transferee is personally liable, to the extent provided in this section for the unsecured debts of the decedent. ... The personal liability under subdivision (a) shall not exceed the fair market value of the transferred property at the time the affidavit or declaration is presented under this chapter, less the amount of any liens and encumbrances on the transferred property at that time" — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=13109. (accessed 2026-07-06)
• Cal. Prob. Code § 13006 — defines the successor of a testate or intestate decedent for the small-estate transfer chapters. https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=13006. (accessed 2026-07-06)