California: Small Estate Affidavit Thresholds & Procedure

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 published table 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).

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 — "'Successor of the decedent' means: (a) If the
  decedent died leaving a will, the sole beneficiary or all of the
  beneficiaries who succeeded to a particular item of property of the
  decedent under the decedent's will. ... (b) If the decedent died without
  a will, the sole person or all of the persons who succeeded to the
  particular item of property of the decedent under Sections 6401 and
  6402" —
  https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=13006.
  (accessed 2026-07-06)