State small estate affidavit and simplified probate thresholds
Dollar thresholds below which heirs can use a small estate affidavit or simplified probate procedure to transfer a decedent's property without full probate, for each US state and DC. Each record is one jurisdiction, giving the personal property threshold for the affidavit procedure, any separate real property threshold, waiting period, whether a will is required to be absent, inflation adjustment schedule, and statute citation. Answers 'what is the small estate limit in [state]' and 'can I avoid probate for a $X estate in [state]'. Thresholds range from $5,000 (some states) to $208,850 (California, inflation-adjusted triennially). Several states adjust periodically; most do not. No existing compilation cites the underlying statutes, making verification impossible.
The data
| State | Personal property threshold | Real property threshold | Waiting period (days) | Will restriction | Inflation adjustment | Exclusions | Statute citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | $200,000 | $300,000 | 30 | with or without will | none | liens and encumbrances | Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 14-3971 |
| California | $208,850 | included | 40 | with or without will | triennial per CPI (Prob. Code § 890); $208,850 applies to deaths on or after April 1, 2025 | property described in Section 13050 and any property included in a petition filed under Section 13151 | Cal. Prob. Code § 13100 |
| Florida | $150,000 | included | not stated | with or without will | none | property exempt from the claims of creditors | Fla. Stat. § 735.201 |
| Illinois | $150,000 | N/A | not stated | with or without will | none | motor vehicles registered with the Secretary of State | 755 ILCS 5/25-1 |
| Minnesota | $75,000 | N/A | 30 | with or without will | none | liens and encumbrances | Minn. Stat. § 524.3-1201 |
| Missouri | $40,000 | included | 30 | with or without will | none | liens, debt, and encumbrances | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 473.097 |
| Nevada | $25,000 ($150,000 if the claimant is the surviving spouse) | N/A | 40 | with or without will | none | amounts due for service in the Armed Forces; motor vehicles registered to the decedent | Nev. Rev. Stat. § 146.080 |
| Ohio | $35,000 ($100,000 if the entire estate passes to the surviving spouse) | included | not stated | with or without will | none | none stated | Ohio Rev. Code § 2113.03 |
| Oregon | $75,000 | $200,000 | 30 | with or without will | none | manufactured homes are counted with real property, not personal property | Or. Rev. Stat. § 114.510 |
| Texas | $75,000 | N/A | not stated | intestate only | none | homestead property, exempt property, and other non-probate property | Tex. Est. Code Chapter 205 |
| Virginia | $75,000 | N/A | 60 | with or without will | none | none stated | Va. Code § 64.2-601 |
| Washington | $100,000 | N/A | 40 | with or without will | none | surviving spouse's or domestic partner's community property interest; liens and encumbrances | Wash. Rev. Code § 11.62.010 |
| Wisconsin | $50,000 | included | not stated | with or without will | none | none stated | Wis. Stat. § 867.03 |
Where this came from
Every record above links the page it was taken from and quotes the sentence that states it. These are the 14 sources this dataset was assembled from.
- azleg.govhttps://www.azleg.gov/ars/14/03971.htm
- courts.ca.govhttps://courts.ca.gov/system/files/file/probate-code-890-adjusted-amounts.pdf
- leginfo.legislature.ca.govhttps://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=13100
- leg.state.fl.ushttp://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0735/Sections/0735.201.html
- ilga.govhttps://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ILCS/details?MajorTopic=&Chapter=&ActName=Probate+Act+of+1975.&ActID=2104&ChapterID=60&ChapAct=755+ILCS+5/&SeqStart=35500000&SeqEnd=36000000
- revisor.mn.govhttps://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/524.3-1201
- revisor.mo.govhttps://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=473.097
- leg.state.nv.ushttps://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-146.html
- codes.ohio.govhttps://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2113.03
- oregonlegislature.govhttps://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors114.html
- texaslawhelp.orghttps://texaslawhelp.org/article/small-estate-affidavits
- law.lis.virginia.govhttps://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title64.2/section64.2-601/
- app.leg.wa.govhttps://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=11.62.010
- docs.legis.wisconsin.govhttps://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/867/03
Machine-readable
- data.jsonThe whole dataset — every record with its source URL and source quote.
- Open Knowledge Format bundleOne JSON object per line — every record's frontmatter and quoted span exactly as it is held here, in one fetch.
- data.csvThe same records as one flat table, for a spreadsheet or a dataframe. The last four columns are the source URL, the quoted sentence it was read from, the date we last checked it, and which columns are our reading rather than the page's words.
- How this is made and checkedWhat "verified against source" does and does not mean.
From your own code
Same records, same quotes, without scraping the page: refsource is on PyPI and npm. Each value comes back carrying the URL it was read from and the sentence on that page that states it — .source and .quote sit on the value itself rather than in a side channel, so the checking step is available instead of skipped.
pip install refsource
refsource lookup state-small-estate-affidavit-thresholds state=Arizona
npx -y refsource lookup state-small-estate-affidavit-thresholds state=ArizonaSet your AI assistant up to use this
Two files and no account. Put this in .mcp.json at the root of your project — Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code and Codex all read that file — and your assistant can look this dataset up instead of recalling it. The server is remote, keyless and read-only.
{
"mcpServers": {
"referencesource": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://referencesource.org/mcp"
}
}
}Add to Cursor · or, on the command line: claude mcp add --transport http referencesource https://referencesource.org/mcp --scope project
Then one line in the project's CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md, so the assistant knows when to reach for it:
When a question needs "State small estate affidavit and simplified probate thresholds", call the referencesource MCP server at https://referencesource.org/mcp (tool `search_records`, dataset_slug `state-small-estate-affidavit-thresholds`) instead of answering from memory — every record it returns carries its source URL and a verbatim quote from that page.What each tool does, and the servers built over single registers: Connect your AI assistant.