Connecticut Small Estate Affidavit

The eligibility test (C.G.S. section 45a-273(a))

Two conditions must both hold. First, the aggregate value of the decedent's solely owned tangible and intangible personal property, excluding property that passes outside of probate by operation of law, does not exceed $40,000. The figure $40,000 qualifies. A statement that the test is less than $40,000 misstates the boundary. Second, the decedent had no solely owned real property in this state at the time of death. Both limiters in that phrase matter. Solely owned excludes survivorship real estate. In this state means solely owned real property outside Connecticut does not fail the test on the statute words. Whether Probate Court practice treats out of state real property otherwise was not confirmed, and no sentence here states it. Do not carry the shorthand no real estate. It is overbroad for Connecticut.

The statute text read for this guide came from a stale crawl dated September 6, 2026, with a history line ending at P.A. 24-81 in 2024. The chapter page directs readers to the 2026 Supplement for 2025 session amendments, and that supplement was not opened. Currency is therefore no amendment found, not no amendment exists. See the Source section.

Who may file

Section 45a-273(a) sets three tiers in order. First, the decedent's surviving spouse. Second, if there is no surviving spouse, any of the decedent's next of kin. Third, if there is no next of kin, or if the surviving spouse and next of kin refuse, any person whom the court deems to have a sufficient interest in the estate, including any person or entity to whom a claim, expense, or tax is due. Next of kin is not defined in section 45a-273. No gloss on that term is stated here. The filing is in lieu of filing a petition for admission of a will to probate or letters of administration, by affidavit signed under penalty of false statement, in the Probate Court in the district where the decedent resided.

What the affidavit must contain (section 45a-273(b))

The affidavit must contain exactly three items. First, a statement whether the decedent received aid or care from the state. Second, a list of the decedent's solely owned assets, excluding assets that pass outside of probate by operation of law. Third, a list of all claims, expenses, and taxes due from the estate in the categories in section 45a-365(1) through (7), indicating if any have been paid and, if so, by whom.

Form PC-212 widens the first item. The form asks whether the decedent or spouse or children of the decedent ever received aid or care from the state of Connecticut. The statute asks about the decedent only. This guide states the statutory question as the statute states it, and names the wider form question as form practice, never as the statutory requirement.

Procedure: the court acts, and the decree authorizes

On receipt, the court sends a copy of the affidavit to the Department of Administrative Services and shall not issue a decree until 30 days after the date the copy was sent. The 30 days run from the court sending, not from filing. An instruction to wait 30 days and then file misstates the mechanism. Except as provided in subsection (c), the court may act without notice and hearing.

Except as provided in section 45a-273(f)(5), if the court finds no probate proceedings have been instituted for the estate, it determines who is entitled to payment under subsection (e) and who is entitled to distributions under subsection (f), and issues a decree authorizing each holder or registrant of an asset to transfer the asset directly to specified persons or entities, pay amounts from the asset to specified persons or entities, or transfer the asset to the filer, to be sold with proceeds paid to specified persons or entities. The court may issue certificates or other documents to carry out the decree, and may authorize the filer to release an interest in a mortgage reported on the affidavit.

A transfer or payment under a decree discharges the holder or registrant from liability to any person, to the extent of the amount transferred or paid. As a condition, the holder may require appropriate waivers, a bond of indemnity, and a receipt. That is the holder option, not a statutory filing requirement.

Transfers and payments are exempt from taxation under Chapter 219. The recipient remains liable to the Commissioner of Revenue Services for any estate, succession, or transfer tax on the property or payment, and to any executor or administrator thereafter appointed. Never state the procedure as tax free. The exemption and the continuing liability must travel together.

The 30 day applicability gate (section 45a-275)

Sections 45a-273 and 45a-274 apply only to estates of decedents for whom no will is presented for probate or no application for administration is filed within 30 days after death. That gate is a negative 30 day condition. It is distinct from the 30 day decree hold in section 45a-273(c). A will that exists but was not presented within 30 days is the subsection (f) case. The form checkbox for a will that is not being presented for probate is the form expression of that position. This guide states both 30 day rules in their own words, and never instructs filing on day one.

Payment and distribution: claims first, then the will branches

Payment under subsection (e) follows section 45a-365, with two exceptions. State aid or care, or care in a state humane institution, is reimbursed per sections 4a-12 and 17b-95. An obligation to pay the decedent's cost of incarceration is paid per section 18-85c. The form cites 18-85b in two places. The statute cites 18-85c. Both wordings are recorded here. Neither is resolved in this guide. If claims, taxes, and expenses exceed the fair value of the assets, the court orders payment per subsection (e), and the insolvent estate procedures in sections 45a-376 through 45a-383 are not required.

Distribution under subsection (f) applies only if fair value exceeds claims, expenses, taxes, and any section 45a-320 family support amounts. The five branches are: no purported will found, intestate succession; a duly executed will directing the same distribution as intestacy, intestate succession; a will directing a different distribution plus heirs at law signing a written waiver of the right to contest the will, distribution per the will; a will directing a different distribution plus persons entitled to bequests consenting in writing to intestate distribution, intestate succession; and a will directing a different distribution with no waiver and no consent, dismissal of the affidavit, with any party free to petition for admission of the will to probate under section 45a-286, with a hearing required. Will includes any duly executed codicil. No branch may be collapsed into intestate only or will controls.

Claim priority (section 45a-365)

The priority order is: funeral expenses; expenses of settling the estate; claims due for the last sickness of the decedent; all lawful taxes and all claims due the state of Connecticut and the United States; all claims due any laborer or mechanic for personal wages for labor performed for the decedent within three months immediately before death; other preferred claims; and all other claims allowed in proportion to their respective amounts. The three month wage window and the pro rata rule in the last category are carried verbatim. No category is renamed.

Family support (section 45a-320)

The Court of Probate may allow, out of any real or personal estate in settlement before it including a small estate under section 45a-273, such amount as it may judge necessary for support of the surviving spouse or family during settlement. The allowance is discretionary. No fixed figure exists to bank. The decree may provide duration for the whole settlement period or a fixed renewable period, lump sum payment, a surviving spouse allowance vesting retroactively to the moment of death as absolute property and surviving the spouse later death or remarriage, or charging the allowance against the spouse or family member right to settlement period income. The court may also allow use of a family car, a motor vehicle maintained by the decedent as a family car, during settlement.

Companion lane (section 45a-274)

Section 45a-274 is a separate $1,000 lane, never to be merged with the $40,000 lane. When a decedent is entitled to payment of medical benefits, federal or state, or insurance or health benefits or proceeds, or other intangible personal property owned by or payable to the decedent or the estate in a sum not exceeding $1,000, the judge of probate for the district where the decedent resided may name an administrator, ex parte, to enable distribution to the surviving spouse or, if there is no surviving spouse, to the next of kin or to the funeral director or physician, as the case may be, on evidence satisfactory to the judge that all debts have been paid or provided for as prescribed by section 45a-365. The 30 day gate in section 45a-275 applies to this lane too. The $1,000 lane names an administrator. The $40,000 lane issues a decree on an affidavit. The instruments differ.

Comity (section 45a-276)

A Connecticut holder or registrant of section 45a-273 listed property of a nondomiciliary decedent may, as a matter of comity, recognize a like decree or certification of a probate judge or clerk under another state small estate without administration statute, for payment or transfer of the Connecticut property, provided a holder or registrant in that other state recognizes and pays or transfers under a Connecticut decree. Reciprocity is a condition, not a courtesy label. Transfers discharge the holder to the extent paid. State means any United States state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and United States territories and possessions.

Forms

Form PC-212, Affidavit in Lieu of Probate of Will or Administration, Rev. 07/23, was read in full on the official Connecticut Probate Courts site. Its instructions state both eligibility conditions, the decree mechanism, filing in the probate district where the decedent resided, a death certificate copy attached with the Social Security number redacted, and that PC-212A is attached on the triggers stated on the form and PC-212CI is filed with confidential information. The body of the form carries the petitioner tier checkboxes, the no petition pending representation, the $40,000 market value representation, the widened state aid question, will and no will checkboxes, a solely owned asset list with specific account and vehicle identification including the vehicle identification number plus fair market value and total, a categorized claims table, funeral and creditor direct payment request boxes, and a signature under penalty of false statement. Forms PC-212A and PC-212CI were not opened for this guide. Their contents are not described here beyond the PC-212 instruction lines. Older PC-212 editions are stale. The Rev. 10/05 edition states $20,000. Never cite an edition other than Rev. 07/23.

No fee figure is stated in this guide. The fee table in section 45a-107 was read only in a secondary republication, and its primary text was not re-read. No fee sentence ships on a secondary read. The fee basis question, whether the court assesses the fee on the section 45a-107 basis or on the listed solely owned assets, was not resolved. No tax return, threshold, or deadline is stated, because the Department of Revenue Services estate tax pages were not opened. No Department of Motor Vehicles title transfer step is stated, because those pages were not opened. The former motor vehicle transfer fee provision was deleted by P.A. 15-217, and no transfer fee figure from the pre-2015 statute is carried.

For small estate procedures in other states, see the Small Estate Affidavits by State directory. For the questions each state procedure answers, see Small Estate Affidavit Questions.

Source

Sources: C.G.S. Chapter 802b, sections 45a-273, 45a-274, 45a-275, 45a-276, 45a-320, and 45a-365, official cga.ct.gov chapter page, stale crawl September 6, 2026; Form PC-212 Rev. 07/23, official Connecticut Probate Courts PDF, fresh crawl November 1, 2026. Facts verified 2026-11-01. Open flags: (1) the 2026 Supplement, revision January 1, 2026, was not opened, so no 2025 session amendment is confirmed or ruled out, and the statute currency is no amendment found, not no amendment exists; (2) section 45a-107 primary text on cga.ct.gov was not re-read, so no fee figure is stated and the fee basis for an affidavit only filing is unresolved; (3) the two 30 day rules are stated as written, and Probate Court Rules sections 30.12 and 30.13 were not opened, so no added filing timing instruction is stated; (4) whether solely owned real property outside Connecticut affects eligibility in practice was not confirmed with an official Probate Court source; (5) next of kin is not defined in section 45a-273, and the controlling definition was not opened, so no gloss is stated; (6) the form and statute divergences are unresolved, namely the widened state aid question on PC-212 and the 18-85b citation on PC-212 against 18-85c in the statute; (7) Forms PC-212A, PC-212CI, and PC-180 were not opened; (8) Department of Revenue Services estate tax return pages were not opened, so no return, threshold, or deadline is stated; (9) Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles title transfer pages were not opened, so no vehicle transfer step is stated.

This page explains how the process works and what the official rules say. It is general information, not legal advice. For a dispute about your specific situation, talk to the Connecticut Probate Court or a lawyer.