Minnesota Small Estate Affidavit

Track 1: collection by affidavit, section 524.3-1201

Thirty days after the death of a decedent, a person indebted to the decedent, a person having possession of tangible personal property or an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock, or chose in action belonging to the decedent, or a safe deposit company as defined in section 55.01 controlling access to the decedent's safe deposit box, shall make payment or deliver the property, instrument, or the entire safe-deposit contents to a person claiming to be the successor of the decedent, or to a state or county agency with a claim authorized by section 256B.15. The holder acts on being presented with a certified death record of the decedent and an affidavit made by or on behalf of the successor.

The affidavit must state five matters. First, the value of the entire probate estate, determined as of the date of death, wherever located, including specifically any contents of a safe deposit box, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $75,000. Second, 30 days have elapsed since the death, or, for safe-deposit contents, 30 days have elapsed since filing of an inventory of the contents under section 55.10(h). Third, no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted in any jurisdiction. Fourth, where a section 256B.15 state or county agency presents the affidavit to a financial institution with a multiple-party account in which the decedent had an interest at death, the amount of the agency's claim and a good-faith estimate of the extent to which the decedent was the source of funds or beneficial owner. Fifth, the claiming successor is entitled to payment or delivery.

No court filing, no notarization, and no real-property exclusion sentence is stated in section 524.3-1201 itself. The track's boundary is the holder and property classes in the section: debts, tangible personal property, instruments, securities, safe-deposit contents, and vehicle titles. A transfer agent of any security shall change registered ownership on the corporation's books to the successor or successors on presentation of an affidavit under the section. A motor vehicle registrar shall issue a new certificate of title in the successor's name on presentation of an affidavit under the section. Any vehicle transfer form or fee beyond the affidavit is unopened and is not stated here.

The claiming successor or state or county agency shall disburse proceeds collected to any person with a superior claim under section 524.2-403 or section 524.3-805. The person controlling access to a safe deposit box need not open it or deliver contents if notice of a written or oral objection was received, or there is reason to believe there would be an objection, or the lessee's key or combination is not available. Those refusal grounds are the holder's grounds. They are not a waiting period and not a denial of the affidavit's validity.

The $75,000 figure is current text. A 2001 text states $20,000. That figure is edition staleness from before the 2016 amendment, not a competing figure. The section as read states "an affidavit," not an affidavit in duplicate. Do not carry a duplicate requirement from the 2009 bill text.

Effect: holder discharged, recipient answerable, section 524.3-1202

A person paying, delivering, transferring, or issuing personal property or evidence thereof under a compliant section 524.3-1201 affidavit is discharged and released to the same extent as if dealing with a personal representative. The holder is not required to see to the application of the property or to inquire into the truth of any affidavit statement. A safe-deposit deliverer in particular need not inquire into the contents' value and may rely solely on the affidavit's representation of the entire probate estate's value.

Holder discharge is not successor immunity. If a person to whom an affidavit is delivered refuses, payment, delivery, transfer, or issuance may be recovered or compelled on proof of right in a proceeding brought by or for the entitled persons. Any person to whom payment, delivery, transfer, or issuance is made is answerable and accountable to any personal representative or any other person having a superior right.

Track 2: summary proceedings, section 524.3-1203

Section 524.3-1203 is a court track with four distinct gates. Never collapse one gate's bond or showing rule into another.

Subdivision 1 covers petition and payment. On petition of an interested person, the court, with or without notice, may determine that the decedent had no estate, or that property was destroyed, abandoned, lost, or rendered valueless with no recovery had or possible, or that there is no property except wrongful-death recovery, property exempt from all debts and charges in probate court, or property appropriable for the section 524.2-403 selection, the section 524.2-404 spouse and children allowances, and the section 524.3-805(a)(1) to (6) expenses and claims. The personal representative by court order may pay the estate in the order named, and the court may then summarily determine heirs, legatees, and devisees in its final decree or order of distribution.

Subdivision 2 covers a final decree or order. On hearing of a petition for summary assignment or distribution, special administration, any administration, or probate of a will, if the court determines no representative appointment is needed and administration should close summarily because all property is exempt from all debts and charges in probate court, a final decree or order of distribution may be entered with or without notice, assigning property per the will or, if no will, intestate succession in force at death.

Subdivision 3 covers summary distribution in kind. Distribution may be made in any proceeding of any real, personal, or other property in kind, in reimbursement or payment of the section 524.2-403 selection, the section 524.2-404 allowances, and the section 524.3-805(a)(1) to (6) claims in the order named, if the court is satisfied as to propriety and valuation, based on appraisal for real estate other than homestead, of the property being assigned to exhaust the estate's assets. Real property in kind is reached in this subdivision. That reach belongs to the court track and must not be carried into the affidavit track.

Subdivision 5 covers exhaustion of the estate and carries the $150,000 test. In any summary, special, or other administration where the estate will not be exhausted in payment of the priority items in subdivisions 1 to 4, the estate may nevertheless be summarily closed without further notice and property assigned to the proper persons if the gross probate estate, exclusive of any exempt homestead as defined in section 524.2-402 and any exempt property as defined in section 524.2-403, does not exceed $150,000. The base is exclusive of those two exclusions. It is not the affidavit track's base. If closing or distribution is under a will, no decree issues until a hearing for formal probate of the will under sections 524.3-401 to 524.3-413. No summary closing to any distributee under subdivision 5 is allowed unless a showing is made that all section 524.2-403 selections and allowances and section 524.3-805 obligations have been paid, and a bond is filed, by the personal representative or petitioner, with court-approved sufficient surety, in a court-fixed amount to cover potential improper distributions. On improper distribution, the court may vacate the summary decree or closing order, and the personal representative or petitioner plus surety are liable for damages to any injured party, with reimbursement or contribution from distributees or recipients pro rata or equitably to the extent of assets received. Any damages or asset-recovery judgment requires petition plus hearing on 14 days' notice, with the petition served personally on the personal representative, surety, and any distributee or recipient.

Subdivision 4 covers the personal representative in summary proceedings. Summary proceedings may be had with or without appointment of a personal representative. Where none is appointed, the court may require the petitioner to file a corporate surety bond in a court-fixed and approved amount, conditioned on full, true, and correct disclosure of petition facts and performance of the decree or order. The subdivision 4 bond is discretionary ("may require"), while the subdivision 5 bond is required. An interested person damaged by misrepresentation or negligence has a cause of action against the petitioner and surety in the proceeding court.

The $150,000 figure dates to the 2016 amendment, chapter 135, which raised the subdivision 5 figure from $100,000. A 2015 text stating $100,000 is stale by edition, not a competing figure.

The exclusions: homestead and exempt property

The subdivision 5 exclusions were read in full. Under section 524.2-402, if a surviving spouse survives, the homestead, including a manufactured home that is the family residence, descends free of non-consented testamentary or other disposition: with no surviving descendant, to the spouse; with surviving descendants, to the spouse for life with remainder in equal shares to descendants by representation; with no surviving spouse and not disposed of by will, as other real estate. Homestead passing to a spouse or descendants, or their sole-beneficiary trustee, is exempt from all debts not valid charges at death, except state-hospital-care claims under section 246.53 and medical-assistance claims under section 256B.15.

Under section 524.2-403, the surviving spouse, or if none, the decedent's children jointly, except a child intentionally omitted by the will, is entitled, in addition to homestead and family allowance, to property not exceeding $15,000 in value in excess of security interests, in household furniture, furnishings, appliances, and personal effects, subject to the sentimental-value award rule, and to one automobile, if any, without regard to value. A deficiency is made up from other personal property to $15,000. The $15,000 and one-automobile figures are the figures of section 524.2-403, used to compute the subdivision 5 exclusion. They are not a third cap, and the automobile's unlimited value sits inside the exclusion, not inside the $150,000. The family allowance amounts in section 524.2-404 and the priority amounts in section 524.3-805(a)(1) to (6) were not opened and no figure is carried for them.

Form and fees: reproduction tier only

Form PRO202, Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property, revision 8/16, was read only in reproductions. Its fields track the statute on the $75,000 value statement, the 30-day statement with the safe-deposit fork, and the no-pending-appointment statement, with a signature block sworn or affirmed before a notary public or deputy court administrator. Two wording differences are never harmonized into statute text: the form drops the section 256B.15 agency statement, and the form says "certified copy of death certificate" where the statute says "certified death record." Notarization is form practice, not a stated requirement of section 524.3-1201. The current official PRO202 form PDF is a first-open. No court filing fee for a section 524.3-1203 petition and no vehicle title fee were opened, and no fee figure is stated in this guide.

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

Source

Sources: Minnesota Statutes sections 524.3-1201, 524.3-1202, and 524.3-1203, current-edition full texts via the Revisor cite endpoint; sections 524.2-402 and 524.2-403, current-edition full texts; 2016 chapter 135 amendment evidence for the $150,000 figure; Form PRO202 via eForms and USLegalForms reproductions. Facts verified 2026-10-31. Open flags: (1) current-edition history lines for sections 524.3-1201 to 524.3-1203 were not re-read at build; (2) section 55.10(h), section 256B.15, sections 524.2-404, 524.3-805, and sections 524.3-401 to 524.3-413 were not opened in full; (3) the current official PRO202 form PDF and instructions were not opened; (4) no court filing fee and no vehicle title fee were opened, so no fee figure is stated; (5) on-site coverage was unverified in the banked research because the box tunnel failed, and the build re-checks coverage by box grep before writing.

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 Minnesota court or a lawyer.