What Counts Toward the Small Estate Limit

The test has four parts

Every value test answers four questions. What property is counted. Whether liens and debts are subtracted. Whether real property is included. When the value is measured. A guide that states only the dollar figure answers none of them. This guide states all four where the cited source states them, and discloses where the source states none of them.

Entire estate tests less liens and encumbrances

Many states test the entire estate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances. The wording differs in small ways that matter. Each state is stated in its own words below.

Montana tests the value of the probate estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, at $100,000. The word probate in that test is itself the 2023 amendment word. The section 1103 summary test uses different wording and must never be harmonized with section 1101.

North Dakota tests the entire estate subject to distribution or succession under chapters 30.1-01 through 30.1-23, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, at $100,000. The figure is confirmed on the official source in the closure file. The amending act for the last step is unidentified and no history is stated for it.

New Mexico tests the entire estate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, at $50,000. The section states the affidavit may not be used to perfect title to real estate. That use bar does not remove real property value from the test. A secondary reading that excludes real property from the test is false against the section words.

Maine tests the entire estate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, at a $40,000 base adjusted for inflation under section 1-108. The adjustment is keyed to the year of death and the consumer price index. No adjusted figure is stated as verified in this guide. A single secondary figure of $51,100 was not verified and is never stated here.

Utah tests the entire estate subject to administration wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, at $100,000. The vehicle fork excludes the vehicles themselves from the test. No more than 4 boats, motor vehicles, trailers, or semitrailers fall in that fork, and the value of the rest of the estate must meet the test.

South Dakota tests the entire estate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, at $100,000 for the personal property lane.

Mississippi tests the entire probate estate wherever located, excluding all liens and encumbrances, at $75,000. The figure is confirmed on the 2025 republication in the closure file. The official Legislature text was not opened. No valuation date or method beyond the liens exclusion is stated in the section as read.

Idaho tests the fair market value of the entire estate subject to probate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, at $100,000. Fair market value is the section word. No other valuation gloss is stated.

Minnesota tests the entire probate estate wherever located, including safe deposit contents, at date of death value less liens and encumbrances, at $75,000 for the affidavit lane.

Alaska tests the entire estate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, through a two limb test. Vehicles subject to registration totaling $100,000 form one limb. Other personal property not exceeding $50,000 forms the other limb. The two limbs must both be met. A combined $150,000 figure exists only on a form title and secondary arithmetic. It is never stated as the test. A $60,000 bank account plus a $90,000 truck fails the test.

Wyoming tests value three different ways in three sections. Section 2-1-201 tests the entire estate located in Wyoming subject to administration, less liens and encumbrances, at $400,000. Section 2-1-204 tests the entire estate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, at $400,000. Section 2-1-205 tests the entire estate including personal property, less liens and encumbrances, at $400,000, with no geographic qualifier in the value test itself. The three scopes must never be merged.

Gross value tests

Louisiana tests gross value with no debts deduction and no nonprobate exclusion list stated in article 3421. A Louisiana domiciled decedent leaving property with a gross value of $200,000 or less, valued as of the date of death, falls in paragraph 1. An ancillary succession for a person domiciled outside Louisiana leaving property in Louisiana with a gross value of $125,000 or less, valued as of the date of death, falls in paragraph 2. Death at least 20 years before execution of the affidavit, leaving property in Louisiana of any value, falls in paragraph 3.

Pennsylvania section 3102 tests $50,000 in gross value exclusive of real estate and section 3101 property, but including family exemption personal property. The family exemption is $3,500 and counts into the test. Section 3531 tests $50,000 in gross real and personal property for a different procedure with a personal representative already appointed. The two gross tests belong to different sections.

Indiana tests gross probate estate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances and reasonable funeral expenses, with death year tiers. Deaths before July 1, 2026 test at $25,000. Deaths after June 30, 2026 and before July 1, 2022 test at $50,000 on the section wording as banked. Deaths after June 30, 2022 test at $100,000. The tiers are stated exactly as banked and no tier is recomputed here. The summary disbursement section applies a sum test with its own death date tiers plus administration costs and funeral expenses.

Minnesota summary closing tests $150,000 in gross probate estate exclusive of exempt homestead and exempt property. That gross test belongs to the summary lane only. It must never be carried into the $75,000 affidavit test.

Iowa tests the gross value of personal property distributable by will or intestacy. The test is historical. The gross value is or has been at any time since death $100,000 or less. A post death spike defeats eligibility. No interest in real estate may exist. A separate holder disclosure threshold in the same chapter still states $50,000 with pre 2025 real property wording. Both figures are named in their own subsections and never harmonized.

Hawaii tests $100,000 in gross value of the estate in this state. Motor vehicles registered in the decedent name may be transferred regardless of value. Whether vehicle value counts toward the $100,000 is not stated in the statute. A form and a secondary read the statute as excluding vehicle value. That reading is stated here as a form and secondary reading, never as statute words.

Net value and deduction tests

Missouri tests $40,000 net. The test is the entire estate less liens, debt, and encumbrances, including real property. No deduction beyond those words is stated. The section also states a publication duty only when listed property value exceeds $15,000. That publication threshold is not a second cap.

Michigan section 700.3983 tests the entire estate wherever located, net of liens and encumbrances, at a $50,000 base adjusted under section 1210. No real property at all may be in the estate for that lane. Section 700.3982 tests the same $50,000 base by court order, with real property included and a $250,000 capped mortgage debt deduction effective January 1, 2024. The Treasury table states $50,000 for 2024 and $51,000 for 2025. A 2026 figure of $53,000 is secondary only and is never stated as verified here. No figure is computed in this guide.

Kansas tests $75,000 in total assets subject to probate. No deduction is stated. No personal only cap is stated. No real property exclusion from the test is stated. The form value test uses the same probate estate phrasing. No exclusion is added here.

Arkansas tests $100,000 in all property less encumbrances. Homestead and spouse or minor children statutory allowances are excluded from the calculation only. Homestead property is still itemized in the affidavit. The exclusion is a calculation exclusion, not a property exclusion.

Nebraska tests $100,000 in all personal property wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, for the personal property lane. The real property lane tests $100,000 in the decedent interest in all real property in Nebraska. Value for the real property lane comes from assessment rolls for the year of death, less taxes and interest due at death. The two valuation methods must never be merged.

Oklahoma tests $50,000 in fair market value of Oklahoma property subject to disposition by will or intestate succession at death, less liens and encumbrances, for the affidavit lane. The summary administration value condition is $200,000, but that condition is only one of three disjunctive conditions. The section 241 track tests $150,000 in real plus personal property. The bank lane tests $50,000 in aggregate single ownership deposits. Each test belongs to its own lane.

Maryland tests $50,000 in fair market value less debts of record secured by the property as of death. Debts payable by insurance to the lienholder are not subtracted. The $100,000 fork applies only when the surviving spouse is the sole legatee or heir. The conversion wording in a later section differs from the test wording and is never harmonized with it.

Personal property only tests

Virginia tests the entire personal probate estate at death, wherever located, at $75,000. Real property is excluded from the definition and from every lane. The no affidavit lane tests a small asset at $35,000. The funeral lane is capped by the priority amount in section 64.2-528, which was not read. No dollar figure is stated for that lane.

Tennessee tests probate property, which means personal property only. Property held by the entirety, joint survivorship property, and beneficiary payable property are excluded from the probate property definition as banked. The test is $50,000 and the words are does not exceed.

Massachusetts tests other personal property not exceeding $25,000, excluding one motor vehicle of any value. The estate must consist entirely of personal property. The test is applied as of filing, regardless of date of death, per court guidance. Joint and entirety property passes by law outside the test. Counting the excluded vehicle or joint property into the test misstates it.

Vermont tests $45,000 in fair market value for an estate entirely of personal property, with a time share provision stated in the section. A time share estate is an occupancy right coupled with a freehold or estate for years in a real property project. Both wordings are quoted and no resolution is offered here.

Rhode Island tests $15,000 in inventory value exclusive of tangible personal property. The estate must consist entirely of personal property. Tangible property is still listed in the inventory and still collectible as a scheduled chattel. Only its value is excluded from the computation. An estate with $10,000 in bank accounts and $40,000 in tangible property passes the test on the statute words.

Illinois tests $150,000 in non vehicle personal property in the directory summary. Vehicles are listed separately for the Secretary of State. No other valuation detail is stated in the directory summary used here.

Delaware tests $50,000 in personal estate excluding section 1901(b) and (c) property and jointly owned property. No lien deduction is stated in the section as read. The spouse allowance of $7,500 is a separate payment rule, not a second cap.

Connecticut tests $40,000 in aggregate solely owned tangible and intangible personal property, excluding property that passes outside probate. No solely owned real property in Connecticut may be in the estate.

New Jersey tests real and personal property together. The spouse track tests $50,000. The heirs track tests $20,000. Both tracks count real and personal property together. No valuation method or date is stated in the research file.

Separate real property tests and allowances sum tests

South Dakota tests the decedent interest in all real property in South Dakota at $50,000 for the real property lane. Non agricultural property is valued from assessment rolls for the year of death. Agricultural property is valued at fair market value at death. The personal property lane tests $100,000 as stated above.

Arizona tests $200,000 in personal property for the holder lane and $300,000 in real property for the court affidavit lane, in the directory summary. The real property affidavit must be filed not sooner than 6 months after death and a certified copy recorded.

Colorado tests $88,000 for 2026 deaths, at fair market value less liens, including real property, in the directory summary. The year of death cap applies. No other year figure is stated here.

Oregon tests $75,000 in personal property plus $200,000 in real property and manufactured structures combined, in the directory summary. The procedure runs through the probate court with a 4 month claim window.

Washington tests $100,000 for the entire probate estate, excluding the surviving spouse or domestic partner community interest, in the directory summary.

Texas tests $75,000 at the affidavit date, excluding homestead and exempt property, in the directory summary. The test date is the affidavit date, not the death date, as stated there.

Alabama, Utah, Idaho, Nebraska summary lanes, New Mexico summary lanes, Maine summary lanes, Wisconsin court tracks, and Ohio tracks use allowances sum tests or relative tests with no single flat figure. Alabama tests the sum of homestead, exempt property, and family allowances as adjusted under the consumer price index formula. A Treasurer table publishes $47,000 for a 2023 adjustment and $51,175 for a 2026 adjustment, with a claimed on or after April 1 applicability rule. The trigger for the small estate amount is unconfirmed. Neither table figure is stated here as the current limit. Wisconsin tests gross value subject to administration in Wisconsin for one track, value less debts secured by estate property for a second track, and net of secured debts for a third track. Ohio tests the lesser of $5,000 or funeral and burial expenses for a non spouse summary release, a spouse support allowance plus funeral expenses for the spouse fork, and $35,000 or $100,000 spouse takes all for release from administration. No allowances sum test is converted into a flat cap in this guide.

Kentucky tests no flat cap in the dispensing section. The court may order dispensing where the $30,000 exemption and preferred claims paid meet or exceed distributable assets. The $30,000 figure is the exemption amount in section 391.030, not a small estate cap. The two figures must never be merged.

States with no verified value method stated in this guide

No value method beyond the cap is stated in this guide for California, because the California figures were not re-verified in the checker run and the directory summary states no cap for the holder affidavit lane. No valuation date is stated for Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, New Jersey, Delaware, Kansas, Arkansas, Montana, or New Mexico beyond what is stated above, because the cited sources state none. That absence is disclosed rather than filled with a general rule.

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: research files A412 through A451 and closure files A455 through A460 as listed in the companion notes file, and the live guide directory exemplar for Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, and California figures. No figure was computed. The Maine adjusted figure, the Michigan 2026 figure, and the Alabama table trigger are disclosed as unverified or unconfirmed above. Open flags are disclosed in the companion notes file. No new data was used.

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 court in the state where the estate is handled or a lawyer.