Wyoming Distribution by Affidavit

The $400,000 cap (SF0104, effective July 1, 2025)

SF0104, Enrolled Act No. 85, 68th Legislature, 2025 General Session, Chapter No. 168, signed March 19, 2025, struck "$200,000" and inserted "$400,000" in sections 2-1-201(a)(i), 2-1-204(a)(i), 2-1-205(a), 2-1-403, 2-11-201, and 2-11-202(a). The bill was introduced at $500,000. A Senate amendment cut the figure to $400,000. A $300,000 amendment failed. Every secondary, form copy, and pre-2025 text still printing $200,000 is stale. The official 2026 Wyoming Statutes text confirms $400,000 in all three value tests, with no $200,000 figure in any of the four sections read. The three value tests use three different scopes and must never be merged: section 2-1-201 tests the entire estate located in Wyoming subject to administration; section 2-1-204 tests the entire estate wherever located; section 2-1-205 tests the entire estate including personal property, with no qualifier in the test itself.

The affidavit lane (section 2-1-201)

Not earlier than 30 days after the death of a decedent, any person indebted to the decedent or having possession of tangible personal property or an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock, or chose in action shall make payment or deliver to the claiming distributee or distributees or their attorney, on presentation of an affidavit filed as provided by subsection (c), stating five matters. First, the value of the entire estate located in Wyoming subject to administration, either testate or intestate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $400,000. Second, 30 days have elapsed since death. Third, no application for appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted in any jurisdiction in this state. Fourth, the claimants are entitled to payment or delivery, with facts of relationship and the legal basis of entitlement, including facts regarding any intervening estates or other parties who may have a claim of entitlement, and no other distributees with a right to succeed under probate proceedings in any jurisdiction. Fifth, only if a personal representative application was made outside Wyoming, the name and address of the proposed or appointed personal representative with application and appointment dates, and the title of proceedings with the court and jurisdiction. An out-of-state personal representative proceeding does not bar the affidavit. It must be disclosed.

A transfer agent for any security changes registered ownership on presentation of an affidavit that meets subsections (a) and (c). When the affidavit is filed with the county clerk and a certified copy is presented to a custodian or holder, it shall be honored with the effect stated in sections 2-1-201 and 2-1-202. The county clerk of the county in which any vehicle is registered shall transfer title on presentation of an affidavit meeting subsection (a). The custodian or holder shall pay or deliver any of the decedent's property held or on deposit in the sole name of the decedent, together with the interest and dividends thereon. A receipt or proof of delivery constitutes a valid and sufficient release and discharge.

The section states no notarization, no death certificate, no bond, no publication, no creditor notice, no court filing, no real-property delivery, and no will or intestacy split. One affidavit serves testate and intestate estates. The two court forms split only by will status. The channel is clerk-recorded plus holder-presented, never court-filed.

Effect and refusal (section 2-1-202)

A custodian or holder who pays, delivers, transfers, or issues under an affidavit is discharged and released to the same extent as if dealing with a personal representative, and is not required to see to the application of the personal property or to inquire into the truth of any statement in the affidavit. On refusal, the property may be recovered or its payment, delivery, transfer, or issuance compelled on proof of right in an action. The court shall award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the plaintiff if the property was not paid, delivered, or transferred within 45 days after presentation of the affidavit, unless the court finds just cause for refusal. That just-cause tail lists three verbs only: pay, deliver, or transfer. The 45-day clock runs from presentation, not from death or filing. A recipient is answerable and accountable to a personal representative of the estate or to any other person having a like or superior right. "Holder" includes a security broker, security dealer, bank, savings and loan institution, credit union, or any other like depository.

The summary decree lane (section 2-1-205)

The owner of personal or real property, including mineral interests, whose entire estate including personal property does not exceed $400,000 less liens and encumbrances, may have distributees file, not earlier than 30 days after death, an application for a decree of summary distribution of property. The application is sworn to and signed by any person claiming to be a distributee, states the section 2-1-201(a)(i) to (v) facts, and fully describes any real property, including any mineral interests, being claimed. A sworn report of value is attached, which may be based on a broker's price opinion as defined by section 33-28-102(b)(lxii), by a person with no legal interest in the estate, showing value on the date of death of all Wyoming real-property interests including mineral interests.

Notice is published once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the application was filed, subject to subsection (j). Notice is served by first-class mail with a copy of the application attached, to the surviving spouse if any and all other distributees so far as known, or their guardians or personal representatives, and any reasonably ascertainable creditors, not later than ten days after first publication. If the decedent received medical assistance under sections 42-4-101 to 42-4-114, the state department of health shall be provided a copy of the application within ten days after first publication. Objection must be filed before the later of 20 days after the mailing or 30 days after first publication. An untimely objection is forever barred. With no timely objection, the court enters a decree establishing right and title to Wyoming property. A certified copy is recorded in the county clerk of each county where real property or mineral interests sit, and on recording the decree and record are presumptive evidence of title. A timely objection leads to a hearing and an order denying or granting the application.

A decree built on a materially false statement still passes title. The knowingly false swearer faces the appropriate penalties for perjury, and a damaged distributee may sue to amend the decree and for damages in the filing court, barred unless commenced within two years from entry of the decree. Section 2-1-205 may be used in addition to section 2-1-201. A distributee satisfying both sections is entitled to a decree of summary distribution and no further action under the title is required. Subsection letters (i) and (l) are absent from the section as rendered. No citation to a section 2-1-205(i) or (l) is made in this guide.

The government-creditor lane (section 2-1-204)

Section 2-1-204 serves only government creditors and is not a distributee lane. Only the United States and its agencies and instrumentalities, or the state of Wyoming and any agency, instrumentality, or political subdivision thereof, to whom the decedent was indebted or to whom the estate would be indebted if administered, may collect all assets referred to in section 2-1-201 by affidavit. The clock is 90 days, not 30. The value test is the entire estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, of $400,000 or less. Subsection (a) states paragraphs (i) to (vi), subsection (b) states the county-clerk filing and certified-copy rule with effect as provided in sections 2-1-201(b), (c), and (d) and 2-1-202, and subsection (c) states the overplus waterfall. The overplus goes first to another creditor proceeding properly under the section, then to distributees named in a section 2-1-201 affidavit, then by probate-court order designating the creditor itself agent under section 2-15-101, proceeding under Chapter 15. The waterfall is triggered when total assets collected exceed the net balance of the claim after deducting payments received from any source. Paragraph (a)(iii) says "in any jurisdiction" with no "in this state" tail. Never carry the section 2-1-201 tail into this section, and never carry subsection (e) into the subsection (b) cross-reference, which names (b), (c), and (d) only.

Court forms add requirements the statute never states

The Wyoming courts publish an intestate affidavit packet, Form 01, Instructions for the Affidavit for Distribution of Personal Property, Intestate, Revision March 2026, and a testate affidavit, Form 04, same revision. The intestate form states eligibility as no will, at least 30 days, personal property owned by the decedent, and the entire estate located in Wyoming, including all personal property and all real property in Wyoming, worth no more than $400,000 on the date of death, after debts are subtracted. That "after debts" wording expands the statute's "less liens and encumbrances" and is a form-versus-statute fork. The testate form states that liens and encumbrances include mortgages and all other debts, and that those debts do not go away when the property is distributed. This guide states the statute's words for the test and attributes the debts gloss to the form.

Form-only mechanics must stay in the form lane. The form states filing and recordation with the county clerk, not the court clerk, in the county where the decedent died, if in Wyoming, or a county where some or all of the property is located. It states an oath, a direction not to sign until before a notary, an all-heirs chart, an Exhibit A property list, and a note that no death certificate is required to file but holders may ask for one. No fee figure is stated in this guide. No fee was verified for any lane, and the form's approximate clerk-fee note and a secondary district-court fee figure were not verified against any fee schedule. The intestacy excerpts inside the form instructions restate section 2-4-101, which was not opened in full. No intestacy share, order, or spousal provision is stated here.

Three county rules must not be carried across lanes: the affidavit filing county comes only from the form; the vehicle-title transfer county is the registration county under section 2-1-201(d); and the summary-decree venue rule is section 2-1-208, which was not opened in full. A separate county per-vehicle affidavit practice and a joint-tenancy survivorship vehicle transfer under section 31-2-104(j) are distinct title lanes. The Department of Transportation vehicle procedure was not opened.

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: SF0104, Enrolled Act No. 85, Chapter No. 168, effective July 1, 2025, on wyoleg.gov; Wyoming Statutes 2026, Title 2, Chapter 1, Article 2, sections 2-1-201, 2-1-202, 2-1-204, and 2-1-205, official statutes viewer read in full in the live browser 2026-11-02; section 2-1-201 republication and sections 2-1-202 and 2-1-205 Justia 2025 texts read 2026-11-01; Wyoming Courts Form 01 intestate instructions, Revision March 2026, and Form 04 testate affidavit by search snippet. Facts verified 2026-11-01 and 2026-11-02. Open flags: (1) the official text carried no date stamp or current-through note as rendered, and currency rests on the 2026 statutes tree and the post-SF0104 figure; (2) sections 2-1-206, 2-1-207, and 2-1-208 current texts were not opened in full, and section 2-1-207(b) was not opened at all; (3) sections 2-1-209 and 2-1-301(a)(xiii) defining distributee were not opened; (4) no fee was verified for any lane; (5) the testate Form 04 full text and testate instructions packet were not opened; (6) section 2-4-101 intestacy text was not opened in full; (7) the vehicle procedure and county per-vehicle affidavit reconciliation were not opened; (8) the act that raised the cap from $150,000 to $200,000 is unpinned, and no year is asserted for that step.

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 Wyoming county clerk or district court or a lawyer.