How to Avoid Probate by State
Plain-English guides to the transfers that pass outside probate in all 50 states. Each guide documents beneficiary designations, joint ownership, TOD/POD designations, and the state's small-estate procedure and threshold — each cited to the state code.
| State | Transfer-on-death deed | Small-estate procedure | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | Available | $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. Cal. Prob. Code §890 adjusts the amounts every three years and the Judicial Council publishes the adjusted list; the published list gives April 1, 2025 as the current date and states the values will next be adjusted April 1, 2028. | |
| Texas | Available | Tex. Est. Code §205.001 entitles the distributees of the estate of a decedent "who dies INTESTATE" to the estate without waiting for a personal representative to be appointed, and only "to the extent the estate assets, excluding homestead and exempt property, exceed the known liabilities of the estate, excluding any liabilities secured by homestead and exempt property", if: (1) 30 days have elapsed since the date of death; (2) no petition for the appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted; (3) the value of the estate assets on the date of the affidavit, excluding homestead and exempt property, "does not exceed $75,000"; and (4) an affidavit meeting §205.002 is filed. Two limits are easy to lose when the chapter is cited without the section: the procedure is for INTESTATE estates only, and the assets must exceed the known liabilities. | — |
| Florida | Available | Fla. Stat. §735.201(2): summary administration is available where "the value of the entire estate subject to administration in this state, less the value of property exempt from the claims of creditors, does not exceed $75,000" or where the decedent has been dead for more than 2 years. The deduction is all property exempt from creditor claims, which is wider than the constitutional homestead — it also covers the exempt personal property under §732.402. §735.201(1) adds a further condition for a testate estate: the decedent's will must not direct administration as required by chapter 733. | |
| New York | Available | SCPA §1301(1) defines a small estate as one where the decedent left personal property "having a gross value of $50,000 or less exclusive of property required to be set off under EPTL 5-3.1(a)" — so the exempt property set off for a surviving spouse or children is excluded before the $50,000 is measured. SCPA §1301(2) defines the voluntary administrator who settles such an estate without formal court administration. | — |
| Pennsylvania | Available | No Pennsylvania figure is stated in this field. The governing provision is §3101, §3102,. The figure previously stated here was never verified against a statute or an independent publisher: its only source was a commercial reproduction of the code, and Pennsylvania law cannot be read at a primary source from the environment this page was checked in. It is recorded in data/withdrawn-figures.json as pa-small-estate-note, so it cannot return to any page without failing the build. | — |
| Illinois | Available | The Illinois small-estate affidavit is governed by 755 ILCS 5/25-1. No dollar threshold is stated on this page, because the threshold has not been read at the primary source: ilga.gov, the only official publisher of the Illinois Compiled Statutes, cannot be reached from the environment this page was checked in — the host does not complete a TLS handshake whose certificate chain can be verified, and verification is not disabled to get round that. The threshold previously stated here, and the date it was said to have changed, came from a law firm’s client publication. A law firm’s article is neither the statute nor an independent publisher, so the figures were withdrawn rather than restated or widened into a range. They are recorded in data/withdrawn-figures.json as il-small-estate-threshold, so they cannot return to any page without failing the build. The structural conditions previously listed here came from the same source and are likewise not stated. | — |
| Ohio | Available | ORC 2113.03 measures on "the value of the assets of the estate" and allows release from administration where that value is thirty-five thousand dollars or less, or one hundred thousand dollars or less in either of two cases. Under (A)(2)(a) the decedent devised and bequeathed in a valid will all of the estate's assets to the person named in the will as the decedent's spouse and is survived by that person. Under (A)(2)(b) the decedent died WITHOUT a valid will, is survived by a spouse whose marriage was solemnized consistently with R.C. Chapter 3101 or a similar law of another state or nation, and that spouse is entitled to receive all of the estate's assets under R.C. §2105.06, or by that section operating together with §2106.13(B)(1) or (B)(2). The intestate branch is easy to miss and is the one that applies where there is no will at all. ORC 2113.031 is narrower than a flat five-thousand-dollar test: under (B)(1) summary release is available where the value of the assets does not exceed "the lesser of five thousand dollars or the amount of the decedent's funeral and burial expenses", and only to a person who is not the surviving spouse and who has paid or is obligated in writing to pay those expenses; (B)(2) gives the surviving spouse a separate route. | — |
| Georgia | Available | Georgia has no dollar-threshold small-estate affidavit. Instead it offers two alternatives: (1) 'Year's Support' under O.C.G.A. §53-3-1 et seq., which lets a surviving spouse and/or minor children petition to set aside estate property (with no statutory cap) for their 12-month support — the award has priority over creditors and beneficiaries; and (2) 'No Administration Necessary' under O.C.G.A. §53-2-40 through 53-2-42, available when the decedent died intestate, all heirs agree in a signed/notarized division, and the estate owes no debts (or all creditors consent). | — |
| North Carolina | Available | N.C.G.S. §28A-25-1 is titled "Collection of property by affidavit when decedent dies intestate" and opens "When a decedent dies intestate" — it is unavailable where the decedent left a will. It applies when the decedent's personal property, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $20,000. The figure is $30,000 where the affiant is the surviving spouse and sole heir, after reduction for any spousal allowance paid under G.S. 30-15. The affidavit may be filed at any time after 30 days from the date of death. | — |
| Michigan | Available | MCL 700.3982 sets the 'Petition and Order for Assignment' small-estate threshold on the gross estate after funeral and burial expenses. The statutory base is $50,000, set by 2024 PA 1, and MCL 700.1210 adjusts it annually. The adjusted amount in force for the current year is not stated here: Michigan's own statute site could not be read from this environment, and the annual figure is published by the State Court Administrative Office rather than carried in the section. A separate Transfer by Affidavit procedure under MCL 700.3983 uses the same threshold and is available 28 days after death. | — |
| Connecticut | Available | No Connecticut figure is stated in this field. The governing provision is §45a-107, §45a-273. The figure previously stated here was never verified against a statute or an independent publisher: its only source was a commercial reproduction of the code, and Connecticut law cannot be read at a primary source from the environment this page was checked in. It is recorded in data/withdrawn-figures.json as ct-small-estate-note, so it cannot return to any page without failing the build. | — |
| Arkansas | Available | No Arkansas figure is stated in this field. The governing provision is §28-41-101,. The figure previously stated here was never verified against a statute or an independent publisher: its only source was a commercial reproduction of the code, and Arkansas law cannot be read at a primary source from the environment this page was checked in. It is recorded in data/withdrawn-figures.json as ar-small-estate-note, so it cannot return to any page without failing the build. | — |
| Indiana | Available | No Indiana figure is stated in this field. The governing provision is §29-1-8-1.. The figure previously stated here was never verified against a statute or an independent publisher: its only source was a commercial reproduction of the code, and Indiana law cannot be read at a primary source from the environment this page was checked in. It is recorded in data/withdrawn-figures.json as in-small-estate-note, so it cannot return to any page without failing the build. | — |
| Oklahoma | Available | 58 O.S. §393(A)(1) measures on "the fair market value of property located in this state owned by the decedent and subject to disposition by will or intestate succession at the time of the decedent's death, less liens and encumbrances" and sets it at Fifty Thousand Dollars; §393(A) runs ten or more days after the date of death, and (A)(4) requires that all taxes and debts of the estate are paid, provided for, or barred. Separately, 58 O.S. §241 dispenses with the regular proceedings where the value of the whole estate, real and personal, does not exceed One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars — that route operates after a probate petition is filed and a personal representative appointed, rather than avoiding probate. | — |
| Oregon | Available | ORS 114.510(1)(a) sets two separate caps rather than one combined figure: not more than $75,000 of the fair market value of the estate may be attributable to personal property other than manufactured homes, and not more than $200,000 of the fair market value may be attributable to the combined fair market value of real property and manufactured homes. An estate that breaches either cap is outside the simple-estate procedure whatever its total. The affidavit itself is filed under ORS 114.515. | — |
| New Jersey | Available | No New Jersey figure is stated in this field. The figure previously stated here was never verified against a statute or an independent publisher: its only source was a commercial reproduction of the code, and New Jersey law cannot be read at a primary source from the environment this page was checked in. It is recorded in data/withdrawn-figures.json as nj-small-estate-note, so it cannot return to any page without failing the build. | — |
| Washington | Available | Personal property up to $100,000 can be collected by small-estate affidavit 40 days after death, not counting the surviving spouse's or domestic partner's community-property interest (RCW 11.62.010). The affidavit does not transfer real estate. | — |
| Arizona | Available | Effective September 26, 2025 (HB 2116), the small-estate affidavit limits under A.R.S. §14-3971 are $200,000 for personal property, collectible by affidavit thirty days after death under §14-3971(B), and $300,000 for the decedent's interest in real property, by affidavit of succession not sooner than six months after death under §14-3971(E). §14-3971(E) measures that interest from the full cash value shown on the assessment rolls for the year of death, less liens and encumbrances against the real property — not from the owner's equity. The prior limits were $75,000 and $100,000. | |
| Colorado | Available | No Colorado figure is stated in this field. The governing provision is §15-10-112,, §15-12-1201. The figure previously stated here was never verified against a statute or an independent publisher: its only source was a commercial reproduction of the code, and Colorado law cannot be read at a primary source from the environment this page was checked in. It is recorded in data/withdrawn-figures.json as co-small-estate-note, so it cannot return to any page without failing the build. | — |
| Massachusetts | Available | Voluntary administration is available when the decedent's total personal property is $25,000 or less, excluding the value of one motor vehicle, and at least 30 days have passed since death, under M.G.L. c. 190B, §3-1201. It does not cover real estate. | — |
| Maryland | Available | Md. Code, Est. & Trusts §5-601(a) allows small-estate administration under §§5-602 through 5-607 where the property of the decedent subject to administration in Maryland "is established to have a value of $50,000 or less as of the date of the death". §5-601(b) allows an estate already in administration to move to that procedure on the same $50,000 test, and §5-601(c) raises the figure to $100,000 where "the surviving spouse is the sole legatee or heir" — both of those only if the change is made "before the filing of an initial account". §5-601(d) fixes the valuation basis: value is "the fair market value of property less debts of record secured by the property, as of the date of death, to the extent that insurance benefits are not payable to the lien holder or secured party". | — |
| Minnesota | Available | Estates of $75,000 or less in total probate value qualify for collection of personal property by affidavit, available 30 days after death, under Minn. Stat. §524.3-1201. | — |
| Missouri | Available | Mo. Rev. Stat. §473.097(1) measures the threshold on "the value of the entire estate, less liens, debt, and encumbrances" and sets it at forty thousand dollars; (2) requires thirty days to have elapsed with no application for letters or for refusal of letters under §473.090 pending or granted. Under §473.097(5), where the value of the property listed in the affidavit is more than fifteen thousand dollars the clerk must publish a notice to creditors. | — |
| Alabama | Available | Ala. Code §43-2-692 provides a summary distribution route without full administration where the estate's value falls at or below the combined homestead, exempt-property and family allowances. No dollar figure is stated here. The "roughly $47,000 for 2026" this note used to carry was an adjusted amount with no source on file, and Ala. Code §43-8-116, the section credited with adjusting it each March, has not been read at a primary source: the Alabama Legislature's code viewer returns navigation markup only. The allowances themselves are set by Ala. Code §§43-8-110 to 43-8-113. The estate generally cannot include real property. | — |
| Alaska | Available | An heir can collect personal property by affidavit under AS 13.16.680 when other personal property is $50,000 or less and vehicles are $100,000 or less, with no real property in the estate. Summary administration is also available under AS 13.16.690 when the estate does not exceed the family and exempt-property allowances plus costs. | — |
| Delaware | Available | 12 Del. C. §2306 is captioned "Distribution of decedent’s property without grant of letters where estate assets do not exceed $50,000", and §2306(a)(3) requires the affidavit to state that the value of the decedent’s personal estate, other than property described in §1901(b) and (c) and other than jointly owned property, "does not exceed $50,000". The affidavit must also state that no petition for a personal representative is pending or granted (a)(1), that thirty days have elapsed since the death (a)(2), that known debts are paid or provided for (a)(4), that the surviving spouse’s allowance under §2308 is paid, provided for, waived or lapsed (a)(5), and that the decedent "did not own real estate in Delaware, either solely or as tenants in common" (a)(6). §2306(b) gives preference to a qualified named executor, then the spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandchild or grandparent, then a licensed Delaware funeral director. | — |
| Hawaii | Available | Estates not exceeding $100,000 can use simplified procedures — a small-estate affidavit for personal property and summary administration — under HRS § 560:3-1201 and the Uniform Probate Code's small-estate provisions. | — |
| Idaho | Available | Idaho Code §15-3-1201(1) measures the threshold on "the value of the entire estate of the decedent which is subject to probate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances", and sets it at $100,000 — not on personal property alone, though personal property is what the affidavit delivers. (2) requires thirty days since the death, and (3) that no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative or for summary administration is pending or has been granted in any jurisdiction. | — |
| Iowa | Available | Iowa Code §635.1 measures its threshold on "the gross value of the probate assets of a decedent subject to the jurisdiction of this state" and sets it at two hundred thousand dollars, above which the simplified administration of chapter 635 is unavailable. Separately, §633.356 allows distribution by affidavit where the gross value of the decedent's personal property that would otherwise be distributed by will or intestate succession is fifty thousand dollars or less, there is no real property, and forty days have elapsed since the death. | — |
| Kansas | Available | K.S.A. §59-1507b(a) applies where "the total assets of the estate of the decedent subject to probate do not exceed $75,000 in value", and then requires any person or entity holding personal property transferable to the estate to transfer it to a claiming successor on an affidavit of entitlement, without letters of administration or letters testamentary having been granted. The threshold is measured on total probate assets, not on personal property alone, though personal property is what the affidavit transfers. | — |
| Kentucky | Available | KRS 395.455 sets no dollar threshold. It lets the court dispense with administration and transfer the assets where the exemption for the surviving spouse or children, alone or together with preferred claims paid by them, "equals or exceeds the amount of distributable assets" — a test that compares the exemption against the estate rather than capping the estate at a figure. It applies to testate and intestate estates alike, without requiring renunciation of a will, and §395.455(3) extends it to a preferred creditor or other person where the spouse or children have waived the exemption or there is no surviving spouse or children. The exemption it turns on is set by KRS 391.030(1), which exempts thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) of personal property from distribution for the surviving spouse or children. | — |
| Louisiana | Available | La. C.C.P. art. 3421, as amended by Acts 2026, No. 293, §1, defines a small succession as any of three things. Under La. C.C.P. art. 3421(1), the succession of a person who died domiciled in Louisiana leaving property with a gross value of $200,000 or less valued as of the date of death. Under La. C.C.P. art. 3421(2), the ancillary succession of a person who died domiciled outside Louisiana leaving Louisiana property with a gross value of $125,000 or less valued as of the date of death. Under La. C.C.P. art. 3421(3), the succession of a person whose date of death was at least twenty years before the affidavit is executed, leaving Louisiana property of any value. Art. 3431(A) then makes judicial opening unnecessary for a Louisiana domiciliary who died intestate, for a Louisiana domiciliary who died testate leaving no immovable property in Louisiana where the surviving spouse and everyone who would inherit with or without the testament agree to waive probate, and for a person domiciled outside Louisiana who died intestate or whose testament was probated by another state. | |
| Maine | Available | 18-C M.R.S. §3-1201(1)(A) sets the affidavit threshold at $40,000, "adjusted for inflation pursuant to section 1-108" (as amended by PL 2025, c. 76, §1). The figure in force in any year is therefore the §1-108 adjusted amount rather than the $40,000 in the text. §3-1201(1)(B) requires thirty days to have elapsed since the death. | — |
| Mississippi | Available | Under Miss. Code §91-7-322, if the entire probate estate is $75,000 or less, a successor can collect personal property by affidavit 30 days after death — no full administration and no court appointment required. | — |
| Montana | Available | If the probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000, heirs can collect personal property by affidavit 30 days after death under MCA §72-3-1101, avoiding formal probate. | — |
| Nebraska | Available | Personal property up to $100,000 can be collected by affidavit 30 days after death under Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-24,125. A separate affidavit under §30-24,129(a)(1) reaches real property where "the value of the decedent's interest in all real property in the decedent's estate located in this state does not exceed one hundred thousand dollars" ($100,000), valued "from the value of the property shown on the assessment rolls for the year in which the decedent died less real estate taxes and interest thereon if any is due at the time of death". It is filed with the register of deeds in a county where the property is located, thirty days after death, with no personal representative appointed or pending. | — |
| Nevada | Available | NRS §146.070(1)(a) lets the court set aside an estate without administration where the value of the decedent's estate does not exceed $150,000. The section imposes no surviving-spouse or minor-children condition on that subsection; the spouse and minor children appear in subsections 3 to 6, which govern how a set-aside estate is divided and when the court may set it aside without paying creditors. NRS §146.080 separately allows transfer without letters where the decedent left no Nevada real property and the gross value of the decedent's Nevada property, above amounts due for service in the Armed Forces and the value of registered motor vehicles, does not exceed the "applicable amount", which §146.080(7) defines as $150,000 where the claimant is the surviving spouse and $25,000 for any other claimant. The affidavit route runs 40 days after the death. | — |
| New Hampshire | Available | New Hampshire has no fixed-dollar small-estate affidavit. Instead it offers a 'waiver of administration' under RSA §553:32 — available regardless of estate value when a sole beneficiary (or all beneficiaries) also serve as administrator, removing the inventory, bond, and accounting requirements. | — |
| New Mexico | Available | Estates of $50,000 or less in personal property can be collected by affidavit 30 days after death under NMSA §45-3-1201. A surviving spouse can also transfer the community-property residence (valued up to $500,000 for tax purposes) by affidavit under §45-3-1205. | — |
| North Dakota | Available | N.D.C.C. §30.1-23-01(1)(a) measures on "the value of the entire estate subject to distribution or succession under chapters 30.1-01 through 30.1-23, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances" and sets it at one hundred thousand dollars; (1)(b) requires thirty days since the death and (1)(c) that no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative is pending or granted in any jurisdiction. | — |
| Rhode Island | Available | R.I. Gen. Laws §33-24-1(a) makes voluntary informal administration available where the estate consists entirely of personal property whose total value subject to inventory under §33-9-1, EXCLUSIVE of tangible personal property, does not exceed $15,000, and no petition for letters has been filed. The filing may be made 30 days after the death. | — |
| South Carolina | Available | S.C. Code §62-3-1201(a)(1) measures the threshold on "the value of the entire probate estate (the decedent's property passing under the decedent's will plus the decedent's property passing by intestacy), wherever located, less liens and encumbrances", and sets it at forty-five thousand dollars. 2025 Act No. 26, §1 substituted "forty-five thousand dollars" for "twenty-five thousand dollars". The affidavit runs thirty days after the death. | — |
| South Dakota | Available | If the entire estate, less liens, is worth $50,000 or less, successors can collect personal property by affidavit 30 days after death under S.D. Codified Laws §29A-3-1201. | — |
| Tennessee | Available | Estates of $50,000 or less (excluding real property) can use a small-estate affidavit under Tennessee's Small Estate Probate Act, Tenn. Code Ann. §30-4-101 et seq. The affidavit may be filed 45 days after death once no full administration has begun. | — |
| Utah | Available | Estates whose total value (less liens and encumbrances) does not exceed $100,000 and include no real property can be collected by a small-estate affidavit 30 days after death, with no court case, under Utah Code §75-3-1201 (threshold raised to $100,000 effective 2025). | — |
| Vermont | Available | Estates with a fair market value of $45,000 or less that consist entirely of personal property (no real estate other than a timeshare) can use Vermont's simplified small-estate procedure under 14 V.S.A. §§ 1901–1902 and Probate Rule 80.3. | — |
| Virginia | Available | Va. Code §64.2-601(A) requires an affidavit by all known successors stating that the decedent's entire personal probate estate as of the date of death, wherever located, does not exceed $75,000, that at least 60 days have elapsed since the death, that no application for appointment of a personal representative is pending or granted, and that any will was duly probated. Separately, §64.2-602 lets a holder pay or deliver a small asset valued at $35,000 or less to any successor, also after 60 days and with no appointment pending, without the §64.2-601 affidavit. | — |
| West Virginia | Available | West Virginia's Small Estate Act defines the threshold in W. Va. Code §44-1A-1(b)(5): a “small estate” is the probate estate of a decedent domiciled in the state in which (A) the total aggregate fair market value at death of all probate personal property and assets does not exceed $50,000, AND (B) the total aggregate fair market value at death of all real estate or interests in real property situate in the state does not exceed $100,000, excluding real estate held in any nonprobate form. Two rules in the same definition change who qualifies. The fair market value of real estate “shall be PRESUMED to be 167 percent of the current assessed value of the real estate on the land books as reported by the assessor of the county in which the real estate is situate” — so the $100,000 test is run against 1.67 times the assessed value, not the assessed value. And a testate estate whose will “provides for real estate devised to be sold and not a mere power to sell” is expressly not a small estate. §44-1A-1(b)(4) separately defines a “small asset” as probate personal property worth not more than $50,000 and states that it “does not include real estate or an interest in real property”. §44-1A-2(a) then allows administration upon affidavit and without appointment for a decedent who died domiciled in the state “without owning any probate real property or without owning any interest in probate real property”, with §44-1A-2(b)(5) requiring the affidavit to state that the entire personal probate estate consists only of small assets whose aggregate fair market value does not exceed $50,000. | — |
| Wisconsin | Available | Solely owned property worth $50,000 or less can pass without probate using a Transfer by Affidavit under Wis. Stat. §867.03; summary settlement and summary assignment procedures also exist for modest estates. | — |
| Wyoming | Available | Wyo. Stat. §2-1-201(a)(i) measures on "the value of the entire estate located in Wyoming subject to administration, either testate or intestate, less liens and encumbrances" and sets it at four hundred thousand dollars, with (a)(ii) requiring thirty days since the death. §2-1-205(a) allows a decree of summary distribution covering personal or real property, including mineral interests, where "whose entire estate including personal property does not exceed four hundred thousand dollars, less liens and encumbrances", on an application filed not earlier than thirty days after the death. The session law raising the figure was not read at source. | — |
A date means every citation in that row has been checked against the statute. A dash means it has not been checked yet.
The good news: in every US state, most middle-class families can keep the majority of their estate out of probate with a handful of low-cost moves. The specific tools vary state to state — some states allow transfer-on-death deeds for real estate, others don't. Pick your state above for the specifics.
Want to understand probate first?
If you’re new to probate, start with our main explainers:
- What Is Probate and How Does It Work?
- How to Avoid Probate — the general-purpose national guide
- Probate Cost by State (companion guide showing what you’re avoiding)
- How Long Does Probate Take by State (companion guide)
Educational information only — not legal advice. Always confirm current statutes and figures with a licensed attorney in your state.