Settling a Small Estate Without Probate
California lets successors collect a small estate without probate. Where the decedent's real and personal property in the state does not exceed $208,850 in gross value and forty days have passed since the death, property can be collected by affidavit under Probate Code section 13100.
The threshold, the wait, and what it reaches
Probate Code section 13100 is the escape hatch from administration. Where the gross value of a decedent’s real and personal property in California does not exceed one hundred sixty-six thousand two hundred fifty dollars — a figure adjusted periodically under section 890 — and forty days have elapsed since the death, a successor may act without procuring letters of administration and without waiting for the will to be probated. What it reaches is defined: collecting money due the decedent, receiving tangible personal property, and having transferred any item that is evidence of a debt, obligation, interest, right, security or chose in action. Two exclusions matter to the arithmetic. Property described in section 13050 does not count toward the threshold, and neither does property included in a petition filed under section 13151. Everything else is measured at gross value, so debts do not bring an estate under the line.
Sources: Probate Code s.13100 - Small estate affidavit, collection without administration · Maximum Amounts for Determining Eligibility for Summary Succession Procedures (Prob. Code s.890) · Form DE-300 - Maximum Values for Small Estate Set-Aside and Disposition Without Administration · Probate Code s.8400 - No power to administer until letters issue · Verified 2026-08-21.
Whether the affidavit route is open
| Question | Answer that keeps you out of probate |
|---|---|
| Gross value of California property | At or under $208,850 for deaths on or after 1 April 2025, excluding §13050 property |
| Time since death | At least 40 days |
| What you need to collect | Money owed, tangible personal property, or evidence of a debt or security |
| Real property involved | Handled by a separate procedure, not this affidavit |
Which figure applies is decided by the date of death
This is the detail that catches people, including people who do this for a living. Probate Code section 890 requires the Judicial Council to adjust these amounts every three years, and section 890(d) provides that an adjustment does not apply where the death preceded it. So the operative number is fixed by when the person died, not by when you file.
| Date of death | Gross value must not exceed |
|---|---|
| On or after 1 April 2025 | $208,850 |
| 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2025 | $184,500 |
| Before 1 April 2022 | $166,250 |
Next adjustment 1 April 2028. The related thresholds move with it: §13200 real property of small value is $69,625, the §13050(c) exclusion is $20,875, and §§6602 and 6609 set-aside is $107,900.
Do not trust the code text on this
The published text of section 13100 on the Legislature’s own site still reads $166,250, because the adjustments are made by the Judicial Council rather than by amending the statute. Anyone reading the section cold — including a good many published guides — will take away a figure two adjustment cycles out of date and conclude an estate does not qualify when it comfortably does. The authoritative source is the Judicial Council’s published list, reproduced on form DE-300, which must be attached to the affidavit itself.
Related: what full administration involves if you exceed the limit, the statutory fees the affidavit avoids, and how to open probate if you must.