California Small Estate Affidavit Form 13101: $208,850 Limit

A California small estate affidavit lets you collect a deceased person’s personal property without opening probate, provided the qualifying estate is worth $208,850 or less. The procedure comes from Probate Code §13101: you wait 40 days after the death, prepare a sworn affidavit containing specific statements, attach a certified death certificate, and hand the package to the bank, brokerage, employer, or other party holding the property.¹ Nothing gets filed with the court.

Who Can Sign the Affidavit

Only a “successor of the decedent” can use this affidavit. If there’s a will, that means the beneficiary entitled to the specific property you’re claiming. If there’s no will, it means whoever inherits under California’s intestate succession rules.¹ When more than one person has the right to inherit the same asset, every one of them must sign. You can put everything on one affidavit or use separate affidavits for different items.

Several people can sign on a successor’s behalf without extra court approval. A guardian or conservator of the estate can act for a beneficiary. A trustee can act for a trust named in the will. An agent under a durable power of attorney can act for the person who granted it. And a custodian named in the will under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act can act for a minor beneficiary.

What Counts Toward the $208,850 Limit

For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, the gross value of the decedent’s California real and personal property must be $208,850 or less.² For deaths between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2025, the older $184,500 cap still applies.³

Large categories of property are excluded from that calculation, which is why many estates that look too big at first glance actually qualify:⁴

Property the decedent held in joint tenancy, or any interest that ended at death.
Assets passing to a surviving spouse under community property rules.
Property held in a revocable living trust.
Payable-on-death accounts, life insurance, retirement accounts, and multi-party accounts where the balance goes to a surviving party.
Registered vehicles, numbered vessels, and mobile or manufactured homes (each has its own transfer procedure).
Any compensation owed for service in the Armed Forces.
Up to $20,875 in unpaid salary or personal-service compensation, including unused vacation pay.²

Only what’s left after those exclusions counts against the cap. A decedent could have owned a house in joint tenancy, held $500,000 in a revocable trust, and still qualify if the remaining property titled in their name alone comes in at or below $208,850.

Preparing the Affidavit

You must wait at least 40 days from the date of death before presenting the affidavit. There is no single mandatory statewide form. Many county superior courts publish templates, and attorneys sometimes draft from scratch. What matters is that the document contains every declaration Probate Code §13101 requires, because the property holder can refuse a document that’s missing any of them.¹

Your affidavit must state all of the following:

At least 40 days have passed since the decedent died, as shown on the attached certified death certificate.
The gross value of the decedent’s California property, after the exclusions above, does not exceed $208,850.
Either no probate proceeding is pending or has been conducted in California, or the personal representative has given written consent to the transfer.
You are the successor of the decedent, entitled to the property, with facts explaining the basis for that entitlement.
No other person has a superior right to the property.
You affirm under penalty of perjury that everything in the document is true and correct.

Describe each item you’re claiming with enough specificity to identify it: account numbers for bank and brokerage assets, physical descriptions for tangible items.

Notarized Affidavit or Signed Declaration

The statute accepts either a traditional affidavit sworn before a notary or a declaration signed under penalty of perjury without a notary. The legal effect is the same.¹ The practical difference is that when there’s no notary certificate, the property holder has to verify your identity themselves, either by personally knowing you or by recording what identification you presented.⁵ Banks and brokerages almost always prefer a notarized version because it simplifies their compliance. The maximum notary fee in California is $15 per signature.⁶

The Death Certificate

A certified copy of the death certificate must be physically attached.¹ Order it from the California Department of Public Health or the county recorder where the death occurred. The state fee is $26 per certified copy.⁷ Order at least two. Some holders keep the copy they receive, and you’ll likely need one for your own records. If you’re collecting property from multiple institutions, you need a separate original affidavit with its own attached certified death certificate for each one.

Presenting It and Collecting the Property

Take the completed affidavit, with the death certificate attached, to whoever holds the property. The holder is required to transfer the property once the statutory requirements are satisfied, and doing so discharges the holder from further liability regarding that property. The holder is entitled to rely in good faith on your statements and has no duty to independently investigate them.⁸

Some financial institutions, particularly brokerages handling stock transfers, ask for extras on top of the affidavit, such as a Medallion signature guarantee. That’s an internal compliance layer, not a statutory requirement, but you’ll usually have to satisfy it to get the transfer done.

If the Holder Refuses

If a holder won’t release the property within a reasonable time, you can sue to compel the transfer. When the court finds the refusal unreasonable, it must award you reasonable attorney’s fees.⁹ That mandatory fee-shifting rule tends to resolve stalled transfers on its own. A follow-up letter citing §13105 and the fee consequence often does the job before litigation.

Your Personal Liability After Collecting

Collecting property through the affidavit doesn’t erase the decedent’s debts. You become personally liable for the decedent’s unsecured debts, and creditors can pursue you the way they could have pursued the decedent. Your exposure is capped at the fair market value of what you received, minus any liens or encumbrances at the time of transfer, and you can raise any defense the decedent could have raised.¹⁰

If someone later opens formal probate, the personal representative can send you a written statement of your proportional share of the estate’s unsecured debts. You must pay that amount, but you’ll get credit for anything you already paid to creditors directly. If you overpaid, the estate reimburses you.¹¹

You’re also liable to anyone with a superior right to the property, meaning someone who should have inherited it instead of or alongside you. That liability is capped at the property’s fair market value at the time of transfer, plus any income earned from it and 7% annual interest if you disposed of it. Fraud carries a much heavier penalty: a person with a superior right can recover three times the fair market value of property you fraudulently secured. Any claim under this section must be brought within three years of the affidavit’s presentation, or three years from discovery of the fraud, whichever is later.¹²

Real Estate Uses a Different Procedure

The §13101 affidavit cannot transfer real estate.³ For real property of small value, California has a separate affidavit under Probate Code §13200, filed on Judicial Council form DE-305. The value cap is lower ($69,625 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025),² the waiting period is six months rather than 40 days,¹³ the affidavit must be filed with the superior court, and you must attach an inventory and appraisal prepared by a probate referee.

Federal Tax Filings the Estate May Owe

If the property you collect generates more than $600 in annual income (interest, dividends, rent), the estate needs its own Employer Identification Number and must file Form 1041, the federal income tax return for estates.¹⁴ The $600 threshold is low enough that a modest bank account earning interest can trigger the requirement.¹⁵ If the estate expects to owe at least $1,000 in federal income tax for 2026 after withholding and credits, it also owes estimated tax payments. Applying for an EIN online at the IRS website is free. Keep clean records of income received between the date of death and the date you distribute the property.

1
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 13101
2
California Courts. Probate Code Section 890 Adjusted Amounts
3
Judicial Branch of California. Small Estate Affidavit to Transfer Personal Property
4
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 13050
5
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code PROB 13104
6
California Secretary of State. 2025 California Notary Public Handbook
7
California Department of Public Health. Vital Records Fees
8
Social Security. POMS GN 02315.041 – California Small Estates
9
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 13105
10
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code PROB 13109
11
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code PROB 13109.5
12
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 13110
13
California Legislative Information. California Probate Code 13200
14
Internal Revenue Service. Responsibilities of an Estate Administrator
15
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 1041 and Schedules A, B, G, J, and K-1