California Small Estate Affidavit

Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: California lets a small estate be settled with two separate tracks an affidavit and a court petition. The personal property affidavit is usable 40 days after death. Real estate: not by the affidavit. Real property needs a separate court petition (primary residence only, up to $750,000) or a separate real property affidavit (six-month wait, real property up to $69,625).

Related guides on this topic: How Much Does a Living Trust Cost in District of Columbia? (2026), How Much Does a Living Trust Cost in Hawaii? (2026) and How Much Does a Living Trust Cost in Minnesota? (2026).

The verdicts

What the official sources say

At least 40 days have passed since the person died. … Legally, you are not required to have the Affidavit notarized. But many institutions will ask you to do so.

California Courts Self-Help Guide, selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/small-estate-transfer

At least 40 days have passed since the decedent’s death.

Judicial Council form DE-310 (primary residence petition), item 3

The dollar limit

$208,850 for deaths on/after April 1, 2025 (Cal. Prob. Code §§13100-13101, indexed triennially per §890; was $184,500 for deaths April 2022–March 2025). 40-day wait, personal property. Separately, AB 2016 (2024) allows a simplified §13151 petition for a primary residence up to $750,000 for deaths on/after April 1, 2025.

All 51 limits, compared.

The form

There is no official statewide form for the personal property affidavit; many banks supply their own. The Judicial Council publishes DE-300 (Maximum Values for Small Estate Set-Aside & Disposition of Estate Without Administration), which must be attached for deaths on or after April 1, 2022, and DE-305 (Affidavit re Real Property of Small Value) for the separate real property affidavit.

The waiting period is the part that voids transfers

Using the instrument before its waiting period has run is the most common way one of these fails. A bank can refuse it, and a transfer made on a defective affidavit can be unwound — with the person who signed it personally exposed, because these are sworn statements made under penalty of perjury. Wait the full period and count from the date of death.

The real property affidavit (DE-305)

Two separate real-property mechanisms exist: the §13150 court petition (40-day wait, confirmed via leginfo.legislature.ca.gov §13151) and a separate §13200 ‘Affidavit re Real Property of Small Value’ (DE-305) with its own lower threshold. We read the Judicial Council form DE-305 (Rev. January 1, 2026) on courts.ca.gov. It requires that at least six months have passed since the death, that real property in California not exceed $69,625 (deaths on or after April 1, 2025), and that a probate referee inventory and appraisal be attached. It is signed under penalty of perjury and recorded, with no separate notarization line on the form.

When this route is the wrong one

• The estate is over the limit. Full administration applies, and using the small-estate route anyway does not make it valid.
• There is real estate and this route does not reach it. A house needs the instrument that can actually transfer title.
• Someone disputes it. These procedures assume agreement; a contested estate belongs in front of a judge.
• Debts exceed assets. Paying the wrong creditor first can make you personally liable.

Related: how the process works, step by step · affidavit versus summary administration.

General information drawn from state statutes and official court materials, not legal advice. Probate and small-estate procedure is STATE law and differs in every state; thresholds, waiting periods and forms change, and every figure here is sourced and dated. Using the wrong instrument, or using one before its waiting period has run, can make a transfer ineffective and can expose the person who signs the affidavit to personal liability. We are not a law firm and we sell no forms.