Small Estate Affidavit in California: It Will Not Transfer the House
The California small estate affidavit under Probate Code section 13100 cannot transfer real property at all. It reaches money owed to the decedent, tangible personal property, and securities — not the house. The procedure that does transfer a house without full probate is a different one, and since April 2025 it covers a primary residence worth up to $750,000.
That distinction matters more than any other fact on this page, because families routinely spend weeks pursuing the wrong form. A related question that comes up just as often is whether an heir can keep living in the house while any of this is being sorted out.
The Numbers That Apply in 2026
These figures come from Judicial Council form DE-300, revised April 28, 2025, which publishes the adjusted amounts. Note carefully: the trigger is the date of death, not the date you file. Probate Code section 890(d) provides that adjustments do not apply where the decedent’s death preceded the date of adjustment.
For deaths on or after April 1, 2025:
- Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property, sections 13100–13101: $208,850
- Petition to Determine Succession to Primary Residence, sections 13151–13154: $750,000
- Affidavit re Real Property of Small Value, section 13200: $69,625
For deaths between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2025, the first two figures were both $184,500. For deaths before April 1, 2022, both were $166,250.
The $184,500 figure is the one you will still find quoted almost everywhere, including — as of this writing — the California Courts’ own consumer self-help page on small estates, which has not been updated to reflect the 2025 changes. It is not a current threshold for anything. It applies only to deaths in that three-year window.
Under section 890, these amounts adjust every three years based on the Consumer Price Index, rounded to the nearest $25. DE-300 states the next adjustment is April 1, 2028. If you see a page quoting an April 2026 threshold, it is fabricated — there is no 2026 adjustment.
What the Section 13100 Affidavit Actually Does
Forty days after the death, a successor can use a written affidavit to collect the decedent’s personal property without letters of administration and without waiting for the will to be probated: bank accounts, a final paycheck, a vehicle, brokerage holdings. No court filing is required, and there is no statewide Judicial Council form for it — counties and law libraries publish their own templates, which is one reason form confusion on this topic is rampant.
It does nothing for the house. If the estate’s only meaningful asset is real property, this is not your procedure.
The $750,000 Petition for a Primary Residence
Assembly Bill 2016, with amendments effective January 1, 2025, rewrote Probate Code sections 13150 through 13154. Section 13151 now reads that where a decedent dies leaving real property that was their primary residence in California, the gross value of that property does not exceed $750,000, and 40 days have elapsed since the death, the successor may petition the superior court for an order determining that they have succeeded to the property.
The mechanics:
- Wait 40 days from the date of death.
- Have the property appraised. Section 13152(b) requires an Inventory and Appraisal attached to the petition, prepared by a probate referee appointed by the State Controller for that county. This is mandatory, and it is usually the slowest step.
- File form DE-310, now titled Petition to Determine Succession to Primary Residence — not “to Real Property,” which was its name before April 2025. The appraisal goes on DE-160 and DE-161.
- Give notice. Section 13151(b), added by AB 2016, requires the petitioner to deliver notice of the petition to each heir and devisee named in the petition within five business days of filing.
- Attend the hearing and obtain the order on form DE-315.
- Record a certified copy of the order with the county recorder.
That recorded order is what repairs the chain of title. Until it is recorded, you own the house in principle and cannot sell it in practice.
Two Traps Nobody Warns You About
The early-2025 dead zone. The statutory restriction to primary residences arrived with the amendments effective January 1, 2025, but the $750,000 figure applies only to deaths on or after April 1, 2025. A decedent who died in, say, February 2025 gets the new narrowing and the old $184,500 cap — the worst of both. If your parent died in the first quarter of 2025, check this before assuming you qualify.
Non-primary-residence property lost its route entirely. Before AB 2016, this chapter covered any real property under the threshold. It does not anymore. A rental, a vacation cabin, or vacant land has no succession-petition path at any dollar figure. Unless the total of the decedent’s California real property fits under section 13200’s $69,625, it goes to probate. That category was not repriced — it was eliminated, and articles implying $184,500 survives as a “non-primary-residence limit” are simply wrong.
“Primary Residence” Is Broader Than It Sounds
Section 13150(b)(2) states that for purposes of this chapter, primary residence is not limited to the decedent’s residence at the time of their death. A parent who spent their last two years in assisted living, or with a daughter in another county, has not necessarily disqualified the family home. This carve-out appears in almost none of the guidance online, and it decides real cases.
The Two Procedures Stack
AB 2016 added language to section 13100 excluding any property included in a section 13151 petition from the personal-property computation. The practical effect: the house is not counted against the $208,850. A family can use the section 13151 petition for a residence up to $750,000 and separately use the section 13100 affidavit for up to $208,850 of personal property. They are neither mutually exclusive nor cumulative into one cap.
If a Surviving Spouse Is Inheriting
None of these thresholds apply. A Spousal or Domestic Partner Property Petition under Probate Code section 13650, form DE-221, has no dollar limit at all. A $3 million house passing to a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner uses DE-221, and AB 2016 did not touch it. If you are a widow or widower reading this page, you are probably on the wrong one.
What Escrow Will Want to See
This is where succession-petition sales fall apart, and it is covered nowhere in the ranking guidance. A title company underwriting your sale is insuring against the risk that an omitted heir surfaces later. Expect to produce a certified copy of the DE-315 order, recorded; the Inventory and Appraisal supporting the valuation; the death certificate; and evidence that the section 13151(b) notice actually went out to every heir and devisee within five business days. Give your escrow officer the full packet early. A missing notice proof discovered a week before closing costs more time than the petition did.
When Selling for Cash Is the Wrong Move
A house that qualifies for the section 13151 petition is, by definition, worth $750,000 or less and has a clean path to marketable title within a few months. That is a good candidate for a normal listing. If the heirs are in agreement, the property is habitable, and nobody is carrying a mortgage they cannot afford, waiting out the petition and listing conventionally will usually net more than any cash offer.
Cash makes sense in the narrower cases: heirs in different states who cannot coordinate repairs, a property in condition no lender will finance, a mortgage in default while the petition is pending, or an estate where the carrying costs are eating the inheritance month by month. If you are weighing it, our guide to selling an inherited house in California and the overview of whether probate is required given how title was held are the right places to start. Heirs who are not in California should also read the out-of-state heir guide.
This is general information rather than legal advice, and the thresholds above turn on the decedent’s date of death. Confirm your figures with a California probate attorney before filing anything. If you would like a no-obligation cash offer on an inherited property, Cash Home Buyers CA can provide one and work around your court timeline.