How do small estate limits compare across the states?

Why this study exists

Every state sets its own small estate affidavit limit, the dollar ceiling under which an heir can collect a bank account, car or other property without opening a full probate case. Our state-by-state directory already lists that limit for all 50 states and Washington, D.C., sourced to each state's own court page or statute. This page turns that table into a study: the spread between states, where the biggest gaps fall, how many states leave real estate out of the shortcut, and which limits moved in the last two years. This guide is general information for the United States, not legal, tax, financial or medical advice.

Three jurisdictions, Georgia, New Hampshire and Ohio, do not set a single dollar limit, so the rankings, gaps and median below cover the other 48 jurisdictions, 47 states and Washington, D.C. Each of the three is described on its own further down.

The spread: $15,000 to $400,000

Rhode Island's small estate affidavit tops out at $15,000, personal property only². Wyoming's tops out at $400,000, after the state doubled its limit in 2025³. That means the same $60,000 estate, a car and a modest bank account, sails through Wyoming's shortcut with no probate filing at all, while a family handling the identical estate in Rhode Island has to open a probate case because the estate is four times over that state's limit.

The median across the 48 ranked jurisdictions is $51,500, the midpoint between the 24th state, Wisconsin at $50,000, and the 25th, Michigan at $53,000¹. Fourteen of the 48 set their limit under $50,000: Rhode Island, New Jersey, North Carolina, Alabama, Massachusetts, Nevada, Delaware, Kentucky, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Maine, Missouri, South Carolina and Vermont¹. A family that assumes "small estate" means the same thing everywhere can be surprised: the same accounts and belongings can clear the shortcut in one state and require full probate in the next.

Neighbor states, different rules

Because probate is state law, not federal law, a family that moves a modest estate across a state line can move from "skip probate" to "file for probate" without the estate itself changing size. The widest gaps in the table sit along Wyoming's borders. Wyoming's $400,000 limit is at least $300,000 higher than every one of its six neighbors, and its gap with Montana, at $50,000, is the widest in the country³,⁴.

• Wyoming and Montana: $400,000 versus $50,000, a $350,000 gap, the largest of any bordering pair³,⁴.
• Wyoming and Colorado: $400,000 versus $88,000, a $312,000 gap³,⁵.
• Oregon and Nevada: $275,000 versus $25,000, a $250,000 gap, the widest pair that does not touch Wyoming⁶,⁷.
• California and Nevada: $208,850 versus $25,000, a $183,850 gap⁸,⁷.

Real estate: in or out of the shortcut

Most small estate procedures cover personal property only: bank accounts, vehicles, furniture and other belongings, not a house or land. Seventeen states exclude real estate from the small estate shortcut entirely: Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin¹. New Mexico's exclusion carries a narrow exception for a primary residence claimed by a surviving spouse¹³.

At the other end, Arkansas, Arizona, Nebraska, Oregon, West Virginia and Wyoming let some real property into the small estate process, each under its own separate, usually higher, limit¹⁰,⁹,¹¹,⁶,¹²,³. Our table does not say either way for the remaining states, so check the linked self-help page for your own state.

What changed in 2025 and 2026

Eight states changed their small estate limit in 2025 or 2026, and our source table records the prior figure for four of them:

³,¹⁴,¹⁵,¹⁶,⁹,¹⁷,¹⁸,¹⁹

Two more states adjusted a narrower piece of their process without changing the main statewide figure: Delaware's New Castle County began allowing $50,000 for deaths on or after June 10, 2026, above the $30,000 statewide base, and Pennsylvania added a separate $20,000 per-institution deposit release on January 23, 2026, alongside its existing $50,000 personal property petition²⁰,²¹.

A raised limit is not the only way a state's threshold moves. Colorado, Maine and Michigan index their limits to inflation every year, so the current figure depends on the year of death, not the year a reader looks it up⁵,²²,²³. States that do not index at all fall in real value every year prices rise: Connecticut's $40,000 limit has not moved since 2007²⁴, so it buys a smaller share of a typical estate today than it did when it was set. Between legislative changes, inflation quietly erodes every fixed-dollar limit on this list.

The three states with no single limit

Georgia, New Hampshire and Ohio do not fit a ranking because none of them sets one small estate dollar limit.

Georgia has no general small estate affidavit. It caps a bank deposit affidavit at $15,000 and otherwise routes an estate through a court petition²⁵.

New Hampshire has no dollar-capped affidavit at all. It uses a consent-based waiver and a summary administration track instead, neither of which carries a cap²⁶.

Ohio uses two separate thresholds depending on who is applying: a $35,000 release from administration, or $100,000 if a surviving spouse is the sole beneficiary²⁷.

Method: where these numbers come from

Every figure in this study is drawn from the small estate limit column of our state-by-state probate court directory, which cites each state's own court self-help page or statute, checked 2026-09-18. The spread, median, under-$50,000 count, neighbor gaps and real estate counts here are all calculated directly from that table's 48 single-figure rows; Georgia, New Hampshire and Ohio are described in their own words rather than forced into a ranking. Neighbor pairs were checked against each state's actual land borders, not assumed.

Small estate limits change by statute, sometimes with little notice, and several already moved in 2025 and 2026 alone. Confirm the current figure for your own state on its court self-help page before relying on any number here, including the ones in this study.

When to get professional help

This study is a reference for comparing states, not a substitute for checking your own state's current rule. If an estate is close to your state's limit, includes real estate in a state that excludes it from the shortcut, or involves an out-of-state property, a probate attorney or your state court's self-help center can confirm which track applies before you sign anything.

All 51 jurisdictions, sorted by limit

Georgia, New Hampshire and Ohio are listed at the end, unranked, because none uses a single dollar figure. Full sources, forms and statute citations for every row are on the state-by-state directory.