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California small-estate limit: $208,850

This limit is set by the date of death, not by the current year.

$208,850 applies to a death on or after April 1, 2025. The screening tool below will not return a figure until a date of death is entered, because measuring an older estate against today’s ceiling would give a confident wrong answer. Basis: Prob. Code s 890 triennial adjustment published on Judicial Council form DE-300.

Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Sources rechecked October 17, 2026. This page last revised .

1. Where and when
2. What they left

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Counted probate estate: not yet counted

A valid date of death is required before any waiting period can be tested.

California also sets its ceiling by the date of death (Prob. Code s 890 triennial adjustment published on Judicial Council form DE-300), so no limit can be applied until that date is known.

Gross probate propertyNot yet counted
Court charge$435The court’s Statewide Civil Fee Schedule effective January 1, 2026, item 124, lists $435 as the total due for the first petition for letters of administration or letters testamentary, including Government Code §§ 70650(a), 70602.5 and 70602.6. The appendix retains the standard charge for San Bernardino and specifies a higher collected charge in Riverside and San Francisco. This calculator uses the standard $435 and excludes the higher Riverside and San Francisco charges. Publication, certified copies, later petitions and other administration expenses are extra.
Scheduled executor compensationCase accounting neededEnter the compensable value above and this schedule is applied to it, band by band.Prob. Code § 10800 sets statutory (ordinary) compensation as 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, 2% of the next $800,000, 1% of the next $9,000,000, and 0.5% of the next $15,000,000. Above $25,000,000 the amount is 'a reasonable amount to be determined by the court' — so the top band is NOT a fixed percentage. The base is 'the value of the estate accounted for' (appraisal value plus gains on sales plus receipts, less losses, without regard to encumbrances).

This route check is general information, not legal advice. It does not test every eligibility condition, creditor issue, will provision, local fee, or asset-title fact.

Personal property may be collected by affidavit if 40 days have elapsed since death and the gross value of the decedent's real and personal property in California does not exceed the amount published on Judicial Council mandatory-use form DE-300 for the decedent's date of death (Prob. Code § 890 directs these amounts to be adjusted every three years). For deaths on or after April 1, 2025 that ceiling is $208,850 (deaths April 1, 2022-March 31, 2025 use $184,500; the codified § 13100 figure of $166,250 is a pre-2022 baseline that § 890 adjustments have superseded). Excludes § 13050 property and property covered by a § 13151 petition. Real property of small value uses the § 13200 affidavit ($69,625 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025); a primary residence up to $750,000 uses the § 13151 succession petition.

Where the limit comes from

Is this the limit that applies?

This limit is date-dependent. The latest published band is $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025; earlier dates use the bands below.

  • $184,500 for deaths from 2022-04-01 through 2025-03-31.
  • $208,850 for deaths on or after 2025-04-01.

Controlling citation: Judicial Council of California form DE-300 (Rev. April 28, 2025), implementing Prob. Code § 890, Judicial Council of California form DE-300 - Maximum Values for Small Estate Set-Aside & Disposition of Estate Without Administration (Judicial Council of California; DE-300 [Rev. April 28, 2025]).

The section’s own words
The gross value of the decedent's real and personal property in California- excluding any property described in Probate Code section 13050 and any property included in a petition filed under Probate Code section 13151-must not exceed: $ 184,500 $ 208,850

Which California limit applies to which date of death

The California ceiling is not one timeless number. It is republished on a schedule, and the figure that governs an estate is the one in force on the day the person died — not the one in force today. Measuring an older estate against the current ceiling can report that it qualifies when the operative limit was lower, so the bands are set out in full below.

Date of deathCeiling
Deaths on or after April 1, 2025$208,850
Deaths from April 1, 2022 through March 31, 2025$184,500

How the figure is set: Prob. Code s 890 triennial adjustment published on Judicial Council form DE-300.

For a death before April 1, 2022 the earlier published values apply; see the Judicial Council self-help guide.

How the California screen is measured

ProcedureAffidavit for collection of personal property (Prob. Code § 13100) and, for real property, the § 13200 small-value affidavit and § 13150 petition to determine succession
What countsThe probate estate within the statute’s scope, so solely owned real property can count
Value basisGross value; liens are not subtracted
Waiting period40 days after death

The California caveats that can change this answer are listed once, on the California overview.

The official California path

What a small-estate screen can and cannot decide, and which assets never enter it, is explained once in small-estate affidavit or probate and what counts as a probate asset.

Controlling sources

Sources rechecked October 17, 2026: California source list · how sources are checked · report a correction

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