California route screening
This limit is set by the date of death, not by the current year. $208,850 applies to a death on or after 2025-04-01. 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.
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31, 2025 use $184,500; the codified § 13100 figure of $166,250 is a pre-2022 baseline that § 890 adjustments have superseded).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.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
Threshold evidence and currency
Currency: This limit is date-dependent. The current published band is $208,850 for 2025-04-01; earlier dates use the bands below. No later session-law supersession is identified in the reviewed record.
Controlling citation: Judicial Council of California form DE-300 (Rev. April 28, 2025), implementing Prob. Code § 890 — DE-300 [Rev. April 28, 2025].
Verbatim threshold text from that source:
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
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 death | Ceiling |
|---|---|
| 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.
The headline limit is not a count of everything the person owned. It is a test of the property and deductions named by this procedure. Classify title and beneficiary status first; property that transfers by a valid survivorship right, beneficiary designation, or funded trust follows its own transfer path.
This screen counts the probate estate within the statute’s stated scope, not merely cash accounts. Solely owned real property can therefore affect the amount test. That does not necessarily mean the same simplified procedure transfers the house; counting scope and transfer authority are separate questions.
The reviewed value basis is gross for this route. The tool does not subtract a mortgage or other lien from the amount test unless the cited rule says to do so.
The reviewed route requires 40 days after death before the affidavit or petition can be used. That is a minimum timing condition, not a promise that the institution or court completes the transfer on that day.
Assemble the death date, will status, asset titles, beneficiary confirmations, values, enforceable liens, family facts, and any prior court filing before signing anything. Then use the court publisher’s current artifact for the selected route.
California uses statewide Judicial Council (DE-series) probate forms; each county Superior Court also publishes local rules and any local fee surcharges.
If the state publishes no statewide form, that is a finding—not a missing link. Contact the Superior Court or clerk in the proper county for its packet and current filing instructions rather than borrowing an unofficial form from another county.
This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Probate law varies by state and county and changes over time. Verify the current rule with the court or a licensed attorney in the relevant state.
California eligibility map
The California threshold is one screen, not a complete legal conclusion. This map pairs the recorded ceiling with the property scope, deductions, date, and court artifact that have to be checked before relying on a likely-qualifies result.
| Question | Recorded California answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Affidavit for collection of personal property (Prob. Code § 13100) and, for real property, the § 13200 small-value affidavit and § 13150 petition to determine succession | Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route. |
| What property and basis count? | probate property within the rule's stated scope; gross value for this route. | Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately. |
| What is the amount screen? | $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025 | Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | 40 days after death; Multiple independent deadlines run from different triggers: § 9100 requires filing before the LATER of four months after letters first issue OR sixty days after notice of administration is mailed/delivered, and Code Civ. Proc. § 366.2 imposes a separate one-year outer limit measured from death. These are expressed in months, so a single day count would mislead. | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | $355 is the recorded statewide amount. | Ask the Superior Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | 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). The relevant base is the estate accounting. | Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate. |
Eligibility inputs
A threshold is useful only when the amount is measured the way the source describes. Keep this table with the asset worksheet so an empty or misclassified field cannot look like a confirmed qualification.
| Input | Registry record |
|---|---|
| Threshold | $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025 |
| Property scope | probate property within the rule's stated scope |
| Value basis | gross value for this route |
| Waiting period | 40 days after death |
| Required extra facts | None listed in the registry |
Case-file context
A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed California descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.
Government Code § 70650 sets a uniform statewide filing fee of $355 for the first petition for letters of administration or letters testamentary. Additional local surcharges may apply in some counties, but the base opening fee is a fixed statewide figure.
$355 is the recorded statewide amount.
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).
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). The relevant base is the estate accounting.
Multiple independent deadlines run from different triggers: § 9100 requires filing before the LATER of four months after letters first issue OR sixty days after notice of administration is mailed/delivered, and Code Civ. Proc. § 366.2 imposes a separate one-year outer limit measured from death. These are expressed in months, so a single day count would mislead.
Court-material note: California uses statewide Judicial Council (DE-series) probate forms; each county Superior Court also publishes local rules and any local fee surcharges.
Arithmetic illustration
The recorded California ceiling is $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, and it is tested against probate property within the rule's stated scope, on a basis this site records as gross value for this route. Counted that way, $156,600 sits below the California figure and $261,100 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what California counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the California ceiling | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|
| $156,600 | Below $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025 | Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties |
| $261,100 | Above $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025 | Whether another statutory route or court process applies |
Next evidence to collect
Official material
California uses statewide Judicial Council (DE-series) probate forms; each county Superior Court also publishes local rules and any local fee surcharges.
Source trail
Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.
Reviewed source note: 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
What this means: Judicial Council mandatory-use form implementing the Prob. Code § 890 triennial adjustment. It publishes the operative small-estate dollar limits by the decedent's date of death; for the §§ 13100-13101 personal-property affidavit the operative ceiling is $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025 (the codified § 13100 figure of $166,250 is a superseded pre-adjustment baseline). Next adjustment April 1, 2028.
Reviewed source note: Excluding the property described in Section 13050 and any property included in a petition filed under Section 13151, if the gross value of the decedent's real and personal property in this state does not exceed one hundred sixty-six thousand two hundred fifty dollars ($166,250),
What this means: The printed figure ($166,250) is the pre-2022 codified baseline. Section 13100 states it applies 'as adjusted periodically in accordance with Section 890', and the Judicial Council's mandatory-use form DE-300 (Rev. April 28, 2025) publishes the operative triennially adjusted amount: $208,850 for a decedent who died on or after April 1, 2025. The codified page trails the DE-300 adjustments; unlike this California baseline, Florida's 2026 codified small-estate section now incorporates its Chapter 2026-57 amendment.