Connecticut timeline
Connecticut probate timeline: the 30-day wait and creditor deadlines
The simplified route’s statutory wait is 30 days after a copy of the affidavit is sent to the Department of Administrative Services. Source: C.G.S. § 45a-273.
Connecticut creditor deadlines are not verified to this site’s standard, so none is published below.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Sources rechecked October 3, 2026. This page last revised .
The one date this page can source
The settlement of small estates (affidavit in lieu of administration) route waits 30 days after a copy of the affidavit is sent to the Department of Administrative Services. This is a precondition: the affidavit is filed first, and the Probate Court cannot issue its decree before the period runs, regardless of how straightforward the estate is.
Source: C.G.S. § 45a-273, C.G.S. Chapter 802b, Sec. 45a-273 Settlement of small estates(Connecticut General Assembly; 2026 Supplement).
The section’s own words
If the aggregate value of a decedent's solely owned tangible and intangible personal property, excluding property that passes outside of probate by operation of law, does not exceed forty thousand dollars
Creditor deadlines
Connecticut runs a notice-to-creditors period plus separate rules for failure to present and for allowance/rejection of claims; a single number would conflate the publication/notice trigger with the outer limit.
Read this: C.G.S. §§ 45a-353 to 45a-364 (chapter 802b: notice to creditors, presentation and allowance of claims). The probate clerk in the county of filing can also state the local practice, which sometimes differs from the bare statutory minimum.
Connecticut’s small-estate clock starts at the Probate Court, not at the death
C.G.S. § 45a-273 lets a sworn affidavit, signed under penalty of false statement, take the place of probating a will or appointing an administrator; it goes to the Probate Court of the district in which the decedent resided. The surviving spouse files first; if there is none, any next of kin; and if there are none or they refuse, any person the court finds has a sufficient interest, including someone owed a claim, expense or tax.
The affidavit must say whether the decedent received aid or care from the state, list the solely owned assets that do not pass outside probate, and list every claim, expense and tax due in the priority classes of § 45a-365, marking which have been paid and by whom. The debts therefore have to be gathered before anything is filed.
Once the affidavit arrives, the court sends a copy to the Department of Administrative Services and “shall not issue a decree until thirty days after the date on which a copy of the affidavit was sent to the department.” Otherwise the court may act without notice and a hearing. The decree then tells each bank or registrar to transfer an asset to named people, pay named creditors from it, or hand it to the affiant to sell and pay out the proceeds.
The order of payment comes from the statute, not from the family: claims, expenses and taxes are paid under § 45a-365, with state aid or care repaid under §§ 4a-12 and 17b-95. Only the excess is distributed, by intestacy unless a will directs otherwise and the heirs sign a waiver of their right to contest it; if the will differs from intestacy and neither the heirs waive nor the beneficiaries consent to intestate shares, the court dismisses the affidavit and the will goes to probate.
Source: C.G.S. § 45a-273, read from the enacting state’s own official publication on 2026-10-03. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.
General sequence: first week, how long probate takes.
Sources rechecked October 3, 2026: Connecticut source list · how sources are checked · report a correction