District of Columbia route screening

District of Columbia small-estate limit: $80,000

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

$80,000 applies to a death on or after March 21, 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: D.C. Law 25-302 raised D.C. Code § 20-351 from $40,000 to $80,000, and D.C. Law 26-164 § 3 (temporary) applies it to estates of decedents who died on or after March 21, 2025.

Under D.C. Code § 20-351, property subject to administration in the District worth $80,000 or less may be administered as a small estate, for deaths on or after March 21, 2025 ($40,000 for deaths from April 27, 2001 through March 20, 2025).

Sources reviewed October 3, 2026.

1. Where and when

StateDistrict of ColumbiaFixed to this page. Open the navigator to compare another state.Date of deathRequired. Without it no waiting period can be tested and the route stays undecided.

2. What they left

Asset 1

DescriptionValue$Not entered. A blank amount is not counted as zero.Enforceable liens or mortgage$Not entered. Enter 0 if there is no lien.OwnershipThis is real property

Asset 2

DescriptionValue$Not entered. A blank amount is not counted as zero.Enforceable liens or mortgage$Not entered. Enter 0 if there is no lien.OwnershipThis is real propertyWill it be sold during administration?Some court charges are assessed on sale proceeds and exclude real property that is kept, so this changes the amount.

Ownership determines whether an asset usually enters probate. Choose “Not sure” when title or beneficiary status has not been confirmed.

Private by design: entries stay in this browser.

Your working estimate

District of Columbia estate snapshot

Route check

More information is needed

Counted probate estate: not yet counted

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

District of Columbia also sets its ceiling by the date of death (D.C. Law 25-302 raised D.C. Code § 20-351 from $40,000 to $80,000, and D.C. Law 26-164 § 3 (temporary) applies it to estates of decedents who died on or after March 21, 2025), so no limit can be applied until that date is known.

Gross probate propertyNot yet counted

Court chargeMore information neededPetition for probate, including a small-estate petition (Rule 108)2 asset entries have no value entered. A blank amount is not treated as zero, so the charge cannot be computed.Court charges only, for the proceeding named beside each figure. That proceeding is not always the route screened above.

Scheduled executor compensationMore information needed2 asset entries have no value entered.D.C. Code § 20-751 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for services, unless the Court orders otherwise for good cause in a supervised administration or for a special administrator. The District publishes no percentage schedule. Compensation can be paid without prior court approval and is reviewed only if an interested person asks the Court, which then weighs the work done, any estimate given, the time spent and the results (§ 20-753). In a small-estate proceeding the personal representative receives no commission (§ 20-354(a)).

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.

It is still a court proceeding: a verified petition goes to the Probate Division, the Court appoints a personal representative, and if the Court directs notice, claims and objections are due 30 days after one publication (§ 20-353). Real property in the District counts toward the limit. The statute says only "a value of $80,000 or less" without saying gross or net of liens, so the calculator measures gross value, which can never report an estate as eligible when it is not.

Threshold evidence and currency

What the reviewed source establishes

Currency: This limit is date-dependent. The latest published band is $80,000 for deaths on or after March 21, 2025; earlier dates use the bands below. No later session-law supersession is identified in the reviewed record.

$40,000 for deaths from 2001-04-27 through 2025-03-20.
$80,000 for deaths on or after 2025-03-21.

Controlling citation: D.C. Code § 20-351 — Mar. 21, 2025, D.C. Law 25-302, § 4(n), 72 DCR 780.

Verbatim threshold text from that source:

If the property of a decedent subject to administration in the District of Columbia has a value of $80,000 or less, the property may be administered as a small estate in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter.

Which District of Columbia limit applies to which date of death

The District of Columbia 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.

District of Columbia small-estate ceiling by the decedent’s date of death
Date of death	Ceiling
Deaths on or after March 21, 2025	$80,000
Deaths from April 27, 2001 through March 20, 2025	$40,000

How the figure is set: D.C. Law 25-302 raised D.C. Code § 20-351 from $40,000 to $80,000, and D.C. Law 26-164 § 3 (temporary) applies it to estates of decedents who died on or after March 21, 2025.

Deaths before April 27, 2001 fall under an earlier, lower limit that this site does not price; ask the Register of Wills.

How the District of Columbia screen is measured

Procedure	Small estate proceeding (D.C. Code §§ 20-351 to 20-356)
What counts	The probate estate within the statute’s scope, so solely owned real property can count
Value basis	Gross value; liens are not subtracted
Waiting period	Not verified, so no number is published

D.C. Code §§ 20-351 to 20-356 state no waiting period after death for the court small-estate proceeding. The 60-day wait in § 20-361 belongs to the separate affidavit route, and the absence of a stated wait does not prove no rule or practice imposes one.

The District of Columbia caveats that can change this answer are listed once, on the District of Columbia overview.

The official District of Columbia path

D.C. Superior Court Probate Division — District of Columbia Courts
D.C. Courts: estates of decedents — District of Columbia Courts
D.C. Courts: small estates — District of Columbia Courts. Useful for the filing steps. Its dollar limit and cost table predate the 2025 change to D.C. Code § 20-351, so use the statute for the limit.
Petition for Administration of Small Estate (form SEB) — District of Columbia Courts. The form text still recites the older $40,000 limit; ask the Register of Wills which version to file for an estate between $40,000 and $80,000.
Probate Self-Help Center — District of Columbia Courts

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 source

Statute

D.C. Code § 20-351

Reviewed source note: If the property of a decedent subject to administration in the District of Columbia has a value of $80,000 or less, the property may be administered as a small estate in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter.

What this means: The section history ends with D.C. Law 25-302, § 4(n), effective March 21, 2025, which replaced $40,000 with $80,000. The publisher's own amendment note still describes the 2001 change and was not updated for 2025; the operative text above governs.

Council of the District of Columbia (D.C. Law Library) · Edition/currentness: Mar. 21, 2025, D.C. Law 25-302, § 4(n), 72 DCR 780 · Verified October 3, 2026

District of Columbia record: 12/12 verified, 39 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction

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