Kansas route screening
Kansas offers two abbreviated routes. (1) Small estate affidavit (K.S.A. 59-1507b): transfer a decedent's personal property by affidavit when the total assets of the estate subject to probate do not exceed $75,000 in value; the statute states no fixed post-death waiting period (threshold raised to $75,000 by L. 2024, ch. 35). (2) Kansas Simplified Estates Act (K.S.A. 59-3201 to 59-3206): a court-administered but streamlined alternative to full supervised administration. On the hearing of a petition for appointment of an administrator or for probate of a will where administration is sought under the Act, the court determines under K.S.A. 59-3202 whether the estate is administered as a simplified estate or a supervised estate, considering the size of the estate, the degree of kinship of the heirs and persons seeking appointment, the solvency of the estate, its nature, the wishes of the heirs and devisees, the probable cost of administration, and other pertinent matters. The Simplified Estates Act is a procedure, not a dollar-threshold shortcut, and coexists with the § 59-1507b affidavit.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
Threshold evidence and currency
Currency: No later session-law supersession is recorded in the reviewed source set for this threshold. The edition/currentness label below is the basis for the published figure.
Controlling citation: K.S.A. 59-1507b — L. 2024.
Verbatim threshold text from that source:
(a) When a resident of the state dies, whether testate or intestate, if the total assets of the estate of the decedent subject to probate do not exceed $75,000 in value
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 reviewed route is limited to personal probate property. A house or other real property is not transferred through this screen, even when the personal-property total is below $75,000. Open the deed and the receiving court’s real-property instructions before assuming the simplified procedure resolves the whole estate.
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.
No waiting-period number is published because it has not been verified to the same primary-source standard as the threshold.
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.
Kansas probate is heard in the District Court of each county. The Kansas Judicial Council promulgates the statewide small-estate affidavit and decedent's-estate forms, but the Kansas Judiciary websites (kscourts.gov and the Judicial Council at kjc.ks.gov) return HTTP 403 to automated clients, so no court-resource URL could be verified as reachable for inclusion; the controlling forms live under the Kansas Judicial Council 'Decedent's Estate' probate forms.
If the state publishes no statewide form, that is a finding—not a missing link. Contact the District 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.
K.S.A. 59-1507b applies where a Kansas resident dies, testate or intestate, and “the total assets of the estate of the decedent subject to probate do not exceed $75,000 in value.” The ceiling is drawn around the assets subject to probate, so property passing outside probate is outside the test as well as outside the transfer.
What follows is not a simplified proceeding — it is the absence of one. Personal property “transferable to the decedent’s estate by any entity or person shall be transferred to a person claiming to be a successor of the decedent, or in a manner as directed by the successor, without having been granted letters of administration or letters testamentary, upon such successor furnishing the entity or person with an affidavit showing entitlement thereto.” No court issues anything, and nothing is filed.
Subsection (b) explains why a bank or transfer agent can act on that affidavit safely. The transfer “shall be deemed to be a transfer to the personal representative of the decedent,” and the successor’s receipt “shall constitute a full discharge and release from any further claim for such transfer to the same extent as if the transfer had been made to an executor or administrator.” The protection runs to the institution, which is what makes the route work in practice.
Form and standing are both defined. The affidavit “shall be deemed sufficient if in substantial compliance with the form set forth by the judicial council,” and subsection (c) limits “successor” to a person entitled to the property by will or by intestate succession, or nominated as personal representative under the decedent’s will.
The section has been amended repeatedly — the history line runs from L. 1980 through L. 2023, ch. 77 and L. 2024, ch. 35 — so the dollar figure above is the one the revisor published on the date below and is worth re-reading rather than assuming.
Source: K.S.A. § 59-1507b (transfer of certain personal property to successor), read from the enacting state’s own published code on 2026-09-17. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.
Kansas eligibility map
The Kansas 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 Kansas answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Small estate affidavit (K.S.A. 59-1507b); Kansas Simplified Estates Act administration (K.S.A. 59-3201 to 59-3206) | Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route. |
| What property and basis count? | personal probate property only; gross value for this route. | Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately. |
| What is the amount screen? | $75,000 | Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | No waiting-period number verified; Kansas keeps three separate claim clocks. Under K.S.A. 59-2239 a demand is forever barred unless presented within the LATER of (a) four months from the date of first publication of notice to creditors under K.S.A. 59-2236, or (b) where the creditor is known or reasonably ascertainable, 30 days after actual notice was given. Both run only if the estate is opened: no creditor has a claim unless a petition for probate or administration is filed within six months after the decedent's death. The four-month period is stated in months, so it is not reduced to a fixed number of days. | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | $109.50 is the recorded statewide amount. | Ask the District Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | K.S.A. 59-1717 entitles a fiduciary to 'just and reasonable' compensation for services, plus necessary expenses; there is no statutory percentage schedule. The court reviews reasonableness, and a will provision on compensation is honored subject to the statute. 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 | $75,000 |
| Property scope | personal probate property only |
| Value basis | gross value for this route |
| Waiting period | No waiting-period number verified |
| 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 Kansas descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.
K.S.A. 59-104 sets a statewide docket fee of $109.50 for the probate of an estate or of a will. A temporary $22 non-judicial-personnel surcharge applied only 'On and after July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2025' and has expired, so $109.50 is the operative fee as of the review date.
$109.50 is the recorded statewide amount.
K.S.A. 59-1717 entitles a fiduciary to 'just and reasonable' compensation for services, plus necessary expenses; there is no statutory percentage schedule. The court reviews reasonableness, and a will provision on compensation is honored subject to the statute.
K.S.A. 59-1717 entitles a fiduciary to 'just and reasonable' compensation for services, plus necessary expenses; there is no statutory percentage schedule. The court reviews reasonableness, and a will provision on compensation is honored subject to the statute. The relevant base is the estate accounting.
Kansas keeps three separate claim clocks. Under K.S.A. 59-2239 a demand is forever barred unless presented within the LATER of (a) four months from the date of first publication of notice to creditors under K.S.A. 59-2236, or (b) where the creditor is known or reasonably ascertainable, 30 days after actual notice was given. Both run only if the estate is opened: no creditor has a claim unless a petition for probate or administration is filed within six months after the decedent's death. The four-month period is stated in months, so it is not reduced to a fixed number of days.
Court-material note: Kansas probate is heard in the District Court of each county. The Kansas Judicial Council promulgates the statewide small-estate affidavit and decedent's-estate forms, but the Kansas Judiciary websites (kscourts.gov and the Judicial Council at kjc.ks.gov) return HTTP 403 to automated clients, so no court-resource URL could be verified as reachable for inclusion; the controlling forms live under the Kansas Judicial Council 'Decedent's Estate' probate forms.
Arithmetic illustration
The recorded Kansas ceiling is $75,000, and it is tested against personal probate property only, on a basis this site records as gross value for this route. Counted that way, $56,300 sits below the Kansas figure and $93,800 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 Kansas counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the Kansas ceiling | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|
| $56,300 | Below $75,000 | Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties |
| $93,800 | Above $75,000 | Whether another statutory route or court process applies |
Next evidence to collect
Official material
Kansas publishes no court artifact in this registry. Kansas probate is heard in the District Court of each county. The Kansas Judicial Council promulgates the statewide small-estate affidavit and decedent's-estate forms, but the Kansas Judiciary websites (kscourts.gov and the Judicial Council at kjc.ks.gov) return HTTP 403 to automated clients, so no court-resource URL could be verified as reachable for inclusion; the controlling forms live under the Kansas Judicial Council 'Decedent's Estate' probate forms.
Kansas probate is heard in the District Court of each county. The Kansas Judicial Council promulgates the statewide small-estate affidavit and decedent's-estate forms, but the Kansas Judiciary websites (kscourts.gov and the Judicial Council at kjc.ks.gov) return HTTP 403 to automated clients, so no court-resource URL could be verified as reachable for inclusion; the controlling forms live under the Kansas Judicial Council 'Decedent's Estate' probate forms.
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: (a) When a resident of the state dies, whether testate or intestate, if the total assets of the estate of the decedent subject to probate do not exceed $75,000 in value