Minnesota route screening
Thirty days after death, a successor may use the affidavit to collect personal property when the entire probate estate, wherever located and less liens and encumbrances, is $75,000 or less. The value test counts the entire probate estate even though the transfer mechanism collects personal property; no appointment application or petition may be pending or granted.
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: Minn. Stat. § 524.3-1201 — History: 1974 c 442 art 3 s 524 .3-1201; 1976 c 161 s 13 ; 1977 c 159 s 1 ; 1978 c 741 s 9 ; 1984 c 655 art 1 s 74 ; 1987 c 403 art 2 s 151 ; 1991 c 11 s 1 ; 1992 c 461 art 1 s 2 ; 1995 c 130 s 18 ; 1997 c 217 art 2 s 18 ; 3Sp1997 c 3 s 13 ; 1Sp2001 c 9 art 15 s 32 ; 2002 c 347 s 3 ; 2009 c 117 art 1 s 3 ; 2016 c 135 art 2 s 31.
Verbatim threshold text from that source:
524.3-1201 COLLECTION OF PERSONAL PROPERTY BY AFFIDAVIT. (a) Thirty days after the death of a decedent, (i) any person indebted to the decedent, (ii) any person having possession of tangible personal property or an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock, or chose in action belonging to the decedent, or (iii) any safe deposit company, as defined in section 55.01 , controlling the right of access to decedent's safe deposit box shall make payment of the indebtedness or deliver the tangible personal property or an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock, or chose in action or deliver the entire contents of the safe deposit box to a person claiming to be the successor of the decedent, or a state or county agency with a claim authorized by section 256B.15 , upon being presented a certified death record of the decedent and an affidavit made by or on behalf of the successor
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 subtracts enforceable liens and encumbrances. Enter the asset value and the lien separately. An unsecured bill is not a lien against an asset unless this state separately requires it as an input.
The reviewed route requires 30 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.
The Minnesota Judicial Branch mncourts.gov probate, forms, fee, and Find Courts pages returned HTTP 403 to automated verification on 2026-08-09, so they are not listed as verified resources.
The Minnesota State Law Library’s official probate guide and forms guide returned HTTP 200.
Minnesota's official court forms and probate help live at mncourts.gov, which refuses automated requests, so no Minnesota court link is published here rather than substituting a copy hosted by a third party. Search mncourts.gov directly for 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.
Minnesota eligibility map
The Minnesota 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 Minnesota answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Collection of personal property by affidavit | Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route. |
| What property and basis count? | personal probate property only; net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. | 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? | 30 days after death; Multiple independent deadlines run from first publication, individual service, claim accrual, and death, so one days value 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? | $310 is the recorded statewide amount. | Ask the District Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation. A will provision may be renounced before qualifying; the court considers time and labor, complexity and novelty, responsibilities, and results. The section states no percentage schedule or separate extraordinary-services rate. 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 | net of enforceable liens and encumbrances |
| Waiting period | 30 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 Minnesota descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.
Section 357.021, subdivision 2, charges a $310 first-paper fee to the petitioner or moving party in every district-court civil action or proceeding. County law-library charges and service, publication, copy, and bond costs are outside this statutory base.
$310 is the recorded statewide amount.
A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation. A will provision may be renounced before qualifying; the court considers time and labor, complexity and novelty, responsibilities, and results. The section states no percentage schedule or separate extraordinary-services rate.
A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation. A will provision may be renounced before qualifying; the court considers time and labor, complexity and novelty, responsibilities, and results. The section states no percentage schedule or separate extraordinary-services rate. The relevant base is the estate accounting.
Multiple independent deadlines run from first publication, individual service, claim accrual, and death, so one days value would mislead.
Court-material note: The Minnesota Judicial Branch mncourts.gov probate, forms, fee, and Find Courts pages returned HTTP 403 to automated verification on 2026-08-09, so they are not listed as verified resources. The Minnesota State Law Library’s official probate guide and forms guide returned HTTP 200. Minnesota's official court forms and probate help live at mncourts.gov, which refuses automated requests, so no Minnesota court link is published here rather than substituting a copy hosted by a third party. Search mncourts.gov directly for probate forms.
Arithmetic illustration
The recorded Minnesota ceiling is $75,000, and it is tested against personal probate property only, on a basis this site records as net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. Counted that way, $56,300 sits below the Minnesota 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 Minnesota counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the Minnesota 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
Minnesota publishes no court artifact in this registry. The Minnesota Judicial Branch mncourts.gov probate, forms, fee, and Find Courts pages returned HTTP 403 to automated verification on 2026-08-09, so they are not listed as verified resources.
The Minnesota Judicial Branch mncourts.gov probate, forms, fee, and Find Courts pages returned HTTP 403 to automated verification on 2026-08-09, so they are not listed as verified resources.
The Minnesota State Law Library’s official probate guide and forms guide returned HTTP 200.
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: 524.3-1201 COLLECTION OF PERSONAL PROPERTY BY AFFIDAVIT. (a) Thirty days after the death of a decedent, (i) any person indebted to the decedent, (ii) any person having possession of tangible personal property or an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock, or chose in action belonging to the decedent, or (iii) any safe deposit company, as defined in section 55.01 , controlling the right of access to decedent's safe deposit box shall make payment of the indebtedness or deliver the tangible personal property or an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock, or chose in action or deliver the entire contents of the safe deposit box to a person claiming to be the successor of the decedent, or a state or county agency with a claim authorized by section 256B.15 , upon being presented a certified death record of the decedent and an affidavit made by or on behalf of the successor