Cost context
Nebraska charges $22 for proceedings commenced and closed informally; formal proceedings use another schedule.
$22 is the recorded statewide amount.
Nebraska route screening
Nebraska small-estate limit: $100,000
The value of all probate personal property, less liens and encumbrances, must not exceed $100,000.
Sources reviewed August 7, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
Threshold evidence and currency
What the reviewed source establishes
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: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-24,125 — Section history through Laws 2025, LB85, § 1.
Verbatim threshold text from that source:
(1) the value of all of the personal property in the decedent's estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed one hundred thousand dollars; (2) thirty days have elapsed since the death of the decedent
What the Nebraska amount screen counts
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 $100,000. 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.
Timing and facts the threshold cannot answer
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.
What does not qualify for this route
- An estate above $100,000 does not qualify for this value-based route, unless the separately described alternate route applies.
- Real property is outside this route’s scope; the affidavit or statement does not transfer a house or other real estate.
- Filing before 30 days have elapsed from death fails the reviewed timing condition.
- A pending or completed personal-representative appointment, a will condition, creditor issue, or family-rights condition can disqualify the route even when the amount appears within the reviewed rule.
Move from the screen to the official Nebraska path
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.
- Affidavit for Transfer of Personal Property without Probate — Nebraska Judicial Branch
Nebraska publishes separate statewide affidavits for personal property and for real property, so the route depends on what the decedent owned.
If the state publishes no statewide form, that is a finding—not a missing link. Contact the County Court or clerk in the proper county for its packet and current filing instructions rather than borrowing an unofficial form from another county.
Questions to resolve before relying on “likely qualifies”
- The affidavit route covers personal property, not real property.
- The $22 amount applies to the informal-probate track.
- Confirm deed, account title, beneficiary, and trust ownership from the actual records.
- Confirm whether a will, prior appointment, creditor issue, or family allowance changes the route.
- Confirm the official form, fee, copy count, and filing method with the receiving court or institution.
Use this as a starting point.
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.
Nebraska counts only personal property, and wants the death proved on the affidavit
Nebraska’s affidavit ceiling is $100,000, but the figure alone is misleading, because it is not measured against the same thing every state measures. Section 30-24,125 asks the successor to swear that “the value of all of the personal property in the decedent’s estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed one hundred thousand dollars.” Real property is outside the count entirely. North Dakota and Idaho publish the same $100,000 figure but apply it to the whole probate estate, so an identical estate can clear the Nebraska ceiling and fail theirs.
Nebraska also asks for more on the face of the affidavit than the uniform text does. The thirty days since death must be “shown in a certified or authenticated copy of the decedent’s death certificate, or in the event of a delay in the production of a certified death certificate, an abstract of death as defined in section 71-601.01, attached to the affidavit.” The affidavit must state the claiming successor’s relationship to the decedent or, where there is no relationship, the basis of the successor’s claim to the property, and the successor must swear that every statement in it is true and material.
The practical consequence is that a Nebraska affidavit can be refused for a documentation gap rather than a valuation one. Obtaining the certified death certificate, or the section 71-601.01 abstract if the certificate is delayed, is part of qualifying here in a way it is not everywhere.
Source: Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-24,125, 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.
Nebraska eligibility map
What the Nebraska simplified route still requires
The Nebraska 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 Nebraska answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Affidavit for collection of personal property | 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? | $100,000 | Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | 30 days after death; Nebraska bars pre-death creditor claims two months after first publication of notice (triggered by appointment and due within thirty days of it), or three years after death where no notice is given. The clocks run from different events and are published separately. | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | $22 is the recorded statewide amount. | Ask the County Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | Nebraska uses a reasonable-compensation standard rather than a fixed percentage. The relevant base is the estate accounting. | Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate. |
Eligibility inputs
The Nebraska screen is made of these 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 | $100,000 |
| 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
Keep the Nebraska answer with its neighboring conditions
A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed Nebraska descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.
Compensation context
Nebraska uses a reasonable-compensation standard rather than a fixed percentage.
Nebraska uses a reasonable-compensation standard rather than a fixed percentage. The relevant base is the estate accounting.
Deadline context
Nebraska bars pre-death creditor claims two months after first publication of notice (triggered by appointment and due within thirty days of it), or three years after death where no notice is given. The clocks run from different events and are published separately.
- The affidavit route covers personal property, not real property.
- The $22 amount applies to the informal-probate track.
Court-material note: Nebraska publishes separate statewide affidavits for personal property and for real property, so the route depends on what the decedent owned.
Arithmetic illustration
See the Nebraska amount screen without mistaking it for a result
The recorded Nebraska ceiling is $100,000, 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, $75,000 sits below the Nebraska figure and $125,000 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 Nebraska counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the Nebraska ceiling | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|
| $75,000 | Below $100,000 | Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties |
| $125,000 | Above $100,000 | Whether another statutory route or court process applies |
Next evidence to collect
Use the calculator for arithmetic, then verify title, timing, and the receiving court's form.
- Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
- Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
- Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
- Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.
Official material
- Affidavit for Transfer of Personal Property without ProbateNebraska Judicial Branch
- Nebraska court fines and costsNebraska Judicial Branch
Nebraska publishes separate statewide affidavits for personal property and for real property, so the route depends on what the decedent owned.
Source trail
Records used by this Nebraska map
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-24,125Nebraska Revised Statutes, Collection of Personal Property; reviewed August 7, 2026
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-125(1)(a)(i)Nebraska Revised Statutes, County Court Fees; reviewed August 7, 2026
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2480Nebraska Revised Statutes, Personal Representative Compensation; reviewed August 7, 2026
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2485Nebraska Revised Statutes, Limitations on Presentation of Claims; reviewed August 7, 2026
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2483(a)Nebraska Revised Statutes, Notice to Creditors; reviewed August 7, 2026
Controlling source
Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-24,125
Reviewed source note: (1) the value of all of the personal property in the decedent's estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed one hundred thousand dollars; (2) thirty days have elapsed since the death of the decedent