Virginia route screening
The entire personal probate estate must not exceed $75,000, and no personal representative application may be pending or granted.
Sources reviewed August 7, 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: Va. Code § 64.2-601 — Section history through 2026, c. 40.
Verbatim threshold text from that source:
1. That the value of the decedent's entire personal probate estate as of the date of the decedent's death, wherever located, does not exceed $75,000; 2. That at least 60 days have elapsed since the decedent's death;
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.
The reviewed route requires 60 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 small-asset affidavit is prescribed by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia and is reached through the self-help centre.
Virginia's probate tax is two separate charges: a state tax of 10¢ per $100 of estate value (Va. Code § 58.1-1712, none at or below $15,000) and an optional local add-on equal to one-third of the state tax (Va. Code § 58.1-3805). Both are separate from the clerk's appointment fee.
If the state publishes no statewide form, that is a finding—not a missing link. Contact the Circuit 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.
Virginia eligibility map
The Virginia 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 Virginia answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Small asset affidavit | 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? | 60 days after death; When a Virginia personal representative publishes notice to creditors, claims must be presented by the later of six months from first publication or 90 days after actual notice is mailed to a known disputed claimant (Va. Code § 64.2-508.1). The publication and actual-notice clocks run from different events, so they are stated separately, and Virginia fixes no single nonclaim bar running from death. | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | 1 published schedule; the proceeding and value basis control the total. | Ask the Circuit Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | Virginia uses a reasonable-compensation standard rather than a fixed statutory percentage. 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 | 60 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 Virginia descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.
Qualifying a personal representative costs nothing at $5,000 or less, then $20, $25, or $30 by estate value. Separately, Virginia levies a state probate tax of 10¢ per $100 of estate value (Va. Code § 58.1-1712), with no tax on estates of $15,000 or less, and a locality may add an optional tax equal to one-third of the state tax (Va. Code § 58.1-3805).
1 published schedule; the proceeding and value basis control the total.
Virginia uses a reasonable-compensation standard rather than a fixed statutory percentage.
Virginia uses a reasonable-compensation standard rather than a fixed statutory percentage. The relevant base is the estate accounting.
When a Virginia personal representative publishes notice to creditors, claims must be presented by the later of six months from first publication or 90 days after actual notice is mailed to a known disputed claimant (Va. Code § 64.2-508.1). The publication and actual-notice clocks run from different events, so they are stated separately, and Virginia fixes no single nonclaim bar running from death.
Court-material note: The small-asset affidavit is prescribed by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia and is reached through the self-help centre. Virginia's probate tax is two separate charges: a state tax of 10¢ per $100 of estate value (Va. Code § 58.1-1712, none at or below $15,000) and an optional local add-on equal to one-third of the state tax (Va. Code § 58.1-3805). Both are separate from the clerk's appointment fee.
Arithmetic illustration
The recorded Virginia 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 Virginia 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 Virginia counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the Virginia 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
The small-asset affidavit is prescribed by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia and is reached through the self-help centre.
Virginia's probate tax is two separate charges: a state tax of 10¢ per $100 of estate value (Va. Code § 58.1-1712, none at or below $15,000) and an optional local add-on equal to one-third of the state tax (Va. Code § 58.1-3805). Both are separate from the clerk's appointment fee.
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: 1. That the value of the decedent's entire personal probate estate as of the date of the decedent's death, wherever located, does not exceed $75,000; 2. That at least 60 days have elapsed since the decedent's death;