California Small Estate Affidavit 2026: Thresholds, Forms, and the Full Process

By Eric Ridley, California estate planning and probate attorney. Updated September 2026.

California lets you skip probate for a modest estate. If the death happened on or after April 1, 2025, you can collect up to $208,850 in personal property with a sworn affidavit under Probate Code § 13100, and a primary residence worth up to $750,000 through a court petition under § 13151, both after a waiting period and both measured by gross value, not equity. This guide covers the exact dollar figures through March 2028, the paperwork, who ends up personally liable if something goes wrong, and when full probate is the safer choice even for a small estate.

Your father died last month. He had a checking account with $47,000, a savings account with $12,000, and a car worth about $8,000. No trust, no will, no joint owner on any of it. The bank tells you that you need “probate paperwork.” A friend tells you probate takes a year and costs tens of thousands of dollars. You are now imagining a drawn-out court process over $67,000 in assets, when in fact you likely never need to open a probate case at all.

What Is the California Small Estate Affidavit, and What Does It Replace?

The small estate affidavit is a statutory shortcut. Under Probate Code § 13100, a successor of the decedent, defined by § 13006 as the person or people who inherit a given item of property under a will or under intestate succession, can collect that property by presenting a signed declaration to whoever holds it: a bank, brokerage, transfer agent, or employer. No judge, no petition, no hearing, no letters testamentary, and no personal representative appointed by a court.

It isn’t a workaround for a contested estate, and it doesn’t by itself clear title to real property. Real property has its own separate procedures, covered below, or needs full probate if it doesn’t qualify for one of them. The affidavit also doesn’t shield the person who collects the property from the decedent’s creditors. But for a modest estate passing to known heirs with no dispute among them, it removes months of delay and a real amount of court cost and attorney fee that full probate would otherwise require.

What Are the Current California Small Estate Thresholds?

California’s small estate figures live on the Judicial Council’s DE-300 chart (Rev. April 28, 2025) and are adjusted every three years for inflation under Probate Code § 890. AB 2016 (Stats. 2024, ch. 331) set the figures currently in effect, replacing the lower thresholds that had applied since 2022. Here is the progression for the personal property affidavit, so you can identify the correct figure for any date of death:

$208,850 is the maximum gross fair market value of a decedent’s real and personal property in California that can pass by affidavit under § 13100, for every death on or after April 1, 2025, no matter when the affidavit is actually presented to a bank or brokerage. A death in May 2025 is tested against $208,850 even if the family doesn’t get around to using the affidavit until 2027.

The Judicial Council calculates each adjustment from the change in the national Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers over the three-year period ending December 31 before the adjustment, rounded to the nearest $25. That is how the Council got from $184,500 to $208,850, and it’s the same formula that will produce the April 2028 figure.

Will the Threshold Change Again in 2026?

No. Probate Code § 890 sets adjustments on April 1, 2022, and then every three years after that. The current $208,850 figure took effect April 1, 2025, and the next adjustment isn’t scheduled until April 1, 2028. A different, higher figure is circulating on some sites as a supposed 2026 update, and it is not correct. There is no California small estate threshold change of any kind in 2026. The correct number for any death on or after April 1, 2025 remains $208,850 until the 2028 adjustment takes effect, and it stays $208,850 through March 31, 2028, not just through early 2026.

Which Procedure Fits Your Estate? A Decision Path

Small estate procedures aren’t one tool, they’re five, and picking the wrong one wastes a waiting period you can’t get back. Work through these in order:

If the estate looks like this	Use this procedure	Threshold (current)	Wait
Bank accounts, vehicles, personal property, no real estate over the limit	§ 13100 affidavit to the holder	$208,850 gross	40 days
The decedent’s primary residence, and nothing else in dispute	§ 13151 petition to the superior court	$750,000 gross	40 days
Real property of small value, residence or not (raw land, a share of a cabin, a modest parcel)	§ 13200 affidavit to the superior court	$69,625 gross	6 months
Everything the decedent owned passes to a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner by intestate succession or by will	§ 13650 spousal or domestic partner property petition	No dollar cap	No statutory wait; can file any time
A surviving spouse and minor children with almost nothing left after debt	§§ 6600-6613 estate set-aside petition	$107,900 net (after liens)	Court sets the hearing
The estate exceeds every applicable threshold, or there’s a real dispute, or significant unsecured debt	Full probate	No cap	Typically 8 to 14 months

Two of these deserve a second look before you assume they don’t apply. The § 13650 spousal property petition has no dollar limit at all, because it isn’t testing the size of the estate, it’s confirming that property already passes to the surviving spouse under § 13500 without needing administration in the first place. And the § 6600-6613 set-aside is the only procedure on this list that measures net value, after debt, rather than gross, which means a heavily mortgaged house can knock a family out of the § 13100 or § 13151 gross-value tests and still qualify here.

How Does the § 13100 Affidavit Process Work, Step by Step?

1. Wait 40 days. The affidavit cannot be presented to a holder until 40 days after the decedent’s date of death (§ 13100). This is a hard floor, not a guideline. A bank or brokerage that receives an affidavit before day 40 should refuse it, and a well-run institution checks the date on the death certificate before accepting anything.

2. Confirm gross value is within the threshold. Add up the gross fair market value of the decedent’s personal property located in California. If the total exceeds $208,850, the affidavit is unavailable for that property, and the estate needs the primary-residence petition for the house, full probate, or another qualifying procedure.

3. Prepare the declaration. There is no single mandated Judicial Council form for the § 13100 affidavit itself. Instead, Probate Code § 13101 prescribes what the declaration must contain: the decedent’s name and date and place of death, a statement that 40 days have elapsed, confirmation that no probate is pending (or that the personal representative consented), a description of the property, the successor’s name and authority to claim it, a statement that no one else has a superior right, a request that the property be transferred, and a declaration under penalty of perjury. Attach a certified copy of the death certificate and the current DE-300 chart, since the threshold changes every three years and the holder needs to see which figure applies to this particular date of death.

4. Present the declaration to the holder. Take the signed declaration, along with whatever identification and death certificate copies the holder requests, to the bank, brokerage, employer, or other institution holding the asset. A holder that receives a declaration meeting the statutory requirements is directed to transfer the property to the affiant.

5. Collect the property. There is no court filing, no court confirmation, and no additional waiting period once the declaration is presented and accepted. Some institutions move within days; others, particularly larger banks with layers of internal compliance review, take longer even though the statute doesn’t require it.

What Should You Gather Before You Start?

Before day 40 even arrives, it helps to have the groundwork done. Locate every account statement, title document, and vehicle registration so you can total the gross value accurately, since guessing low and finding out later that the true figure was over $208,850 can unwind the entire transfer. Get several certified copies of the death certificate; most holders want their own original, not a photocopy. Identify every other heir or devisee with a claim to the same property, because a declaration that omits someone with an equal or superior right invites exactly the kind of dispute that shuts the affidavit procedure down. And check, in the county where the decedent lived, whether anyone else has already opened a probate case, since that alone forecloses the affidavit regardless of how small the estate is.

What Counts Toward the $208,850 Threshold?

This is the part people get wrong most often. Gross value, not net equity, is what counts toward every gross-value small estate threshold. A house, a car, or an account is worth what it’s worth on paper, mortgage or no mortgage, loan or no loan.

Put a round number on it: a $1,000,000 property with a $700,000 mortgage against it still counts at $1,000,000 for threshold purposes, not the $300,000 of equity actually left over for the heirs after the lender is paid. The debt doesn’t shrink the number used to decide whether a shortcut procedure is even available. This surprises a lot of families, because it runs backward from how they think about the estate day to day: they think about what’s actually left to inherit, while the statute measures the sticker price of everything the decedent owned.

A related but separate question is what gets included in the gross calculation at all. Probate Code § 13050 excludes several categories entirely: property already held in a living trust revocable by the decedent, joint tenancy property that passes automatically by right of survivorship, multiple-party accounts and pay-on-death or transfer-on-death designations, registered vehicles and vessels, and up to $20,875 (as of September 2026, adjusted the same three-year cycle as the main figures) in unpaid wages or vacation pay owed to the decedent. These pass outside probate and outside the affidavit procedure entirely, because the decedent’s individual estate never holds title to them in the first place. Only property that would otherwise have to go through probate gets measured against the $208,850 figure.

What Is the § 13151 Petition to Determine Succession to a Primary Residence?

Real property gets its own procedure, and that procedure changed along with the personal property threshold. Under Probate Code § 13151, an heir or devisee can petition the superior court to determine succession to the decedent’s primary residence when its gross value does not exceed $750,000. Like the personal property threshold, $750,000 runs for deaths from April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2028 and is scheduled to adjust again April 1, 2028, on the same cycle as § 13100. Don’t treat $750,000 as permanent.

The current § 13151 procedure works like this:

1. Wait 40 days from the date of death before filing (§ 13151(a)). Same 40-day floor as the personal property affidavit, not the six-month wait that belongs to § 13200.
2. File the petition on Judicial Council form DE-310, Petition to Determine Succession to Primary Residence, with the superior court in the county with jurisdiction over the estate.
3. Obtain a probate referee appraisal of the property on Judicial Council forms DE-160 and DE-161, confirming the residence’s gross value actually falls within the $750,000 cap before the court will act on the petition.
4. Notify every heir and devisee named in the petition within 5 business days of filing (§ 13151(b)), so anyone with a competing claim has an early opportunity to respond.
5. The court issues its order on Judicial Council form DE-315, confirming that the residence has passed to the petitioner.
6. Record the order with the county recorder’s office in the county where the property sits, to clear title in the public record.

Like the § 13100 affidavit, this is a tradeoff, not a free pass. The petitioner gets the house faster and without a full probate administration, a referee inventory of the entire estate, or the formal creditor claims process. But along with the property comes personal exposure to the decedent’s creditor claims that a full probate’s claims process would otherwise limit. Speed and simplicity on one side, liability on the other.

Can the Affidavit and the Petition Be Used Together?

Yes, and this is where a lot of real estates actually land. Property that is the subject of a § 13151 primary residence petition is excluded from the gross-value computation used for the § 13100 personal property affidavit. In practice, a family can petition the court for the house under § 13151 and, separately, collect the bank accounts, vehicle, and other personal property under the § 13100 affidavit, as long as the personal property on its own stays under $208,850. Each procedure is measured against its own threshold, independently of the other. A $600,000 house and a $150,000 bank account is not a $750,000 estate that blows through a single limit; it’s two separate procedures, each comfortably within its own cap.

Are There Other Small-Estate Procedures Besides the Affidavit and the Residence Petition?

Yes. The DE-300 chart that sets the § 13100 and § 13151 figures also sets several narrower thresholds:

Each follows its own rules and its own form, and none substitutes for the § 13100 affidavit or the § 13151 petition. All three move on the same April 1, 2028 adjustment cycle, so the same correction applies: none of these numbers change in 2026 either.

The § 13200 affidavit covers real property of small value, whether or not it was the decedent’s residence: raw land, a share of a family cabin, a modest parcel. In practice a Ventura County house almost never fits under its ceiling. Three things distinguish it from the § 13100 affidavit. The cap is $69,625 in gross value, again excluding property described in § 13050. The wait is six months from the date of death, not 40 days. This is the single most common mistake I see on this procedure. The 40-day rule belongs to § 13100 and § 13151; § 13200 requires six months, and the affidavit itself has to recite that six months have elapsed. And it’s filed with the superior court on Judicial Council form DE-305, with a probate referee’s inventory and appraisal attached, then recorded with the county recorder. The filing fee, including one certified copy of the affidavit under § 13202, is $45 under Government Code § 70626(b)(8). As with every procedure on this page, the values are gross. The mortgage doesn’t come off first.

What if the Surviving Spouse Inherits Everything?

Community and quasi-community property passing outright to a surviving spouse, whether by intestate succession or by a will that leaves it to the spouse, already passes without administration under Probate Code § 13500. No dollar threshold applies to that transfer at all. A surviving spouse, or a personal representative, guardian, or conservator acting for one, can petition the superior court under § 13650 for an order confirming that administration is unnecessary or that specific property belongs to the spouse. That petition has no gross-value cap, which makes it the right tool when the estate is entirely spousal property and too large for the § 13100 or § 13151 limits.

Is There Anything for a Family That Is Out of Money?

Yes, and it’s the least known of these procedures. Probate Code §§ 6600 through 6613 allow a petition to set the entire estate aside to a surviving spouse and minor children where the net value does not exceed $107,900 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. Net is the operative word. This is the one procedure on this page that subtracts liens and encumbrances, and it also excludes any probate homestead set apart under § 6520. A family whose only real asset is a heavily mortgaged house can miss every gross-value threshold on this page and still qualify here.

What Liability Do You Take on by Using the Affidavit or the Petition?

This is the part most guides skip, and it’s the part that decides whether the shortcut was a good idea. Collecting property under § 13100 or § 13151 doesn’t just skip court oversight, it shifts three distinct kinds of exposure onto the person who signed.

Who can come after you	Statute	How much	Deadline
The decedent’s unsecured creditors	§ 13109	Capped at the fair market value of what you received, minus liens and encumbrances	Governed by Code of Civil Procedure § 366.2’s one-year outer limit on actions against a decedent
A person with a superior right to the same property	§ 13110	Fair market value minus liens, plus income the property earned or 7% annual interest if you disposed of it; three times fair market value if you obtained it by fraud	3 years from presentation of the affidavit, or 3 years from discovery of fraud, whichever is later; no tolling
The estate’s personal representative, if full probate later opens	§ 13111	Return the property itself, or restitution of its fair market value plus 7% annual interest from the date you disposed of it; treble damages for fraud	Same 3-year rule as § 13110

Notice what these have in common: none of them requires the affiant to have done anything dishonest. An affiant who honestly and reasonably believed, but was wrong, that no one else had a superior claim is still liable under § 13110 up to the value received. That is why identifying every other heir and devisee before you sign, mentioned above, isn’t a formality. It’s the step that determines whether you’re exposed.

When Does the Small Estate Procedure Fail?

The affidavit and the primary residence petition both stop working in the same handful of situations, worth knowing before you spend time gathering documents:

• The estate exceeds the threshold. $208,850 for personal property, $750,000 for the primary residence. Even one dollar over disqualifies the entire procedure for that category of asset. There’s no partial or prorated version of either shortcut.
• A probate petition has already been filed. Once a full probate is open for the estate, both shortcuts close, even if no letters have issued yet and the case is still early.
• There is a dispute. If heirs disagree about who is entitled to what, or a creditor has already sued the estate, neither procedure offers any mechanism to resolve the disagreement. A holder facing conflicting claims will typically refuse to honor any affidavit and wait for a court order instead.
• The holder refuses. Some banks and brokerages impose internal documentation requirements stricter than the statute technically demands: extra indemnity forms, medallion signature guarantees, or corporate-form affidavits of their own. Frustrating, but not unusual, particularly at larger institutions with conservative compliance departments.
• Creditor exposure is significant. Both procedures shift liability for the decedent’s debts to the person who collects the property, up to the value collected, per the table above. A small but debt-heavy estate is sometimes safer run through full probate, where a formal creditor claims process gives the estate, and the person administering it, real finality.

Use the probate screener to check quickly whether an estate qualifies for a shortcut procedure at all, and the probate calculator to see what full probate would otherwise cost if it doesn’t.

If a holder refuses a declaration that plainly meets the statutory requirements, the practical options are limited: escalate within the institution, get a probate attorney to send a follow-up letter explaining the statutory transfer obligation, or, if the refusal persists, treat the affidavit route as exhausted and file for full probate instead. Prob. Code § 13105(b) lets a court award attorney’s fees against a holder found to have unreasonably refused a facially proper affidavit, but fighting an uncooperative bank over a $12,000 account rarely makes economic sense once legal fees enter the picture. That’s its own argument for keeping accounts titled to avoid probate in the first place.

A Worked Example: Two Tracks, One Estate

Go back to the father’s estate from the introduction, and add a house. He died April 2026, owned a home in Ventura County worth $620,000 with a $240,000 mortgage, plus the $67,000 in accounts and the car already mentioned. The house alone is $620,000 gross, well under the $750,000 § 13151 cap, ignoring the mortgage because the threshold is gross, not equity. The personal property, $67,000, is far under $208,850. Because the house is excluded from the personal property calculation once it’s the subject of a § 13151 petition, the family runs two procedures in parallel: a § 13151 petition for the house, filed with the superior court, and a § 13100 affidavit for the accounts and car, presented directly to the bank and the DMV. Neither procedure touches the other’s threshold. Both start their clocks the same day, 40 days after death.

What’s the Smartest Way to Avoid Needing Either Procedure?

The small estate affidavit and the § 13151 petition exist because the Legislature recognized that full probate is disproportionate for a modest estate. But both are cleanup tools, not planning tools. The best outcome is never needing either one: a properly funded revocable trust with a named successor trustee, correct beneficiary designations on financial accounts, and survivorship or transfer-on-death titling on real property mean assets move without probate, without an affidavit, without a 40-day wait, and without the personal-liability tradeoff that comes with either shortcut.

For a broader walk-through of everything that has to happen right after a death, before any of these procedures come into play, see what to do when someone dies in California and the end-of-life checklist. If the decedent left no will, California’s intestate succession rules determine who the successors under § 13006 actually are before you can fill out any affidavit. And for the related but distinct set of tools available specifically when a primary residence sits inside a more complete estate plan, see simplified probate for a California primary residence.

When Should You Stop and Call Someone?

These procedures are designed to be done without a lawyer, and plenty of families do them without one. Stop if any of the following is true:

• Anyone is disputing who gets what, or disputing the will itself.
• The estate may owe more than it holds. An insolvent estate needs real guidance, not an affidavit.
• A minor, or a person on means-tested benefits, stands to inherit. Handing money directly to either can cause serious problems, and in the second case can cost someone their benefits.
• There is out-of-state real property, which brings another state’s rules and possibly a separate proceeding there.

An affidavit signed under penalty of perjury by someone who wasn’t entitled to sign it isn’t a paperwork problem. It’s personal liability, as the table above shows.

Where the Affidavit Goes: Banks, Brokerages, and the DMV

The § 13100 affidavit is never filed with a court. It goes straight to whoever holds the asset, the bank, brokerage, transfer agent, or employer, along with a certified copy of the decedent’s death certificate. Prob. Code § 13101 requires that certified copy to be attached to the affidavit itself, not just shown to a teller and handed back.

The holder also has to satisfy itself that the person signing is who they claim to be. Prob. Code § 13104 lays out how. Personal knowledge of the affiant, or execution in the holder’s presence, is enough. So is a notary’s certificate of acknowledgment. Absent either, the holder can rely on a current driver’s license, a U.S. or foreign passport, a military ID, or an out-of-state ID card, as long as it was issued within the last five years, and the holder has to note on the affidavit which form of identification it relied on.

Meeting the statute doesn’t always mean meeting the bank. Most institutions layer their own paperwork on top of what § 13100 through § 13104 require, as internal policy rather than law. A brokerage transferring securities commonly wants a medallion signature guarantee along with the affidavit, since the transfer agent is reissuing shares in a new name; this comes up often enough with major brokerages that it’s worth asking about before you show up expecting a same-day transfer. Banks and brokerages also often ask for their own claim form, and, if there’s a will, a copy of it, even though the statute doesn’t condition the transfer on producing one. None of that comes from the Probate Code. It’s common practice, and it varies by institution.

Once a holder receives a declaration that meets the statutory requirements, Prob. Code § 13105 obligates it to transfer the property, and a transfer agent specifically has to reissue the security in the successor’s name. A holder that unreasonably refuses can be sued for the property, and a court that finds the refusal unreasonable can award the successor attorney’s fees. Prob. Code § 13106 protects the holder on the other side of that transaction: paying or transferring property under a facially proper affidavit discharges the holder from further liability, lets it rely in good faith on what the affidavit says with no duty to investigate, and shields it from liability for state taxes on the transfer.

A vehicle doesn’t go through this affidavit at all. The DMV handles it on its own form, REG 5, Affidavit for Transfer Without Probate California Titled Vehicle or Vessels Only, available at dmv.ca.gov. See transferring a car title after death in California for that process, and accessing a deceased parent’s bank account for how this plays out with a bank specifically.

Filing in Ventura County

The § 13100 affidavit never goes to court, but the § 13151 and § 13200 procedures do, and if the decedent lived in Ventura County, that means the Juvenile and Probate Courthouse at 4353 E. Vineyard Avenue in Oxnard, not the main downtown Ventura courthouse. As of September 2026, the clerk’s office is open weekdays, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., except holidays, and new probate estate petitions are set for hearing on Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. E-filing is available through the court’s approved electronic filing service providers, and most attorneys use it. Confirm current hearing days and any fee changes directly with the court before filing, since court calendars shift.

The Bottom Line

For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, California lets you collect up to $208,850 in personal property by affidavit and up to $750,000 in a primary residence by court petition, both measured by gross value and both available 40 days after death, with those figures holding steady through March 31, 2028. Real property that isn’t the primary residence gets its own $69,625 affidavit with a six-month wait, a surviving spouse inheriting everything can use a petition with no dollar cap at all, and an estate with more debt than assets has a separate net-value set-aside. None of these is free of consequence. Collecting property this way makes you personally liable, up to its value, to the decedent’s creditors and to anyone with a better claim, for three years. Know which procedure fits before you start the clock, because a wrong 40-day or six-month wait doesn’t refund itself.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the California small estate affidavit limit for 2026?

$208,850, for deaths on or after April 1, 2025. There is no new figure for 2026 specifically; the next scheduled adjustment is April 1, 2028, and the $208,850 figure holds through March 31, 2028.

Is the small estate threshold based on gross value or what’s actually owed?

Gross value, not net equity, is what counts toward every gross-value small estate threshold. A mortgage, loan, or lien against an asset does not reduce the number used to test eligibility, even though it obviously reduces what the heirs actually walk away with. The one exception is the § 6600-6613 set-aside, which measures net value after liens.

Does the $750,000 primary residence threshold ever change?

Yes. It applies to deaths from April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2028 and is scheduled to adjust again on April 1, 2028, on the same three-year cycle as the personal property threshold.

What were the thresholds before April 1, 2025?

The threshold that applies is the one in effect on the date of death, not the one in effect when you file. For deaths between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2025, the § 13100 limit was $184,500 and the § 13200 limit was $61,500. The estate set-aside was $95,325. If you are handling a death from 2023 or 2024, the current $208,850 figure is not your number.

How long do I have to wait before filing?

40 days after the date of death for both the § 13100 personal property affidavit and the § 13151 primary residence petition. The § 13200 affidavit for real property that isn’t the primary residence requires six months, not 40 days. Neither the affidavit nor the primary residence petition has a six-month wait under current law.

Can I use the affidavit and the residence petition on the same estate?

Yes. The residence handled under § 13151 is excluded from the § 13100 gross-value calculation, so a family can use both procedures on the same estate as long as each stays under its own threshold, as shown in the worked example above.

Am I personally liable for the decedent’s debts if I use the affidavit?

Yes, up to the value of what you collected. Prob. Code § 13109 exposes you to the decedent’s unsecured creditors, and § 13110 exposes you separately to anyone with a superior right to the same property, with a three-year window to bring either claim. That exposure is exactly why an estate with known or significant debt is sometimes better served by full probate, even when it’s small enough to technically qualify for a shortcut.

What documents do I need to prepare the affidavit?

Certified copies of the death certificate, the current DE-300 chart showing the applicable threshold, account statements or titles showing the gross value of each asset, and identification confirming the affiant’s relationship to the decedent or entitlement under a will. There is no single mandated form for the declaration itself, so the content, not a specific form number, is what has to be right.

Is there a small estate procedure with no dollar limit at all?

Yes, but only for a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner. The § 13650 spousal property petition confirms that community or quasi-community property already passing to the survivor under § 13500 doesn’t need administration, and it carries no gross-value cap, unlike every other procedure on this page.

What if the bank or brokerage refuses a valid affidavit?

Escalate within the institution first. If the refusal persists and the affidavit actually meets §§ 13100 through 13104, Prob. Code § 13105(b) lets a court award attorney’s fees against a holder found to have acted unreasonably, though litigating over a small account rarely pencils out once legal fees are in the picture.

None of this replaces a conversation about your specific facts, especially where a house, a dispute among heirs, or an outstanding debt is involved.

Talk to Eric

See also: California small estate limits compared with home values in every county.

Sources

• California Probate Code § 13100, § 13101, § 13050, § 13006, § 13104, § 13105, § 13106, § 13109, § 13110, § 13111, § 13151, § 13200, § 13202, § 890, § 6600, § 6602, § 13600, § 13650, § 13500. California Legislative Information, leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Accessed September 16, 2026.
• Government Code § 70626. California Legislative Information, leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Accessed September 16, 2026.
• Judicial Council of California, form DE-300, “Maximum Values for Small Estate Set-Aside & Disposition of Estate Without Administration,” Rev. April 28, 2025. courts.ca.gov/documents/de300.pdf. Accessed September 16, 2026.
• Judicial Council of California, form DE-310, “Petition to Determine Succession to Primary Residence.” courts.ca.gov. Accessed September 16, 2026.
• Judicial Council of California, form DE-305, “Affidavit re Real Property of Small Value.” courts.ca.gov/documents/de305.pdf. Accessed September 16, 2026.
• Superior Court of California, County of Ventura, Probate Division. ventura.courts.ca.gov/probate.html and ventura.courts.ca.gov/location/juvenile-justice-center. Accessed September 16, 2026.
• AB 2016 (2024), Stats. 2024, ch. 331. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Accessed September 16, 2026.

Figures verified September 2026 against the cited statutes and Judicial Council forms.