California route screening

California small-estate limit: $208,850

This limit is set by the date of death, not by the current year.

$208,850 applies to a death on or after April 1, 2025. The screening tool below will not return a figure until a date of death is entered, because measuring an older estate against today’s ceiling would give a confident wrong answer. Basis: Prob. Code s 890 triennial adjustment published on Judicial Council form DE-300.

Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch October 3, 2026.

1. Where and when

StateCaliforniaFixed to this page. Open the navigator to compare another state.Date of deathRequired. Without it no waiting period can be tested and the route stays undecided.

2. What they left

Asset 1

DescriptionValue$Not entered. A blank amount is not counted as zero.Enforceable liens or mortgage$Not entered. Enter 0 if there is no lien.OwnershipThis is real property

Asset 2

DescriptionValue$Not entered. A blank amount is not counted as zero.Enforceable liens or mortgage$Not entered. Enter 0 if there is no lien.OwnershipThis is real propertyWill it be sold during administration?Some court charges are assessed on sale proceeds and exclude real property that is kept, so this changes the amount.

Ownership determines whether an asset usually enters probate. Choose “Not sure” when title or beneficiary status has not been confirmed.

value of the estate accounted for$§ 10800(b): total appraisal value of inventory property, plus gains over appraisal on sales, plus receipts, less losses; encumbrances are not deducted. Leaving it blank keeps the compensation undecided rather than assuming a number.

Private by design: entries stay in this browser.

Your working estimate

California estate snapshot

Route check

More information is needed

Counted probate estate: not yet counted

A valid date of death is required before any waiting period can be tested.

California also sets its ceiling by the date of death (Prob. Code s 890 triennial adjustment published on Judicial Council form DE-300), so no limit can be applied until that date is known.

Gross probate propertyNot yet counted

Court chargeSet locallyGovernment Code § 70650 sets a uniform statewide filing fee of $355 for the first petition for letters of administration or letters testamentary. Additional local surcharges may apply in some counties, but the base opening fee is a fixed statewide figure.

Scheduled executor compensationCase accounting neededEnter the compensable value above and this schedule is applied to it, band by band.Prob. Code § 10800 sets statutory (ordinary) compensation as 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, 2% of the next $800,000, 1% of the next $9,000,000, and 0.5% of the next $15,000,000. Above $25,000,000 the amount is 'a reasonable amount to be determined by the court' — so the top band is NOT a fixed percentage. The base is 'the value of the estate accounted for' (appraisal value plus gains on sales plus receipts, less losses, without regard to encumbrances).

This route check is general information, not legal advice. It does not test every eligibility condition, creditor issue, will provision, local fee, or asset-title fact.

Personal property may be collected by affidavit if 40 days have elapsed since death and the gross value of the decedent's real and personal property in California does not exceed the amount published on Judicial Council mandatory-use form DE-300 for the decedent's date of death (Prob. Code § 890 directs these amounts to be adjusted every three years). For deaths on or after April 1, 2025 that ceiling is $208,850 (deaths April 1, 2022-March 31, 2025 use $184,500; the codified § 13100 figure of $166,250 is a pre-2022 baseline that § 890 adjustments have superseded). Excludes § 13050 property and property covered by a § 13151 petition. Real property of small value uses the § 13200 affidavit ($69,625 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025); a primary residence up to $750,000 uses the § 13151 succession petition.

Threshold evidence and currency

What the reviewed source establishes

Currency: This limit is date-dependent. The latest published band is $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025; earlier dates use the bands below. No later session-law supersession is identified in the reviewed record.

$184,500 for deaths from 2022-04-01 through 2025-03-31.
$208,850 for deaths on or after 2025-04-01.

Controlling citation: Judicial Council of California form DE-300 (Rev. April 28, 2025), implementing Prob. Code § 890 — DE-300 [Rev. April 28, 2025].

Verbatim threshold text from that source:

The gross value of the decedent's real and personal property in California- excluding any property described in Probate Code section 13050 and any property included in a petition filed under Probate Code section 13151-must not exceed: $ 184,500 $ 208,850

Which California limit applies to which date of death

The California ceiling is not one timeless number. It is republished on a schedule, and the figure that governs an estate is the one in force on the day the person died — not the one in force today. Measuring an older estate against the current ceiling can report that it qualifies when the operative limit was lower, so the bands are set out in full below.

California small-estate ceiling by the decedent’s date of death
Date of death	Ceiling
Deaths on or after April 1, 2025	$208,850
Deaths from April 1, 2022 through March 31, 2025	$184,500

How the figure is set: Prob. Code s 890 triennial adjustment published on Judicial Council form DE-300.

For a death before April 1, 2022 the earlier published values apply; see the Judicial Council self-help guide.

How the California screen is measured

Procedure	Affidavit for collection of personal property (Prob. Code § 13100) and, for real property, the § 13200 small-value affidavit and § 13150 petition to determine succession
What counts	The probate estate within the statute’s scope, so solely owned real property can count
Value basis	Gross value; liens are not subtracted
Waiting period	40 days after death

The California caveats that can change this answer are listed once, on the California overview.

The official California path

California Courts Self-Help: Probate — Judicial Council of California. Official statewide self-help overview of probate.
Transfer a small estate without probate — Judicial Council of California. Official guidance on the small-estate affidavit process.
California Courts — Find your court forms — Judicial Council of California. Statewide Judicial Council forms index (e.g., DE-series probate forms).

What a small-estate screen can and cannot decide, and which assets never enter it, is explained once in small-estate affidavit or probate and what counts as a probate asset.

Controlling sources

Agency guidance

Judicial Council of California form DE-300 (Rev. April 28, 2025), implementing Prob. Code § 890

Reviewed source note: The gross value of the decedent's real and personal property in California- excluding any property described in Probate Code section 13050 and any property included in a petition filed under Probate Code section 13151-must not exceed: $ 184,500 $ 208,850

What this means: Judicial Council mandatory-use form implementing the Prob. Code § 890 triennial adjustment. It publishes the operative small-estate dollar limits by the decedent's date of death; for the §§ 13100-13101 personal-property affidavit the operative ceiling is $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025 (the codified § 13100 figure of $166,250 is a superseded pre-adjustment baseline). Next adjustment April 1, 2028.

Judicial Council of California · Edition/currentness: DE-300 [Rev. April 28, 2025] · Verified October 3, 2026

Statute

Cal. Prob. Code § 13100

Reviewed source note: Excluding the property described in Section 13050 and any property included in a petition filed under Section 13151, if the gross value of the decedent's real and personal property in this state does not exceed one hundred sixty-six thousand two hundred fifty dollars ($166,250),

What this means: The printed figure ($166,250) is the pre-2022 codified baseline. Section 13100 states it applies 'as adjusted periodically in accordance with Section 890', and the Judicial Council's mandatory-use form DE-300 (Rev. April 28, 2025) publishes the operative triennially adjusted amount: $208,850 for a decedent who died on or after April 1, 2025. The codified page trails the DE-300 adjustments; unlike this California baseline, Florida's 2026 codified small-estate section now incorporates its Chapter 2026-57 amendment.

California Legislature · Edition/currentness: Effective January 1, 2025. · Verified September 15, 2026

California record: 8/8 verified, 29 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction

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