North Dakota has two small-estate routes, and only one of them is a dollar figure
The affidavit route, N.D.C.C. § 30.1-23-01, uses a $100,000 ceiling measured on “the value of the entire estate subject to distribution or succession under chapters 30.1-01 through 30.1-23, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances.” That is a wider base than Nebraska’s, which counts personal property only, even though both states print the same $100,000. Thirty days must have elapsed, no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative may be pending or granted in any jurisdiction, and the claiming successor must be entitled to the property.
The second route has no dollar figure at all. Under § 30.1-23-03, if the inventory and appraisal show that the entire estate less liens and encumbrances does not exceed the homestead as defined in § 47-18-01, plus exempt property under § 30.1-07-01, plus family allowance, costs and expenses of administration, reasonable funeral expenses, and reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness, then the personal representative may distribute the estate immediately — without giving notice to creditors — and close it by filing a sworn closing statement under § 30.1-23-04.
That second ceiling moves with the estate rather than sitting at a fixed number, because most of its components are the estate’s own costs. An estate with substantial funeral and last-illness medical bills can qualify for summary administration at a gross value that would not have qualified had those bills been smaller. It is the kind of threshold no calculator can screen for from a single input, which is why this site does not publish a figure for it.
Closing the summary route is itself a sworn act. Section 30.1-23-04 lets a personal representative — unless the court has ordered otherwise, and except in supervised administrations — file a verified statement at any time after distribution swearing to three things: that the estate was within the § 30.1-23-03 measure, that it has been fully administered by disbursing and distributing it to the persons entitled, and that a copy of the closing statement has gone to every distributee and to every creditor or claimant known to the representative whose claim is neither paid nor barred, together with a full written account of the administration to the distributees whose interests are affected.
The appointment does not end when that statement is filed. Under § 30.1-23-04(2) the personal representative’s appointment terminates only “if no actions or proceedings involving the personal representative are pending in the court one year after the closing statement is filed.” A North Dakota summary administration therefore has a fast distribution and a slow discharge, and the year in between is the representative’s exposure, not the estate’s.
Source: N.D.C.C. §§ 30.1-23-01, 30.1-23-03, 30.1-23-04, 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.