Connecticut Small Estate: Filing the PC-212 Affidavit

General information, not legal advice. Connecticut probate courts apply their own procedures and the forms are periodically revised. Use current forms from the Probate Court and confirm requirements before filing.

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Filing the PC-212

Connecticut's small estates procedure runs through the probate court but avoids a formal administration. The petitioner, with priority to the surviving spouse and then the next of kin, files Form PC-212 along with the Confidential Information Sheet PC-212CI and a copy of the death certificate, either in person or through the state's eFiling service. The affidavit lists the assets that would pass through probate, states whether the decedent received aid or care from the state, and sets out all claims, expenses and taxes and whether they have been paid and by whom. When the assets exceed the expenses and claims, or when someone who paid them waives reimbursement, you also file Form PC-212A, the Request for Order of Distribution.

No wait to file, but the court waits

Connecticut inverts the usual pattern. Most states make the family sit out thirty, forty, or forty-five days before they may even prepare the paperwork. Here you can file immediately, which lets you get the process moving while other affairs are still being sorted. What the statute does instead is restrain the court: it may not act on the affidavit until at least 30 days have passed since receiving it, and during that window it forwards a copy to the Department of Administrative Services. The practical effect on total elapsed time is similar, but the sequencing differs, and filing early starts the clock rather than delaying it.

How the $40,000 is measured

Two measurement rules decide more cases than the number itself. First, you value the assets as of the date of death and ignore debts entirely, so this is a gross test rather than a net one. Second, and more usefully, only solely owned assets subject to probate count. Property held jointly with survivorship, accounts with a named beneficiary, and other non-probate assets are excluded, which means an estate that looks far larger than $40,000 on paper can still qualify comfortably. Before concluding that a family is over the line, separate the probate assets from everything else, because that sorting is where most of the eligibility question actually lives.

Solely owned real estate is the deal-breaker

The procedure is unavailable if the decedent owned Connecticut real estate in their own name alone, and no dollar figure changes that. Survivorship real estate is treated differently and does not disqualify the estate, since it passes outside probate by operation of law. Note also what the assets may be used for under this procedure: paying funeral expenses and administration costs, paying claims from the last illness or other debts owed at death, or reimbursing someone who paid those expenses out of non-probate assets. Whatever remains is then distributed, under the will if there is one, or under Connecticut's intestacy rules if there is not.

Written by the Trámites Notariales US editorial team, based on C.G.S. sections 45a-273 through 45a-276 and Connecticut Probate Court forms. Use current forms and confirm locally.