What is the small estate limit in Indiana?

$100,000 for deaths after June 30, 2022, raised from $50,000. The figure is the gross probate estate less liens, encumbrances, and reasonable funeral expenses, under Ind. Code 29-1-8-1.

What can I subtract before testing the limit?

Liens, encumbrances, and reasonable funeral expenses all come off the gross probate estate. Forgetting these deductions is the most common reason families wrongly conclude they do not qualify.

How long do I have to wait in Indiana?

Forty-five days for most assets. A vehicle title has a shorter path, moving after only five days, so a car can be transferred well before a bank account.

Do I file the Indiana affidavit with a court?

No. The affiant presents the notarized affidavit and a certified death certificate directly to the bank, employer, or other institution holding the property.

What about real estate in Indiana?

The small estate affidavit cannot transfer real estate of any value. Indiana has a separate passage of title affidavit that can be recorded with the county recorder after seven months.

Indiana Small Estate Affidavit: The Deductions People Miss

General information, not legal advice. Indiana's threshold depends on the date of death and institutions set their own documentation standards. Confirm the current rules before relying on this.

Run the math before you give up: Indiana's limit is $100,000 for anyone who died after June 30, 2022, and the figure you compare against it is not the gross estate. You first subtract liens, encumbrances, and reasonable funeral expenses. Families routinely skip those deductions and wrongly conclude they need probate when the affidavit would have worked.

Calculate the Indiana figure ↓

Indiana small estate value calculator

Enter the gross probate estate, then the liens and funeral expenses you can deduct, to see the number that actually counts against the $100,000 ceiling.

The deduction that changes the answer

The single most consequential mistake in Indiana is testing the gross value against the cap. Ind. Code 29-1-8-1 measures the gross probate estate less liens, encumbrances, and reasonable funeral expenses, and funeral costs alone commonly run twelve to fifteen thousand dollars. So an estate that looks like $110,000 on paper can land comfortably under $100,000 once the funeral bill and a car loan come off. Separately, property that already passes outside probate never enters the calculation at all: payable-on-death accounts, jointly owned accounts with a survivor, life insurance with a living beneficiary. Sort those out first, then apply the deductions, and only then decide whether you qualify.

The limit depends on when they died

Indiana raised the ceiling from $50,000 to $100,000 effective July 1, 2022, and the date of death is what governs. Someone who died after June 30, 2022 gets the $100,000 figure; a death between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2022 is still tested against $50,000. That change pulled thousands of additional families out of probate each year and made Indiana's threshold one of the more generous in the country. Plenty of older articles and downloadable forms still show the $50,000 number, so check the publication date of whatever you are reading before trusting it, particularly when the estate sits between the two figures.

Cars move faster than bank accounts

Most Indiana assets wait 45 days from the death before the affidavit can be used, which is longer than the 30-day states. Vehicles are the exception: a title transfer has a five-day path, so a car can move through the Bureau of Motor Vehicles well before a bank will release an account. That distinction matters for a family that needs to sell or insure a vehicle promptly. Note also that motor vehicles and watercraft are handled through the BMV under their own rules rather than the general affidavit route. Beyond the wait, no application to appoint a personal representative can be pending or already granted anywhere.

Real estate takes a different affidavit

The small estate affidavit cannot transfer Indiana real estate of any value, but Indiana does not leave families stuck. A separate mechanism, sometimes called a passage of title affidavit or devolution affidavit, can be recorded with the county recorder where the property sits, and it carries no dollar limit of its own. The conditions are different: at least seven months must have passed since the death, the affidavit must be recorded before a personal representative is appointed, and no court order may bar its use. Property that already passes by survivorship or under a recorded transfer-on-death deed needs neither route. Indiana recognizes TOD deeds, which is why many families never face this question at all.

Indiana small estate questions

What is the limit?: $100,000 for deaths after June 30, 2022, raised from $50,000. It is the gross probate estate less liens, encumbrances, and reasonable funeral expenses.
What can I subtract?: Liens, encumbrances, and reasonable funeral expenses. Forgetting them is the most common reason families wrongly conclude they do not qualify.
How long do I wait?: Forty-five days for most assets, but a vehicle title moves after only five days.
Do I file it with a court?: No. You present the notarized affidavit and a certified death certificate directly to the institution holding the property.
What about real estate?: It cannot be transferred by the small estate affidavit. Indiana has a separate passage of title affidavit recordable after seven months.

Written by the Trámites Notariales US editorial team, based on Ind. Code 29-1-8-1 and 29-1-7-23. The threshold depends on the date of death; verify before relying on this.