Quick answer: personal property only, at or under $75,000 — the affidavit. Any real property, or personal property above $75,000 — full probate or the Simplified Estates Act. Check your own numbers with the Kansas small estate checker.
Real estate always needs its own path
KanCare Estate Recovery is worth understanding before selling
Kansas's Medicaid Estate Recovery program recovers long-term care and HCBS expenditures from the probate estates of recipients aged 55 and older — but recovery is limited to the probate estate itself, and it's deferred while a surviving spouse or a minor or disabled child survives.
A firm 6-month deadline for the will
K.S.A. 59-617 requires a petition for probate of a will within 6 months of the testator's death, or the will may not be admitted to probate at all — a genuinely tighter window than some other states allow.
What skips probate before any threshold matters
A Transfer on Death deed, joint tenancy with right of survivorship, payable-on-death bank accounts, and named beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance all pass outside of probate entirely.
The decision, in order
- Is the asset covered by a TOD deed, joint titling, or a beneficiary designation? → Skips probate entirely.
- Is there any real property remaining in the decedent's name? → Court proceeding required, regardless of value.
- Personal property only, at or under $75,000, 30 days passed, debts paid? → Small estate affidavit.
- None of the above fits → Full probate or the Kansas Simplified Estates Act.
A local probate attorney can review your estate — many offer a free consultation.
Whichever track applies, filing happens with the district court in the decedent's county — Johnson County and Sedgwick County among the busiest.