Quick answer: if personal property is at or under $75,000 and 30 days have passed, the basic affidavit likely covers it. If there's a homestead involved, check the separate $150,000 summary procedure that excludes the homestead's value entirely. Above both, informal probate applies. Check your own numbers with the Minnesota small estate checker.
The lesser-known homestead-exclusive track
Real estate still generally means probate
If the decedent owned any real estate in their own name, the estate generally must go through formal or informal probate regardless of value, per Minnesota Judicial Branch guidance — the homestead-exclusive track handles the estate's other assets, not a transfer of the house itself.
What skips probate before any threshold matters
Regardless of a will, a dispute, or the estate's value, certain assets never enter probate: jointly held property with survivorship rights, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts and deeds, life insurance and retirement accounts with a living named beneficiary, and trust assets.
Timelines once probate is needed
Simple estates typically take 4 to 6 months; the average runs 6 to 9 months, depending on complexity and whether any disputes arise.
The decision, in order
- Is there real estate titled solely in the decedent's name? If yes — probate is generally needed for that piece, though the homestead-exclusive track may still simplify the rest.
- No real estate: is the entire probate estate at or under $75,000, with 30 days passed? If yes — the basic affidavit.
- Above $75,000 but the estate (excluding an exempt homestead) is $150,000 or less — check summary assignment or distribution.
- Above both — informal probate, or formal probate if contested.
A local probate attorney can review your estate — many offer a free consultation.
Whichever tier applies, filing happens at the District Court of the decedent's home county — Hennepin, Ramsey, Dakota, Anoka, and the rest of Minnesota's 87 counties follow the same statutory thresholds.