Quick answer: if the decedent's own share of personal property is at or under $100,000 and 40 days have passed, the affidavit likely covers it. If real estate is involved, or the estate is larger, Washington probate applies — but often with nonintervention powers, a genuinely lighter process. Check your own numbers with the Washington small estate checker.
The question that actually matters: is there a house?
Washington's small estate affidavit is deliberately narrow — it reaches personal property only, and never real estate. A house titled solely in the decedent's name never factors into the $100,000 calculation, and it can't be transferred by the affidavit either. That means an estate with a modest bank account and a paid-off home still needs a path to clear the real estate's title, whether that's full probate or a transfer-on-death deed set up in advance.
Community property shrinks the practical question
Because Washington is a community property state, a surviving spouse or domestic partner already owns half of community assets outright — that half never needed to pass through probate or the small estate affidavit in the first place. Only the decedent's own separate property, plus their community-property half, is what actually needs a transfer mechanism.
Above the threshold, Washington probate is still relatively light
What skips probate before the threshold question even matters
Regardless of a will, a dispute, or the estate's value, certain assets never enter probate: property jointly held with survivorship rights, payable-on-death or transfer-on-death accounts and deeds, life insurance and retirement accounts with a living named beneficiary, and anything already titled in a trust.
The decision, in order
- Is there real estate titled solely in the decedent's name? If yes — probate (likely with nonintervention powers) or a pre-arranged transfer-on-death deed is needed for that piece.
- No real estate complication: is the decedent's own share of personal property at or under $100,000, and has 40 days passed? If yes — the Affidavit of Successor.
- Above the limit — probate, typically with nonintervention powers if the estate is solvent.
A local probate attorney can review your estate — many offer a free consultation.
Whichever tier applies, filing happens at the superior court of the decedent's home county — King, Pierce, Snohomish, Spokane, and the rest of Washington's 39 counties follow the same statutory thresholds.