Updated November 2026.
AB 2016 raised the threshold for when Californians must go through a full, formal probate. It was signed into law and took effect on April 1, 2025.
Before that date, the small-estate threshold was $184,500, and you generally could not use a Small Estate Affidavit to transfer real property (the separate affidavit for real property was capped around $61,500). Under AB 2016, a primary residence worth up to $750,000 can now pass through a simplified court procedure instead of full probate. The general small-estate limit for other (personal) property also rose with its regular inflation adjustment to roughly $208,850. (The $750,000 primary-residence figure is fixed until it is next adjusted; confirm the current personal-property figure, which adjusts every three years.)
An important caveat: these higher thresholds apply going forward, and the older, lower limits can still apply depending on the date of death. Confirm how the rules apply to a specific estate before relying on them.
Because probate attorney and representative fees are set as a percentage of the estate’s value, raising these thresholds should let more families, especially those whose main asset is a home, sidestep probate and save money. It may also invite more disputes, since many people are not accustomed to handling these transfers themselves.
Understanding Probate and California’s Small Estate Exception
Probate is the legal process for distributing a decedent’s estate based on their will or, absent a will, through intestate succession laws. While probate provides judicial oversight to prevent fraud and abuse, it can be time-consuming and costly. For this reason, many people seek ways to bypass probate, and the law offers several avenues for doing so.
Assets held in joint tenancy, community property with right of survivorship, or designated as payable-on-death (POD) or transfer-on-death (TOD) accounts automatically transfer to named beneficiaries without probate. Similarly, assets placed in a living trust or designated in retirement accounts and insurance policies can pass directly to beneficiaries.
California law also includes a “small estate” exception, allowing heirs to claim an estate without formal probate if the estate’s value falls below the threshold. This streamlined process saves time and reduces costs, which can be particularly significant for smaller estates and for families whose primary asset is their home.
For more on how these rules fit together, see What’s the Difference Between a Will and a Trust? , Out of Trust Assets: Can They Avoid A Full Probate? , and our overview of probate .
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This article is general information about California law, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.
