Letter to a bank or other holder in the District of Columbia

A letter that presents the small estate affidavit you have already signed. It says what you enclose and asks the holder to release the property.

Required when you mail the letter.

It goes into the letter only. It is never saved or sent to us.

Papers you are enclosing

Check what you will include. Only checked items go in the letter.

It goes into the letter as you type it. You can add a ready-made sentence:

Other formats

Do not send original documents unless the holder asks; keep copies. Sign the letter and keep a copy.

Before you send it

Some banks have their own form or ask for a notary. Call the bank's estates department first and ask what it needs. Keep a copy of everything you send.

Payment or delivery of small asset by affidavit (transfers by affidavit)

If the whole estate is small and has no real estate, the people who inherit can sign a sworn affidavit and give it to a bank, transfer agent, the DMV or anyone else holding an asset. The holder must pay or deliver the asset to the 'designated successor' named in the affidavit. Nothing is filed with the court.

Limit

Up to $40,000 (deaths on or after March 21, 2025) Counted after subtracting liens (what is owed on the property).

Date of deathLimit
On or after March 21, 2025
$40,000

For a death on or after March 21, 2025, the person's entire probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, must be worth no more than $40,000 (and more than the estate's known debts), with no real estate.

What counts

The value of the person's entire probate estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, on the date of death. It must be more than the estate's known debts but not more than $40,000, and the estate cannot include any interest in real property.

Waiting period

At least 60 days must have passed since the death, as shown by a certified death certificate attached to the affidavit.

Who can use it

All known successors (people other than creditors who inherit under the will or the law) must make the affidavit. It names a 'designated successor' who receives the asset and has a legal (fiduciary) duty to safeguard it and promptly pay or deliver each successor's share. No application for a personal representative can be pending or granted anywhere.

Court or where to file

Not filed with a court. You give it to the holder of the asset.

Notary

The successor swears or affirms that all statements are true under penalty of perjury.

Papers to attach
  • Certified copy of the death certificate
  • Statement that the funeral expenses have been paid
  • Names and addresses of all successors and the share of the asset each is entitled to
  • Any certificates for securities, surrendered to the transfer agent
Steps
  1. Wait at least 60 days after the death.
  2. Pay the funeral expenses.
  3. Write an affidavit with all the statements the law requires, signed by all known successors, naming the designated successor.
  4. Attach a certified death certificate and give the affidavit to the bank, transfer agent, DMV or other holder.
  5. The designated successor receives the asset and passes each successor's share on promptly.
Fee

There is no court filing fee because the affidavit is not filed with the court. The DMV charges its normal title fees for a vehicle.

Debts and responsibility

The designated successor has a fiduciary duty to safeguard and promptly pay or deliver the asset. Anyone who receives an asset this way must account for it to any personal representative appointed later or to another successor with an equal or better right. False statements are perjury.

What the bank or holder must do

A holder presented with a proper affidavit must pay or deliver the asset; transfer agents must re-register securities and the DMV must transfer a vehicle title. The holder is released as if it had dealt with a personal representative and need not check the truth of the affidavit. If it refuses, the asset can be recovered with damages in court, and a holder that refuses without reasonable cause must pay the successors' costs and reasonable attorney's fees; the holder must prove reasonable cause.

Law: D.C. Code secs. 20-360 to 20-362 (D.C. Law 25-302

Source: Official page

Bank accounts after a death in the District of Columbia

Accounts with a surviving joint owner or a payable-on-death beneficiary pass to that person. For an account in the person's name alone, the successors can use the small asset affidavit (60 days after death, whole estate $40,000 or less after liens, no real estate); a bank that refuses a proper affidavit without reasonable cause must pay the successors' costs and attorney's fees. Otherwise a personal representative appointed in a small estate or regular probate case collects it.

Law: D.C. Code secs. 20-361, 20-362, 20-351

Source: Official page

Death certificates in the District of Columbia

A copy of a government-issued picture ID must accompany each request. The recorded information line for current fees is (202) 442-9303.

Where to get it
DC Health, Vital Records Division, 2201 Shannon Place SE, Washington, DC 20020
Official page
Official page

Surviving spouse in the District of Columbia

The surviving spouse or domestic partner has top priority (with children, if there is no will) to be personal representative of a small estate. In an estate, D.C. law gives a surviving spouse or domestic partner a homestead allowance of $30,000 and exempt property up to $20,000 (household furniture, automobiles, furnishings, appliances and personal effects, above any security interests), and the spouse or partner and dependent children a reasonable family allowance, which the personal representative may pay in a lump sum of up to $30,000. These amounts were raised by D.C. Law 25-302 for deaths on or after March 21, 2025. If there is no spouse or partner, the children share the exempt property allowance unless a will leaves them nothing.

Who inherits with no will in the District of Columbia

If there is no will: the surviving spouse or domestic partner gets everything if the person left no descendants and no parents. If no descendants but a parent survives, the spouse gets three-quarters. If all descendants are also the spouse's and the spouse has no other descendants, the spouse gets two-thirds; if either has descendants from another relationship, the spouse gets one-half. The rest goes to children equally (grandchildren take a deceased child's share), then parents, then brothers and sisters and their descendants, then more distant relatives.

Law: D.C. Code secs. 19-302, 19-305 to 19-310

Source: Official page

Good to know in the District of Columbia

  • D.C. doubled its small estate limit to $80,000 for deaths on or after March 21, 2025.
  • For deaths on or after March 21, 2025, D.C. lets successors collect non-real-estate assets by affidavit when the whole estate is $40,000 or less after liens, 60 days after death; a holder that refuses without reasonable cause pays the successors' attorney's fees.
  • In a small estate case, the personal representative does not need a lawyer and does not post a bond.

Changes in 2024–2026

D.C. Law 25-302 (Strengthening Probate Administration Amendment Act of 2024), effective March 21, 2025, and applying to deaths on or after March 21, 2025 (applicability clause added by D.C. Law 26-188): small estate limit raised from $40,000 to $80,000; new transfer of small assets by affidavit; homestead allowance raised to $30,000, exempt property to $20,000 and the lump-sum family allowance to $30,000; publication of probate notices reduced from 3 weeks to 2; funeral expense allowances raised; court costs not charged while a fee-waived person is personal representative. D.C. Law 26-188, effective October 2, 2026, removed the affidavit's requirement that any will first be admitted to probate.

Law: D.C. Code 20-361(a)(4) repealed

Related pages

Free help in the District of Columbia

A court self-help center or a legal aid office can check whether the estate qualifies, free of charge or at low cost.