Letter to a bank or other holder in Kansas
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.
Official forms (linked, not reproduced here)
This site does not write the affidavit. Use the official form or the holder's own form:
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.
Small estates affidavit: transferring personal property in estates under $75,000 (K.S.A. 59-1507b)
A sworn statement you give to a bank, company or other holder, so they transfer the person's personal property to you without a probate case. It is not filed with a court.
- Limit
Up to $75,000 (deaths on or after July 1, 2023)
Date of death Limit On or after July 1, 2023$75,000On or before June 30, 2023$40,000The total assets of the estate subject to probate cannot be more than $75,000. The limit was raised from $40,000 to $75,000 effective July 1, 2023.
- What counts
The total value of the assets of the person's estate that are subject to probate. Property that passes outside probate is not part of it; insurance payable to the estate is. The statute does not say to subtract debts or liens.
- Waiting period
Kansas law sets no waiting period for this affidavit.
- Who can use it
A successor: a person entitled to the property under the will or by intestate succession, or the person nominated as personal representative in the will. The affiant must be over 18 and legally competent. The person must have been a Kansas resident.
- Court or where to file
Given to the bank, company or other holder of the property.
- Notary
Sworn before a notary or other notarial officer.
- Papers to attach
- Certified copy of the death certificate
- Names, ages, relationships and addresses of the will beneficiaries or heirs
- List of the probate estate's personal property and values, including insurance payable to the estate
- Vehicle VIN and odometer reading, if a vehicle is being transferred
- Steps
- Add up the value of everything that would go through probate.
- Check that no probate case (petition to appoint an executor or administrator) has been filed or granted; the affidavit says so.
- Fill in the Judicial Council small estates affidavit.
- Sign it before a notary.
- Give it, with a certified death certificate, to each holder of the property.
- Pay the debts, then divide the property as the affidavit states.
- Fee
There is no court filing fee because the affidavit is not filed with a court.
- Debts and responsibility
The affiant states that all unpaid debts, claims and estate taxes have been or will be paid.
- What the bank or holder must do
The holder must transfer the personal property to the successor. The transfer counts as a transfer to the personal representative, and the successor's receipt fully discharges and releases the holder, as if it had paid an executor or administrator. An affidavit in substantial compliance with the Judicial Council form is sufficient.
Law: K.S.A. 59-1507b
Source: Official page
Bank accounts after a death in Kansas
Money in a joint account with survivorship or a payable-on-death account goes to the co-owner or beneficiary and is not part of the probate estate. For an account in the person's name alone, a successor can give the bank the small estates affidavit if the probate estate is $75,000 or less; the bank is fully released when it pays. Unpaid Social Security, veterans or pension benefits up to $10,000 can be paid to close relatives by affidavit after 180 days.
Law: K.S.A. 59-1507b, 59-1507a
Source: Official page
Transfer-on-death (TOD) and payable-on-death (POD) in Kansas
- Bank account (POD)
Yes
Law: K.S.A. 9-1215
Source: Official page
Death certificates in Kansas
Include a copy of a photo ID and a handwritten signature with the request. The CDC Where to Write page lists $20 per copy; the fee line is (785) 296-1400.
- Where to get it
- Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Office of Vital Statistics
- Official page
- Official page
Surviving spouse in Kansas
The surviving spouse, for the spouse and minor children, is allowed the clothing, family library, pictures, furniture and household goods, one car, and a year's provisions, plus a reasonable allowance of up to $75,000 in money or property set by the court. This property is not used to pay the person's debts, except liens. If the estate is no bigger than these allowances, the spouse or minor children can ask the court to refuse letters. With form TR-83a, the spouse can claim one vehicle as exempt property at the county treasurer.
Who inherits with no will in Kansas
If there is a spouse and no children or descendants of a deceased child, the spouse gets everything. If there is a spouse and children, the spouse gets half and the children (with descendants of a deceased child taking that child's share) get half. With no spouse, the children or their descendants get everything.
Law: K.S.A. 59-504, 59-506
Source: Official page
Good to know in Kansas
- Kansas raised its small estates affidavit limit from $40,000 to $75,000 effective July 1, 2023.
- Close relatives can collect up to $10,000 of unpaid Social Security, veterans or pension benefits by affidavit 180 days after the death.
- Kansas Medicaid estate recovery reaches property passed by joint tenancy, TOD deed, POD account or trust for assistance received from July 1, 2004.
Changes in 2024–2026
2023 H.B. 2130 raised the small estates affidavit limit from $40,000 to $75,000, the refusal-of-letters limit from $50,000 to $75,000, the spouse's allowance cap from $50,000 to $75,000 and the benefits affidavit from $5,000 to $10,000. 2024 S.B. 379 revised the wording of K.S.A. 59-1507b (successor definition and the process); the $75,000 limit did not change.
Law: L. 2023, ch. 77, effective July 1, 2023; L. 2024, ch. 35, effective July 1, 2024
Related pages
Free help in Kansas
A court self-help center or a legal aid office can check whether the estate qualifies, free of charge or at low cost.