Small estate checker for North Carolina

Enter the date of death and what the person owned. The page adds what the state counts and compares it with the limit for that date. It does not decide anything.

Worked out in your browser. Nothing you enter here is saved or sent.

Is the surviving spouse the only heir and beneficiary?

In North Carolina a spouse who inherits everything can use the $30,000 limit after subtracting the year's allowance paid to the spouse.

The limit is picked from the date of death.

Subtracted only under the $30,000 limit; never under the general limit. Up to $60,000 is used.

after subtracting liens

after subtracting liens

after subtracting liens

after subtracting liens

after subtracting liens

after subtracting liens

after subtracting liens

after subtracting liens

after subtracting liens

Enter the date of death and the values you know

Leave a box empty if the person had nothing of that kind. We add up only what the state counts.

The limits this checker uses

These come from the state's law as we checked it. The checker picks the row that matches the date of death you enter.

Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property of Decedent (AOC-E-203B)

Date of deathLimit
On or after October 1, 2009
$20,000
On or before September 30, 2009
$10,000

30 days after the death.

Also in North Carolina (not tested here)

These procedures have their own rules, so the checker does not test them. See the state page.

  • Summary Administration (spouse is the sole heir or beneficiary)
  • Payment of money owed to the decedent to the clerk of superior court (up to $5,000)

What counts toward the limit in North Carolina

Add up the date-of-death value of the person's personal property that is part of the estate and subtract liens and encumbrances on it. If the surviving spouse inherits everything and uses the $30,000 limit, also subtract any year's allowance paid to the spouse. Do not count real estate. Leave out property that passes by survivorship or to a named beneficiary.

Law: N.C. Gen. Stat. secs. 28A-25-1, 28A-25-1.1; AOC-E-203 instructions (Rev. 8/21)

In this state the total is counted after subtracting liens.

Kind of propertyHow it is treatedDetails
Bank accounts in the person's name alone
Counts

Bank and credit union accounts in the person's name alone count.

Law: G.S. 28A-25-1(c); AOC-E-203 instructions

Joint or payable-on-death (POD) bank accounts
Left out

Joint accounts with right of survivorship and payable-on-death accounts pass to the survivor or beneficiary and are left out (though they can be reached to pay debts if the estate is short). A joint account without right of survivorship counts for the person's share.

Law: G.S. 41-2.1, 53C-6-7; AOC-E-203 instructions

Cars and other vehicles
Counts

Vehicles in the person's name count as personal property. They can be transferred with the small estate affidavit or the DMV heirs' affidavit.

Law: G.S. 28A-25-1(c), 20-77(b)

Boats and mobile or manufactured homes
Not clear

The law does not separately address boats or mobile homes.

Law: G.S. 28A-25-1

Real estate in North Carolina
Left out

Real estate is not counted toward the limit, whatever its value. The affidavit only describes it.

Law: G.S. 28A-25-1(a)(8); AOC-E-203 instructions

Main home (primary residence)
Left out

The home is real estate and is not counted toward the limit.

Law: G.S. 28A-25-1; AOC-E-203 instructions

Real estate in another state
Left out

Real estate is not counted toward the limit.

Law: G.S. 28A-25-1; AOC-E-203 instructions

Unpaid wages owed to the person
Counts

Money owed to the person, such as unpaid wages, is personal property and a contract right of the estate and counts. The affidavit can be used to collect it.

Law: G.S. 28A-25-1(c), 28A-25-1.1(c)

Military pay owed to the person
Not clear

The law does not separately address military pay owed to the person.

Law: G.S. 28A-25-1

Life insurance or retirement money paid to a named person
Left out

Life insurance, pension, IRA, 401(k) and annuity money paid to a named beneficiary other than the estate is left out.

Law: AOC-E-203 instructions, Part III

Life insurance or retirement money paid to the estate
Counts

Insurance or retirement money payable to the estate is personal property of the estate and counts.

Law: AOC-E-203 instructions; AOC-E-850

Property in a living trust
Left out

Property in a trust passes outside the estate and is left out.

Property owned jointly with right of survivorship
Left out

Property held with right of survivorship, and real estate owned with the spouse as tenants by the entirety, passes to the survivor and is left out.

Law: G.S. 41-2.1; AOC-E-203 instructions

Property going to a surviving spouse
Counts

Personal property passing to the surviving spouse counts toward the $20,000 limit. Only when the spouse inherits everything and uses the $30,000 limit is the year's allowance paid to the spouse (up to $60,000 for deaths on or after March 1, 2024) subtracted first.

Law: G.S. 28A-25-1(a), 28A-25-1.1(a), 30-15

Stocks, bonds and brokerage accounts
Counts

Stocks and bonds in the person's name alone, or jointly owned without right of survivorship (the person's share), count. Securities registered with a transfer-on-death beneficiary are left out.

Law: G.S. 41-40 et seq; AOC-E-203 instructions

Furniture, jewelry and other belongings
Counts

Furniture, jewelry and other belongings count at fair market value on the date of death.

Law: AOC-E-203 instructions

Source: Official page

Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property of Decedent (AOC-E-203B)

A sworn affidavit filed with the clerk of superior court. A certified copy lets you collect the person's bank accounts, vehicles, stocks and other personal property. You then pay allowances and debts, distribute what is left, and file a closing affidavit. It works with or without a will.

Limit

Up to $20,000 (deaths on or after October 1, 2009) Counted after subtracting liens (what is owed on the property).

Date of deathLimit
On or after October 1, 2009
$20,000
On or before September 30, 2009
$10,000

The person's personal property, minus liens and encumbrances, cannot be worth more than $20,000. If the affiant is the surviving spouse who inherits everything, the limit is $30,000, after subtracting any year's allowance paid to the spouse. For deaths before October 1, 2009, the limits were $10,000 and $20,000.

What counts

The value of all the person's personal property, minus liens and encumbrances on it. When the surviving spouse inherits everything and uses the $30,000 limit, any spouse's year's allowance paid is also subtracted. Real estate is not counted, whatever its value.

Waiting period

At least 30 days must have passed since the death, and no one can have applied for or been appointed as personal representative in any state.

Who can use it

An heir, a will beneficiary (devisee), a person named as executor in the will, a creditor, or the county's public administrator, if not disqualified. If there is a will, it must first be admitted to probate and a certified copy attached. The $30,000 limit applies only when the surviving spouse is the affiant and inherits everything. With the AOC form, all applicants sign.

Court or where to file

Clerk of superior court of the county where the person was domiciled at death. The clerk indexes it and mails a copy to the people entitled to the property.

Notary

Each signer's signature must be notarized, or acknowledged before the clerk, an assistant or a deputy clerk.

Papers to attach
  • Certified death certificate
  • Certified copy of the will, if there is one (the will must already be probated and recorded in each county where the person owned real estate)
  • Preliminary inventory of assets on side two of form AOC-E-203B
  • Description of each tract of real property the person owned
  • Names and addresses of everyone entitled to the property and their relationship to the person
Steps
  1. Wait until at least 30 days after the death.
  2. If there is a will, have it probated by the clerk first.
  3. Fill in form AOC-E-203B, including the preliminary inventory, and sign it before a notary or the clerk.
  4. File it with the clerk of superior court in the county where the person lived and pay the fees.
  5. Give certified copies to banks, the DMV and others holding property, and collect it.
  6. Pay the year's allowances first, then the debts in the legal order of priority, then distribute the rest to the heirs or beneficiaries.
  7. Within 90 days after filing, file the closing Affidavit of Collection, Disbursement and Distribution (AOC-E-204) and pay the rest of the fee.
Fee

$120 when you file: a $10 facilities fee, a $4 court technology fee and the $106 General Court of Justice fee. When you file the closing affidavit you also pay 40 cents per $100 of the gross estate collected (minimum $15).

If you can't pay

All fees are waived on written request if the amount to be collected is $5,000 or less and comes only from the state Escheat Fund (unclaimed property).

Debts and responsibility

The person who collects is answerable and accountable to any personal representative appointed later and to anyone else with an interest in the estate. The clerk can hold an affiant who does not distribute the property or file the closing affidavit in contempt, or require a bond.

What the bank or holder must do

A holder who pays or transfers property on a proper affidavit is released as if it dealt with a personal representative and does not have to check the truth of the affidavit. If a holder refuses, the property can be recovered in a court action, and the court costs and attorney's fees are charged to the holder whose refusal made the action necessary.

Law: N.C. Gen. Stat. secs. 28A-25-1 to 28A-25-5; N.C. Gen. Stat. secs. 7A-307

Source: Official page

Bank accounts after a death in North Carolina

A joint account belongs to the surviving owner only if the deposit agreement, signed by all owners, says it has a right of survivorship; payable-on-death accounts go to the named beneficiary. For an account in the person's name alone, the small estate affidavit is enough to transfer it. A bank can also pay up to $5,000 to the clerk of superior court when no administrator has been appointed.

Law: N.C. Gen. Stat. secs. 41-2.1, 53C-6-7, 28A-25-1(c), 28A-25-6

Source: Official page

Surviving spouse in North Carolina

A surviving spouse is entitled to a year's allowance of $60,000 in personal property, and each child under 21 to $10,000 (deaths on or after March 1, 2024), by petition to the clerk; the allowance is paid before other claims. A spouse who is the sole heir or beneficiary can use summary administration with no dollar limit, or the small estate affidavit with a $30,000 limit.

Related pages

Free help in North Carolina

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