Settle a small estate in Virginia without probate

Small Estate Affidavit (Virginia Small Estate Act), form CC-1685

Payment of a small asset worth $35,000 or less without an affidavit

Payment of funeral expenses from a small asset (funeral home affidavit)

Real Estate Affidavit (intestate decedent), form CC-1612

What counts toward the limit in Virginia

Add up the value, on the date of death, of everything in the person's personal probate estate, wherever it is. Leave out real estate and anything that passes outside probate (joint accounts, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts, beneficiary-designated insurance and retirement accounts, living-trust property). The law does not say whether debts are subtracted.

Law: Va. Code 64.2-600, 64.2-601

Source: Official page

Car or vehicle title after a death in Virginia

If no executor or administrator has been appointed and none is expected, an heir can get a new title by bringing the DMV a certified or notarized death certificate, the title, proof of address and the fees, plus a Certification of Authority to Transfer Virginia Title (VSA 24) (with a copy of the will, if there is one). On VSA 24 the heir certifies that the person's debts are paid (or the sale proceeds will pay them) and lists everyone else with an interest, who must sign their consent. The DMV also accepts a small estate affidavit. A surviving co-owner with right of survivorship ('or' between the names, or 'or survivor') can remove the deceased owner, including online. Sales and use tax is not charged on a vehicle transferred to an heir this way.

Law: Va. Code secs. 46.2-634, 64.2-606(B)

Agency

Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)

Form

VSA 24 Certification of Authority to Transfer Virginia Title

Fee

DMV title fees apply; see the DMV fee chart.

Source: Official page

Bank accounts after a death in Virginia

Joint accounts with survivorship and payable-on-death accounts go to the surviving owner or beneficiary. For an account in the person's name alone, the successors can use the small estate affidavit after 60 days if the personal probate estate is $75,000 or less. A bank may also pay an account of $35,000 or less to any successor after 60 days without an affidavit, but does not have to.

Law: Va. Code 6.2-604; Va. Code 64.2-601, 64.2-602

Source: Official page

Transfer-on-death (TOD) and payable-on-death (POD) in Virginia

Real estate (TOD deed)

Yes · Transfer on death deed

An owner can record a transfer on death deed so Virginia real estate passes to a named beneficiary at death without probate. It must have the formalities of a recordable deed, say the transfer happens at the owner's death, and be recorded in the circuit court clerk's land records before the owner dies; joint owners must all sign. If the probate estate cannot pay claims, funeral costs and family allowances, the property can be reached, but a proceeding must start within one year after the death.

Law: Va. Code secs. 64.2-621 to 64.2-638

Bank account (POD)

Yes

Law: Va. Code sec. 6.2-604 et seq

Securities (TOD)

Yes

Law: Va. Code secs. 64.2-612 to 64.2-620

Source: Official page

Surviving spouse in Virginia

A surviving spouse (and minor children) of a Virginia resident can claim, ahead of the estate's creditors: a family allowance of up to $30,000 as a lump sum (or up to $2,500 a month for one year), exempt property worth up to $25,000 (household furniture, cars, appliances and personal effects), and a homestead allowance of $25,000. These are claimed in the estate.

Debts of the person in Virginia

When an estate cannot pay all debts, Virginia sets the order: administration costs; family allowance, exempt property and homestead allowance; funeral expenses up to $5,000; debts with federal priority; last-illness medical costs (up to $4,000 per hospital or nursing home and $550 per other provider); debts to the Commonwealth; then others. A person who receives an asset by small estate affidavit must answer for it to a later personal representative or a successor with an equal or better right.

Medicaid estate recovery in Virginia

DMAS must seek repayment from the estates of Medicaid members for medical costs Medicaid paid after the member turned 55, and Virginia law also requires recovery for Medicaid-paid nursing facility care. Recovery is only after the member's death and cannot exceed what Medicaid paid or the value of the estate, whichever is less. In Virginia, the estate includes all real and personal property and other assets the person held or had any legal title or interest in at death, including the home, not only property that goes through probate. There is no recovery if the member is survived by a spouse who has not been a Medicaid member, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child. DMAS may waive all or part of its claim for undue hardship (for example, a family farm or business that is the survivors' only income source, or a home of modest value); a denial can be appealed in writing within 30 days. Heirs who want to keep the home can ask DMAS about other repayment options.

Law: Va. Code secs. 32.1-326.1, 32.1-327; Va. Code secs. 12VAC30-20-141; DMAS Estate Recovery Fact Sheet (08/24/2022)

Agency

Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS), Estate Recovery

Official page

Official page

Who inherits with no will in Virginia

If there is no will: the surviving spouse gets everything, unless the person had children (or descendants) who are not also the spouse's; then the spouse gets one-third and those children and descendants share two-thirds. With no spouse, everything goes to the children and their descendants; then to the parents; then to brothers and sisters and their descendants; then half to each parent's side of the family.

Law: Va. Code secs. 64.2-200, 64.2-201

Source: Official page

Death certificates in Virginia

Certified death certificates are issued by VDH Vital Records (online, by mail or in person) and cost $15.00 each. Only immediate family (mother, father, current spouse, child, brother, sister, grandparents) with valid ID can get a full certified copy; others with a direct and tangible interest can get a Verification of Death. The DMV notes you can also bring a death certificate request to a DMV customer service center.

Where to get it

Virginia Department of Health, Office of Vital Records

Official page

Official page

Where to file in Virginia

The small estate affidavit is not filed with a court; it goes to the bank or other holder. A will must first be probated with the clerk of the circuit court. A real estate affidavit for a person who died without a will is recorded with the circuit court clerk where the property is. Vehicle papers go to the DMV.

Good to know in Virginia

• Virginia's small estate limit is $75,000 and each asset must also be $75,000 or less.
• A bank may pay an asset of $35,000 or less to a successor after 60 days without any affidavit.
• The affidavit must be on the form prepared by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Changes in 2024–2026

2025 Va. Acts ch. 148 raised the small estate limit to $75,000 (from $50,000), set the no-affidavit amount at $35,000, and changed the family allowance ($30,000 lump sum / $2,500 a month), exempt property ($25,000) and homestead allowance ($25,000). 2026 Va. Acts ch. 40 also amended 64.2-601; form CC-1685 was revised 07/26 and requires the affidavit on the court's form. The DMV page still says the small estate limit is $50,000.

Law: HB 100

National rules that apply in every state

Federal estate tax

• For a person who died in 2026, a federal estate tax return (Form 706) is required only if the gross estate, plus certain lifetime taxable gifts, is more than $15,000,000.
• Most estates owe no federal estate tax and do not need to file a federal estate tax return.

Law: 26 U.S.C. 2010(c)(3) (as amended by Pub. L. 119-21)

The final income tax return

• Report all income up to the date of death and claim all eligible credits and deductions.
• Someone must file the final federal income tax return of a person who died, the same way it would have been filed if they were alive.
• To claim a refund due to the person who died, attach Form 1310 (Statement of Person Claiming Refund Due a Deceased Taxpayer).

Law: Form 1310 instructions (Rev. December 2025)

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Social Security

• Social Security retirement benefits are paid through the month before the month the person died.
• If the person had enough Social Security work credits (was fully or currently insured), a one-time death payment of $255 (or three times the person's basic benefit, if that is smaller) can be paid to a surviving spouse who lived with the person.

Law: 42 U.S.C. 402(a), 402(i)

Savings bonds

• If the person's savings bonds and other Treasury securities held directly with the Treasury are worth more than $100,000 at the date of death, the Treasury requires a court-administered estate.

Law: 31 CFR 353.71; FS Form 5336 (Rev. April 2026)

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Debts

• Debts are generally paid from the money and property the person left (the estate).
• If the estate cannot pay a debt and no one else shared responsibility for it, the debt may go unpaid.
• You may have to pay if you co-signed the loan, were a joint account holder on a credit card (not just an authorized user), or state law makes a spouse responsible for certain debts, such as in community property states or states with laws on necessary costs like health care.

Law: 12 CFR 1006.6(a)(4)

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A house with a mortgage

• For a home with fewer than five units, a lender may not call the whole loan due just because the home passes to a relative after the borrower's death, to a spouse or children who become owners, or to a surviving joint owner.
• Https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/how-do-i-get-mortgage-information-about-a-home-i-inherited-en-217/
• Https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/i-recently-inherited-a-house-the-mortgage-lender-said-its-required-to-determine-my-ability-to-repay-before-it-will-let-me-take-over-the-mortgage-loan-is-this-true-en-1939/

Law: 12 U.S.C. 1701j-3(d)(3), (5), (6); 12 CFR 1024.30(d), 1024.31

FDIC insurance on bank accounts

• After a deposit owner dies, FDIC insurance on the account stays the same for six months, unless the account is restructured.

Law: 12 CFR 330.3(j)

Medicaid estate recovery

• States must try to recover some Medicaid costs from the estate of a person who got benefits at age 55 or older: nursing facility services, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug services.
• The 'estate' includes at least the property in the person's probate estate under state law.
• Https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/42/1396p?type=usc&year=mostrecent&link-type=html

Law: 42 U.S.C. 1396p(b)

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Death certificates

• Certified copies of a death certificate come from the vital records office of the state where the death happened, not from the federal government.

Questions about small estates in Virginia