What goes through probate
19 Jul 2026
Almost no state publishes a list of what goes through probate. What they do publish, precisely, is the base each fee is charged on — and that is the clearest statement of what counts that the law actually gives you.
Read the fee statutes and the exclusions appear by name: joint and survivorship property, life insurance paid to a named person, registered vehicles, the homestead, the family allowances. Read the small-estate statutes and the same lines appear again, because the same question decides whether you clear the threshold. This page collects the exclusions the statutes state outright, state by state, with the section behind each one on that state’s page.
Figures and definitions are carried from the fifty state pages, each of which cites its own statute. The stamp shows the oldest verification date behind any figure quoted here.
Informational only, not legal advice. Figures verified on the date stamped. Details: /disclaimer/
Work out the value the statute actually measures
What goes in decides both questions that follow: whether you clear the small-estate line, and what the percentage fees are charged on. The estimator works the value on the base your state uses rather than on a generic total.
Where a state measures gross, it measures gross. Where it takes off liens and encumbrances, it says so. Where real property is outside the base entirely, the estimator leaves it out rather than quietly including it.
Three different bases, and states use all three
- The whole estate, gross
- California computes on the gross value of the estate accounted for, with debts and mortgages not deducted — a mortgaged house counts at its full value on both the attorney’s fee and the executor’s. Oregon takes a commission upon the whole estate with each asset at its highest stated value. Wisconsin’s small-estate affidavit route is measured gross, before debts, and is one of the few in the country that is.
- The whole estate, net of liens and encumbrances
- The most common small-estate test. Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming all measure the entire estate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances. Nevada charges the executor on the estate accounted for less liens and encumbrances, which is a narrower base than the one its attorney fee uses on the same estate.
- Personal property only, with the house outside
- Kentucky’s executor ceiling reaches the personal estate and excludes real property from the base entirely. South Carolina counts personal property plus the proceeds of real property actually sold. Ohio and West Virginia do the same. On the small-estate side, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah and Washington all limit their route to personal property, and Connecticut bars the route outright where there is real property.
What the statutes exclude by name
Each of these is stated in the statute rather than inferred. Click the state for the section and the verification date.
| Excluded | Where it is stated |
|---|---|
| Joint and survivorship property no executor commission reaches it at all | Ohio |
| Joint and survivorship property expressly outside the commission | West Virginia |
| All real property the fee base is the personal estate only | Kentucky |
| Jointly owned property excluded from the $50,000 small-estate count | Delaware |
| The community property interest excluded from the $100,000 count | Washington |
| Life insurance unless it is payable to the estate | Iowa |
| Life insurance proceeds excluded from the extra 1% on non-jurisdiction property | Oregon |
| Cash in the bank at the date of death plus life insurance proceeds and cash paid out to heirs | Texas |
| Motor vehicles registered with the Secretary of State excluded from the $150,000 | Illinois |
| Motor vehicles carved out of the $100,000 cap entirely | Hawaii |
| One motor vehicle excluded from the $25,000 | Massachusetts |
| Water company shares under section 73-1-10 excluded by name | Utah |
| A time-share estate excluded from the $45,000 | Vermont |
| The homestead and the spouse and minor children allowances excluded from the $100,000 | Arkansas |
| Homestead and exempt property excluded from the $75,000 | Texas |
| A specific legacy or devise not commissionable | New York |
This is not a national list of non-probate assets, and it is not meant to be read as one. It is a record of what particular statutes exclude from particular bases. Whether a specific asset of yours falls inside or outside is a question for an attorney licensed in your state.
Once you have the value, test it against the line
Forty-eight states publish a threshold under which a shorter process applies, and what counts towards it is exactly the question this page answers. The spread runs from $15,000 to $400,000, and California’s residence route reaches $750,000.
Three tools, in the order most people need them
When a figure changes, know first
Statutes get amended and fee schedules get updated. Once a month, we send a short note listing every figure that changed and every page we re-verified. Reference, not marketing.
What counts questions
What assets go through probate?
Broadly, property the deceased person owned in their own name that does not pass to someone else automatically. The statutes rarely define it as a list. What they do define, precisely, is the base each fee is charged on — and those definitions are the clearest published statement of what counts. Kentucky’s executor fee reaches the personal estate and excludes real property entirely. Ohio’s excludes joint and survivorship property. California’s counts the gross value accounted for, with debts and mortgages not deducted.
Does a jointly owned house go through probate?
Several statutes say plainly that it is outside their reach. Ohio charges no executor commission on joint and survivorship property, West Virginia the same, and Delaware excludes jointly owned property from its small-estate count. Washington excludes the community property interest. Whether a particular title passes that way is a question of how the deed reads, and that is one for an attorney licensed in your state.
Does life insurance count?
In Iowa the gross assets in the probate inventory exclude life insurance unless it is payable to the estate. Texas excludes life insurance proceeds from the cash the executor’s commission is charged on, and Oregon excludes them from the extra one per cent on property outside the court’s jurisdiction. The pattern is consistent: insurance paid to a named person is not in the base.
Does the mortgage come off first?
It depends on the state, and it moves the bill a long way. California computes the executor and attorney fee on the gross value of the estate accounted for, with debts and mortgages not deducted, so a mortgaged house counts at its full value. Nevada charges the executor on the estate accounted for less liens and encumbrances. Wisconsin measures net of mortgages and liens. Most small-estate thresholds are net; Wisconsin’s affidavit route is one of the few measured gross.
What about cars?
Three states carve them out by name. Illinois excludes motor vehicles registered with the Secretary of State from its $150,000 small-estate limit, Hawaii puts motor vehicles outside its $100,000 cap entirely so they transfer regardless of value, and Massachusetts excludes one motor vehicle from its $25,000. Alaska runs a separate vehicle limb at $100,000 alongside $50,000 of other personal property.
Why does the base matter more than the percentage?
Because two states with the same rate can produce very different bills. Kentucky and Texas both cap the executor at five per cent, but Kentucky measures it on the personal estate with the house left out, and Texas on cash actually received and paid out with most cash excluded. The rate is the headline; the base is the answer.
How these figures are verified
Every figure on this page is carried from a state page, and every figure on a state page was checked against the official source — the statute, the court rule, or the court’s own published fee schedule — on the date stamped beside it. No figure appears anywhere on this site that has not been opened and read at its source first. Where a source publishes no figure, we print that absence rather than filling the gap with an estimate.
The sources for each figure are listed on that state’s own page, with a direct link and a date. Our re-check cadence, and what we do when a statute changes, are set out at /methodology/.
Researched and verified by John Terra · Methodology
This page is information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws and fee schedules change; every figure here was verified on the date stamped beside it. For advice about your own situation, consult an attorney licensed in your state. Full terms: /disclaimer/
Next: small estate limits by state and executor fees by state, or the full picture at how much does probate cost — start with California, Ohio or Kentucky.