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Monday, September 23rd, 2019

What Idaho residents need to know about small estates

Inheritance Law > What You Need to Know About Your State's Small Estates Limit > Idaho

How to Handle a Small Estate in Idaho


If you're wrapping up the estate of a Idaho resident who died with an estate that's worth less than a certain dollar amount, you won't have to go through a formal probate court proceeding. 



When you are trying to determine whether or not an estate's value is below the Idaho small estates limit, the first thing to do is make a list of the assets. A simple spreadsheet or list will do. Not everything a person owns counts, though. For this list, include only the things that pass to heirs and beneficiaries by will or, if there's no will, by Idaho intestacy laws, which determine who inherits if there is no will.

Don't count assets that are held in joint tenancy, retirement plans, payable-on-death (POD) bank accounts, real estate transferred by a transfer-on-death deed, or transfer-on-death brokerage accounts. These assets don't count towards the small estate limit because they pass to the named beneficiaries regardless of what a will (or state intestacy law) says. If a person had a life insurance policy with a named beneficiary, the insurance proceeds won't count either.

Some states also don't count the amount of money owed on a car, or a house, while others count the fair market value of an asset, even it is subject to a loan or a mortgage.

For example, say Donald died in Idaho and owned the following assets:

  • A checking account with $2,345
  • A savings account with $2,567
  • A car with a blue book value of $6,500 (and no loan)
  • An IRA with $32,000, naming his son and daughter as beneficiaries
  • A life insurance policy worth $15,000, naming his son and daughter as beneficiaries

To figure out whether Donald is above or below Idaho's small estate limit, only the bank accounts and car would be counted, for a total of $11,412. His IRA and the life insurance proceeds aren't counted towards the limit because they will go to his beneficiaries directly. The value of the car is included because he doesn't owe money on it.

That means the value of Donald's estate is under the Idaho small estates limit. His son and daughter, who inherit his assets under Idaho's intestacy laws because Donald had no will, would follow this procedure:

In Idaho, you can use an Affidavit if the value of the estate is less than $100,000. There's a 30-day waiting period. Liens and encumbrances (like mortgages) don't count towards this value.

Idaho Code 15-3-1201.

There's also a summary probate proceeding available for small estates if the value of all the property owned by the decedent is less than the homestead allowance, exempt property, and medical expenses of the last illness or if there's a surviving spouse who inherits everything.

Idaho Code 15-3-1203/1205.





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