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Committee adopts amendment to expand eligibility for simple estate affidavits; bill sent to floor
Summary
In a work session March 19 the Senate Committee on Judiciary adopted a dash-5 amendment to Senate Bill 15 that clarifies and raises limits for the simple estate affidavit process, adjusts how manufactured homes are categorized, and sets filing fees. The committee moved the amended bill to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation.
The Senate Committee on Judiciary on March 19 adopted a dash-5 amendment to Senate Bill 15 and voted to send the amended measure to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation.
Tisha (committee staff) explained the amendment clarifies and adjusts limits for the simple estate affidavit procedure. The dash-5 clarifies an overarching $250,000 limit, permits use of a simple estate affidavit when a decedent's fair market value is greater than $275,000 but less than $1,000,000 provided certain personal- and real-property caps are met, and excludes manufactured homes from the personal-property cap by including them in real property calculations. The amendment also sets filing fees and instructs the State Court Administrator to apply annual cost-of-living adjustments to the limits.
Senator Thatcher moved to adopt the dash-5 amendment; the amendment was adopted by the committee. Senator Thatcher then moved that Senate Bill 15 as amended be sent to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the committee approved that motion and the bill was referred to the Senate floor with the Chair as carrier.
Committee discussion noted the amendment was structured to preserve counties' filing-fee revenue neutrality and to ensure manufactured-home and sole-heir circumstances would not inadvertently preclude a simple estate affidavit. The amendment sponsor and chair confirmed minimal fiscal impact.
Outcome: Senate Bill 15, as amended by the dash-5, was approved by the committee and advanced to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation. The committee record shows the amendment and the bill were adopted during the March 19 work session.
