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[Music] What is a Small Estate Affidavit and  how do you use it and when can you use it?   So a Small Estate Affidavit is just that it's an  affidavit form that is filled out by the person   that says hey I am entitled to the assets of the  decedent's Estate. If there are other people,   like let's say you are one of four kids, you're  going to have to get all your siblings to sign   off on that if they are also beneficiaries of  the Estate, but the whole idea with a Small   Estate Affidavit is you are proving to whomever is  holding funds that you are entitled to claim them   on your behalf, or on behalf of you and your  siblings. So when can it be used? It can be   used when the assets of the Estate that are what  we call directionless, they have nowhere to go,   are under one hundred thousand dollars.  So somebody forgot about a bank account   and everything else is pay on death, somewhere  their life insurance, their 401k, even their house   paid on death but they forgot about  this one account and it's got 90   thousand dollars in it. Then a Small Estate  Affidavit at least in the state of Washington   can be used to capture that asset and once you  have it, let's say it goes to you and your four,   or four of you, the three siblings then you can  divide it up because your siblings also signed   something that said you can do that. So a Small  Estate Affidavit is a very very effective tool to   avoid an unnecessary Probate. Now let's say that  the bank account is a hundred and ten thousand.   Sorry, you're going to be going through a full  Probate process with the 240 dollar filing fee,   all the work that goes with a full Probate and  that's unfortunate if the only asset was this   one account that the decedent failed to direct by  way of a pay on death or Beneficiary Designation,   but it is a very useful tool. The Small Estate  Affidavit it cannot be used for real property,   even if the real property, or is a mobile home and  it's worth you know, it sits on land and the land   is you know it's a very low value, it's under a  hundred thousand. Sorry you can't use it because   real property and land cannot go through a Small  Estate Affidavit. Small Estate Affidavits need   to be provided to the state as well because you  have to assert that there are no creditors claims,   all creditors claims have been paid, all medical  has been paid, etcetera. There's really good   information online about the use of Small Estate  Affidavits and if that's all you have, you might   be able to do this on your own. If you have any  questions though we recommend please reach out to   an attorney that is very familiar with Probates  and they can help you with this process. [Music]