About

I'm James Whitfield. I built this site after helping a family member settle a parent's estate — a modest checking account and an old car, well under the state's small-estate statutory cap. The bank's branch staff twice insisted we needed court-issued "Letters of Administration" before they'd release the funds, which the statute didn't actually require. Getting that resolved took three trips to the branch and a call escalated to a regional manager, in the same weeks we were also trying to pay for the funeral. The state's own form was fine. Nothing existed that explained what to do when the person across the counter is confidently wrong about the law. This site fills that gap.

Not everyone even has the option of walking into a branch. A lot of families handling this are doing it from another state entirely, coordinating by phone, mail, and email — sometimes with a sibling on the ground, sometimes alone. The bank-presentation script in every kit is written to be read over the phone by someone who has never set foot in that county, not just for someone standing at the counter.

I'm not an attorney. I'm a researcher who reads state probate codes and small-estate statutes and publishes what I learn — the statutory thresholds, the form walkthroughs, the bank-presentation playbook, the exact statute citations. I will not advise you on your specific situation; for that, you need a licensed attorney in your state. Your state bar has a referral service for low-cost initial consultations.

Estate Affidavit Guide is a research publication, not a personal brand. There are no podcasts, no LinkedIn posts, no "founder story" videos. The state probate codes are the authority; my job is to translate them. The byline is consistent across every page, email, and support reply, because consistency is the honest signal a single-author publisher can give. There's no headshot on this page, either, and that's deliberate — I work anonymously. The statute citations are what should earn your trust here, not a photo.

What we publish — and what we won't

• State-specific operational guides built around each state's actual statutory small estate affidavit or affidavit of heirship process.
• Email support, limited to product, refund, and "we are not attorneys" questions.
• Used by families handling this themselves, and by paralegals, notaries, and other non-attorney preparers handling it for clients.

We do not:

• Draft, host, or distribute affidavit instrument text. We link to the state's own statute and official form, where one exists.
• Customize a kit based on your family's situation. Every buyer in a given state receives the same kit.
• Tell you whether your estate qualifies. We show you the statutory line; you compare your own facts against it.
• Give advice over phone, chat, or email about your specific situation. We do not have a phone number.
• Sell email addresses, share buyer data with attorneys, or run an affiliate / referral business.

Contact

Email support@estateaffidavitguide.com for product, refund, or kit-clarification questions. For advice on your specific situation, please contact a licensed attorney in your state — your state bar association maintains a referral service for low-cost initial consultations.