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Estate Affidavit Guide

Kansas Determination of Descent

If a bank told you an account is frozen and didn't explain what that actually means, you're not stuck, and you're not the only one this has happened to. A probate attorney would typically charge $1,500–$4,200+ to walk you through exactly what Kansas law already lets you do yourself. This guide is $37, one-time, and covers the same ground — the eligibility rule, the official form, and what to say if a bank or clerk pushes back.

Kansas's determination of descent — K.S.A. 59-2250, the court procedure the Probate Code provides for deciding who inherits when nobody opened an estate, and the one a Kansas "affidavit of heirship" search usually points toward — lets a person interested in the estate ask the district court to assign a decedent's property to the persons entitled under intestate succession or a valid settlement agreement. It is available only when the decedent has been dead more than six months and no will, probate or administration has been started. There is no dollar cap and it covers land, but it needs a petition, newspaper and mailed notice and a hearing. This is informational only, written by researchers, not attorneys.

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Why timing matters: The petition cannot be filed until more than six months have passed since the death, and it is available only if no will was filed under K.S.A. 59-618a within those six months. After that there is no statutory deadline, but the longer the record stays unsettled, the more the family tree has to be proved; each heir who dies in the meantime adds a branch that the petition has to account for.

Kansas's Determination of Descent — no dollar cap

Kansas's Determination of Descent has no dollar ceiling — eligibility instead turns on the specific conditions K.S.A. 59-2250 sets out. There's no total to add up before you know whether it applies. Determination of Descent is filed with the court, not handed directly to a bank or DMV. This guide could not confirm whether the Kansas Judicial Council publishes a fill-in petition for a determination of descent (its forms page refuses automated downloads, and a search summary suggests its probate forms include one). K.S.A. 59-2202 and 59-2250 fix what the petition must contain; ask the district court clerk what your court expects. See the how-to-file guide below for what the statute itself requires.

How to file, step by step

  1. 1

    Confirm the statute's conditions

    More than six months have passed since the death; no will was filed under K.S.A. 59-618a within six months after death; no petition to probate a will has been filed in Kansas; and no petition for administration has been filed in Kansas (K.S.A. 59-2250). You must be interested in the estate or claim an interest in the property.

  2. 2

    Search the court records

    Check the district court in the county where the decedent lived, and in any county where the decedent owned property, for a will filing, a probate or an administration. If one exists, the statute may not apply — see a Kansas attorney.

  3. 3

    Identify the property

    List each piece of real estate with its legal description and county, and any personal property the petition will cover, with values. The petition is filed in the district court of the county where the decedent lived or of any county where the property is located.

  4. 4

    Work out the heirs

    Without a will, Kansas's intestate succession statutes (K.S.A. 59-501 to 59-514) decide who takes: the surviving spouse gets everything if there are no children or descendants of a deceased child, and one-half if there are (K.S.A. 59-504); the rest passes under the statutes that follow. If the heirs have signed a valid settlement agreement, the court can decree under its terms. List each heir with relationship, age and address.

  5. 5

    Prepare and verify the petition

    A Kansas petition states the petitioner's name, residence and address; the petitioner's interest; the jurisdictional facts; the facts showing the petitioner is entitled to relief; and a prayer (K.S.A. 59-2202). Check the Judicial Council's legal-forms page for a probate petition form, and ask the district court clerk what format your court expects.

  6. 6

    File and pay the fee

    File with the clerk of the district court. The Kansas court fee schedule dated 08/20/2026 lists $71.50 for a Determination of Descent; Johnson County's page lists $73.00, which includes a county add-on. Publication and recording costs are separate.

  7. 7

    Give notice

    The court sets the hearing. For a decree that will assign real estate, publish the notice once a week for three consecutive weeks, mail the notice and a copy of the petition to every known heir within seven days after first publication, and expect the hearing 10 to 30 days after the last publication (K.S.A. 59-2209).

  8. 8

    Attend the hearing and obtain the decree

    On proof of the petition the court enters a decree assigning the property to the persons entitled under intestate succession or a valid settlement agreement (K.S.A. 59-2251).

  9. 9

    Record the decree for land

    A decree of descent is used as record evidence of who acquired the land. Where it is recorded is not set out in K.S.A. 59-2250 or 59-2251 — ask the register of deeds in the county where the land sits what it needs, and whether your title company wants anything more.

  10. 10

    Use the decree for what it does

    The decree declares who acquired the decedent's title; it does not create title, collect assets, or pay debts. A party served only by publication can have it opened within one year (K.S.A. 59-2252).

What it actually looks like

Sample pages from the guide

Real pages from the Kansas guide PDF. Click any page to enlarge.

Print-friendly, readable on a phone or tablet, and designed to be taken to the bank or clerk. Every operational claim cites the actual statute or official publication.

How this compares

Yes — the standard form Kansas families use is free (that's the Free standard form column below), though it isn't issued by the state itself. The $37 is for everything the free form leaves you to work out alone: the eligibility check, the filing sequence, and what to do when a bank, DMV, or clerk pushes back.

This guide Probate attorney Free standard form Doing nothing
Cost $37 $1,500–4,200+ $0 Eventually full probate, if the estate is never settled
Time to filed Same week to prepare; court approval timing varies by county 2–6 weeks If you can decode it alone Not until you act
Bank/DMV/clerk pushback script Yes Sometimes No n/a
Statute citations Yes n/a n/a n/a
Delivery time Instant download After consult + retainer Instant n/a

Attorney costs reflect typical Kansas probate-attorney retainers for this kind of filing.

The most-searched sticking point

What to do when a bank, DMV, or clerk pushes back

A court-filed process mostly slows or stalls on specific steps — a clearance, complete notice, a complete list of interested persons, an institution's follow-up request — not on a teller's unfamiliarity. The guide's Section 5 gives you what the statute or the court's instructions say about each of these:

  • The petition is returned or the case cannot move because the required contents are missing
  • The hearing cannot go forward because notice was incomplete
  • A will surfaces, or a probate or administration is opened, and the court says the statute does not apply
  • An heir is left out, and the decree is later challenged
  • A title company, lender or register of deeds asks for more than the decree

Each one has a specific script and statutory citation behind it — not just "you're right, they're wrong," but exactly what to say and what document to hand over. That's in the guide.

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Avoid these

6 common reasons filings get rejected

The decedent has not been dead more than six months
The statute applies only to a person who "has been dead for more than six months." Before that, the estate is handled by probate or administration. — K.S.A. 59-2250
A will was filed under K.S.A. 59-618a within six months
The statute requires that no will was filed under K.S.A. 59-618a within six months after death. A will filed in that time forecloses this route. — K.S.A. 59-2250(a)
A petition to probate a will has been filed
Condition (b) is that no petition has been filed for the probate of a will in Kansas. — K.S.A. 59-2250(b)
A petition for administration has been filed
Condition (c) is that no petition for administration has been filed in Kansas, or administration has been had without a determination of the descent of the property. If an estate was opened, get advice on how that condition applies before filing. — K.S.A. 59-2250(c)
The petitioner has no interest in the estate or the property
Only "any person interested in the estate or claiming an interest in such property" may petition. — K.S.A. 59-2250
The petition leaves out a required item, or notice was not completed
The petition must contain the K.S.A. 59-2202 items. When the decree will assign real estate, notice must be published for three consecutive weeks and mailed to each known heir, with the hearing 10 to 30 days after the last publication. — K.S.A. 59-2202; K.S.A. 59-2209; K.S.A. 59-2251

Before you record the Kansas Determination of Descent

The recorded filing isn't automatically the end of the story — a title company or other relying party can still ask for more. This free one-pager has the real scenarios that come up after recording and what resolves each, emailed now. We'll also send a few short follow-ups over the next few weeks — then we stop. No ongoing newsletter.

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Questions

Frequently asked questions

What is a determination of descent in Kansas?
A court proceeding under K.S.A. 59-2250 in which a person interested in the estate, or claiming an interest in the property, asks the district court to determine who inherits it under the laws of intestate succession or a valid settlement agreement. It is available when the person has been dead more than six months and no will, probate or administration has been started. The court's decree assigns the property to the persons entitled.
Is a determination of descent the same as an "affidavit of heirship"?
No. K.S.A. 59-2268, which some pages cite for an affidavit of heirship, was repealed in 1965 (effective January 1, 1966), and this research found no Kansas statute authorizing a freestanding recorded affidavit of heirship to establish title; that conclusion rests on statute searches, not a court ruling, so a Kansas title attorney can confirm it. The procedure the Probate Code provides for establishing who inherits is the descent proceeding, which is why this guide is built on K.S.A. 59-2250. Form-mill pages that describe a Kansas heirship affidavit also mention community property, which Kansas does not have.
When can I use it?
Only when the decedent has been dead more than six months, no will was filed under K.S.A. 59-618a within six months after death, no petition has been filed for probate of a will in Kansas, and no petition for administration has been filed in Kansas (K.S.A. 59-2250(a)-(c)).
Is there a dollar limit?
No. The statute has no cap, and it covers real and personal property. The court's decree applies to the property the petition describes.
Does it work if there is a will?
The statute requires that no will was filed under K.S.A. 59-618a within six months after death and that no petition to probate a will has been filed. A will filed within six months can still be admitted to probate after that date (K.S.A. 59-618a(c)), so a family that finds a will should get advice before relying on a descent decree.
How long does it take?
The statute fixes the notice period for real estate: three weekly publications, with the hearing 10 to 30 days after the last one (K.S.A. 59-2209), so a hearing cannot come sooner than about 24 days after publication starts. The first publication is due within 30 days after the court's order setting the hearing. No source reviewed states how long a petition takes from filing to decree, so ask the clerk.
What does it cost?
A court filing fee — $71.50 on the Kansas court fee schedule dated 08/20/2026, plus any county add-on (Johnson County's page lists $73.00) — plus newspaper publication for three weeks and the cost of recording. No publication cost, recording fee or attorney-cost figure was sourced for this guide.
Can I file it without a lawyer?
The statute lets any person interested in the estate or claiming an interest in the property petition. But the petition has to meet K.S.A. 59-2202, and the process includes a verified petition, published and mailed notice, and a hearing. This research did not find a court page that says a descent petition can be filed without an attorney, so whether to hire one is your call; where the heirs are disputed, unknown or hard to find, or an estate was ever opened, a licensed Kansas attorney is worth the fee.
How is this different from the small estates affidavit?
The small estates affidavit (K.S.A. 59-1507b) moves personal property to a successor for an estate of $75,000 or less, with no court. A determination of descent has no cap, is a court proceeding, and is the Probate Code's way to establish who inherits land. A family with a house and no will, six or more months after the death, may need descent; the same family's bank account may need only the affidavit.
Does the decree create title?
No. Kansas case annotations to the statute say a descent decree does not create title; it declares who acquired the decedent's title. Title passes at death by law; the decree is the record that shows who got it.
What if someone was left out of the proceeding?
A party served only by publication can have the decree opened within one year after it is rendered, by filing a full answer and an affidavit that they had no actual notice in time to appear; title that has passed to a good-faith purchaser is not affected (K.S.A. 59-2252). That is why mailed notice to every known heir matters.
Which Kansas filing applies to my situation?
As a rule of thumb: personal property such as a bank account, with the estate's assets subject to probate at $75,000 or less, points to the Small Estates Affidavit (K.S.A. 59-1507b) — no court filing, handed to the holder. Land, or an estate where the need is to establish who inherits, with the death more than six months ago and no will, probate or administration ever started, points to the Determination of Descent (K.S.A. 59-2250), which has no dollar cap. They don't fork on a single fact, and a family can need both. An estate that has been opened, or one with a will on file, is neither: Kansas probate applies. This is informational only, not legal advice or a determination of which filing applies to your estate.
Does Kansas require a lawyer for these filings?
The statutes do not. The small estates affidavit is not filed with any court. The determination of descent is a court petition with notice and a hearing; no court page reviewed says it can or cannot be filed without a lawyer, so whether to hire one is your call. Ask the district court clerk, who cannot give legal advice but can tell you what the court expects.

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Primary sources

State sources

Every claim here cites the actual statute or an official publication — see them