Forms for Heirs and Beneficiaries in Indiana

In Indiana, heirs put their identity on the land records with an affidavit of heirship recorded with the county; once recorded it is prima facie evidence of the facts stated.

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Affidavit of Heirship

In Indiana, heirs put their identity on the land records with an affidavit of heirship recorded with the county; once recorded it is prima facie evidence of the facts stated.

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Small Estate Affidavit

In Indiana, the Small Estate Affidavit covers estates valued at $100,000 or less, 45 days after death, presented directly to the bank or other holder, not filed with a court.

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Letter of Instruction

Prepare the letter a bank or insurer requests during estate settlement, addressed to its claims department.

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Indiana's recorded instrument, affidavit to establish prima facie evidence of the passage of real estate title to distributees, rests on a statute written for a sworn statement of heirs. What a recorded affidavit does, in the statute's words: any person may rely on an affidavit made in good faith and recorded with the county recorder as prima facie evidence of an effective transfer of the decedent's title to the real property interest to the distributee described in the affidavit. It is evidence of the facts it states, not a deed; it does not itself transfer title, and a purchaser, lender or title company decides whether to rely on it.

Who may sign, in the statute's words: any person may sign and record the affidavit; the affidavit may state the affiant's relationship to the decedent. The statute requires no witnesses. It states: The decedent's name and date of death; A statement of the affiant's relationship to the decedent; A description of how the deeds or other instruments (recorded in the county where the land lies, or disclosing a title transaction under IC 32-20-2-7) vested in the decedent an ownership or leasehold interest in real property, with a cross-reference under IC 36-2-7-10(m) where applicable; The legal description of the conveyed real property as it appears in those instruments; The names of all distributees known to the affiant.

In Indiana, estates valued at $100,000 or less skip probate with the Small Estate Affidavit, 45 days after death. Real property is outside the affidavit, which reaches personal property only. Indiana sets the limit by the decedent's date of death; an earlier death may be measured against a lower figure. An estate over the limit does not qualify, and no affidavit is prepared for it.

45 days after the death. The affidavit states that the period has passed, so it cannot be signed earlier.

The state's intestacy statute sets the order: the surviving spouse and children first, then parents, siblings, and more distant relatives, with shares that differ by state. The Who Inherits Calculator applies your state's order and shows each person's share.

Forms for Heirs and Beneficiaries in Indiana

What an heir receives, and the paperwork it takes, depends on how the property was held. A named beneficiary on a life insurance policy, retirement account, or payable on death account claims it directly from the institution on its own form, with the death certificate. Property in the estate passes through probate to the people named in the will, or to the heirs the state's intestacy statute names when there is no will. Where the estate is small enough, the heirs collect it themselves with a small estate affidavit, and where real property has to pass without an administration, an affidavit of heirship records who the heirs are.

In Indiana, estates under $100,000 qualify for a simplified procedure and larger ones go through probate, and a simple estate closes in 6 months to 9 months. Indiana levies no estate or inheritance tax; only the federal estate tax above $15,000,000 applies.

SimplyTrust Editorial·Updated September 24, 2026

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Data sourced from Indiana statutes and official state code. How we research.