Forms for Heirs and Beneficiaries in Rhode Island

In Rhode Island, heirs put their identity on the land records with a recorded affidavit of facts affecting title that states who the heirs are.

All Planning ahead Settling an estate

3 forms for Rhode Island

Free

Affidavit of Heirship

In Rhode Island, heirs put their identity on the land records with a recorded affidavit of facts affecting title that states who the heirs are.

Get Started

Free

Small Estate Affidavit

In Rhode Island, the Voluntary Informal Administration covers estates with personal property of $15,000 or less, 30 days after death, filed with the court.

Get Started

Free

Letter of Instruction

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

Get Started

Rhode Island's recorded instrument, Affidavit as to family facts, rests on the general recording statute for affidavits of facts affecting title to land. What a recorded affidavit does, in the statute's words: a recording under § 34-13-1 is constructive notice to all persons of the contents of the recorded instrument, so far as it is genuine. 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.

The Rhode Island statute names no particular affiant; the affidavit is signed by someone with personal knowledge of the decedent's family. The statute names no witness requirement. Title companies commonly ask that the affiant be someone other than an heir, or that two people who know the family sign; the office relying on the affidavit sets what it will accept. It states: Family facts, including dates of birth, marriage, and death; Facts which relate or purport to relate to title to land.

In Rhode Island, estates with personal property of $15,000 or less use the Voluntary Informal Administration, 30 days after death, a court filing short of full probate. Real property cannot pass through the affidavit; an estate that includes real estate uses a separate process. An estate over the limit does not qualify, and no affidavit is prepared for it.

30 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 Rhode Island

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 Rhode Island, estates under $15,000 qualify for a simplified procedure and larger ones go through probate, and a simple estate closes in 6 months to 12 months. Rhode Island levies an estate tax above $1,838,056 and no inheritance tax.

SimplyTrust Editorial·Updated September 24, 2026

Legal Sources

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