Kansas Probate Bond
Kansas estates run down one of three procedural tracks — supervised administration, simplified administration, or a small-estate affidavit — and only one of them skips the bond. K.S.A. 59-1101 requires “every fiduciary” who receives letters to post a bond of at least 125% of the estate’s personal property value plus probable annual real-estate income. The Kansas Simplified Estates Act cuts down on court filings, but K.S.A. 59-3203 confirms simplified estates still get letters — so that bond duty travels right along with them.
Only the K.S.A. 59-1507b small-estate affidavit — available for estates at or under $75,000, raised from $40,000 in 2023 — skips letters entirely, and the bond duty with them. Knowing which of the three tracks your case is on is the single fastest way to find out whether you need this page at all.
Simplified administration is not a bond exemption in Kansas
It’s a common assumption — and a wrong one — that a “simplified” probate process means fewer requirements across the board. K.S.A. 59-3202 gives the district court discretion to route a case as a simplified estate or a supervised estate based on the estate’s size, the heirs’ kinship and wishes, solvency, and the probable cost of administration. But K.S.A. 59-3203 is explicit that simplified estates still receive “letters testamentary or letters of administration” — the trigger for K.S.A. 59-1101’s bond duty — just labeled to show they were issued under the Kansas Simplified Estates Act. The only structural way around the bond is the small-estate affidavit, which never issues letters at all.
Which Kansas estate track actually requires a bond
All three routes exist under Kansas probate law — only one skips the K.S.A. 59-1101 bond duty structurally
| Estate track | Letters issued? | K.S.A. 59-1101 bond duty applies? | Governing statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supervised (regular) administration | Yes — letters testamentary or of administration | Yes, by default (waivable under § 59-1104) | K.S.A. 59-1101, 59-1104 |
| Simplified estate (Kansas Simplified Estates Act) | Yes — letters marked "issued under the Kansas simplified estates act" | Yes, by default — same waiver paths as supervised | K.S.A. 59-3201–59-3206 |
| Small estate affidavit (≤ $75,000) | No letters issued at all | No — bond duty never triggers | K.S.A. 59-1507b |
Simplified administration reduces court filings and oversight, not the bond requirement — the two are governed by separate provisions of the Kansas Probate Code.
The 125% floor under K.S.A. 59-1101
Kansas doesn’t leave the bond amount to unguided discretion the way some neighboring states do — it sets a statutory floor. Every fiduciary must “execute and file a bond, with sufficient sureties, in such amount as the court directs, which amount shall not be less than 125 percent of the value of the personal property and the probable annual income from real estate which shall come into his or her possession.” The court can set the bond higher for a complex or high-risk estate; it cannot set it lower than the 125% floor.
Official Kansas Requirements
"Except as hereinafter provided, before letters testamentary or of administration are issued, the person appointed shall execute and file a bond, with sufficient sureties, in such amount as the court directs, which amount shall not be less than 125 percent of the value of the personal property and the probable annual income from real estate which shall come into his or her possession, conditioned upon the faithful discharge of all the duties of the trust according to law."Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes • K.S.A. 59-1101
K.S.A. 59-1101 bond calculation
K.S.A. 59-1101 — the district court can set the bond higher than this floor; it cannot set it lower.
Notice what’s missing from the formula: the underlying value of real estate itself. A rental house adds its annual income to the calculation, not its market value — a decedent’s unrented homestead adds nothing at all. That’s a real difference from states like North Carolina or Alabama, which fold real property value directly into their bond math.
The four ways K.S.A. 59-1104 excuses the bond
Because K.S.A. 59-1101 applies by default to any fiduciary who receives letters — supervised or simplified — K.S.A. 59-1104’s exceptions are what actually gets most Kansas fiduciaries out of posting one:
1. The will or trust agreement waives it
Applies to an executor, conservator, or trustee named in a will or trust that expressly waives bond — but the court’s power to override the waiver at any time (below) still applies.
2. Every heir or devisee files a written waiver
Where no will has been probated, all known heirs can waive bond in writing; where a will exists but doesn’t waive bond itself, all devisees and legatees can file the waiver instead.
3. A conservator, guardian ad litem, or named trustee acts on someone else’s behalf
Excused when acting for a conservatee, cestui que trust, or ward — unless that conservator or trustee is itself the fiduciary whose bond is at issue.
4. A Kansas bank or trust company is the fiduciary
Automatic — no will language or heir consent needed — but only for a bank with trust authority or a trust company “organized and having its principal place of business within the state of Kansas.” Out-of-state institutions don’t qualify for this path.
None of these four are permanent. K.S.A. 59-1104 gives the court standing authority to require bond “at any time” — on its own motion or on any interested party’s application — even after letters issue on an excused basis.
The only real bypass: a § 59-1507b affidavit under $75,000
K.S.A. 59-1507b lets an heir collect a decedent’s personal property directly — bank accounts, vehicles, and similar assets — by sworn affidavit, without opening a district court probate case and without letters ever issuing, whenever “the total assets of the estate of the decedent subject to probate do not exceed $75,000 in value.” Because no letters issue, K.S.A. 59-1101’s bond duty never has anything to attach to.
That $75,000 ceiling is newer than a lot of Kansas probate guidance reflects: the Kansas Legislature raised it from $40,000 in 2023 Kan. Sess. Laws ch. 77 (House Bill 2130), effective July 1, 2023. An estate that would have needed full administration — and a bond — under the old $40,000 ceiling may now qualify for the affidavit outright.
Estimate the bond for a case that doesn’t qualify for the affidavit with the probate bond calculator or compare Kansas’s 125% formula against every other state’s rule in our probate bond cost by state guide.
If you’re also handling a Kansas conservatorship, the citation just changed
This page covers executor and administrator bonds under K.S.A. 59-1101, which the legislature didn’t touch in its recent guardianship overhaul. But Kansas’s old conservator-bond statute, K.S.A. 59-3069, was repealed effective January 1, 2026 under 2025 Kan. Sess. Laws ch. 40 (House Bill 2359), which replaced the prior guardian/conservator code with the Uniform Guardianship, Conservatorship and Other Protective Arrangements Act, now codified starting at K.S.A. 59-30,101. If you’re quoting a conservator’s bond rather than an executor or administrator’s, make sure whoever is citing the statute is working from the new 59-30,101 series, not the repealed Article 30 numbering. See our conservatorship bond guide for the ward-specific bond mechanics.
105 counties, 31 judicial districts, no separate probate court
Kansas has no standalone probate court — probate, guardianship, and conservatorship matters are filed with the district court in whichever of the state’s 105 counties the decedent resided, and Kansas groups those 105 counties into 31 judicial districts. Seven districts serve a single county each; the rest cover two or more counties sharing judges and filing infrastructure, which means the pace of a probate filing can vary meaningfully between a single-county district and a multi-county one splitting docket time across several courthouses.
Every district court accepts the K.S.A. 59-1101 bond form, but local filing practice, e-filing requirements, and how quickly a bond clears before the Letters hearing vary by district. We confirm your specific county’s current practice before filing rather than assuming a single statewide process.
Getting the Kansas bond in place before Letters issue
Confirm which of the three tracks applies
Small estate affidavit under $75,000? Simplified estate under § 59-3202? Or regular supervised administration? The answer decides whether you need a bond at all.
Check the four K.S.A. 59-1104 exceptions
Does the will waive bond? Do all heirs consent in writing? Is a Kansas bank or trust company the fiduciary? Confirming these first can mean skipping a bond quote entirely.
Tell us the county and a figure
Which of Kansas’s 105 counties (and which judicial district) the case is filed in, plus a court-set amount if you have one — or your personal property and expected real estate income if you don’t.
We underwrite and issue
A quick look at the fiduciary’s credit and the estate’s complexity. Most Kansas probate bonds clear underwriting the same day.
File on the district court’s accepted form
We deliver the executed bond ready for your specific district court, not a generic statewide template.
Have a court-set figure or an estate estimate? We'll write the bond to the 125% formula and file it on your district court’s accepted form.
Start my Kansas probate bond quoteRelated Kansas and probate bonds
Kansas fiduciaries and estates often need more than the executor or administrator's bond itself:
What Kansas fiduciaries ask about this bond
My estate qualifies for simplified administration — why does the district court still want a bond?
Because K.S.A. 59-3203 confirms that simplified estates still get "letters testamentary or letters of administration issued pursuant to the Kansas simplified estates act" — they're just marked "issued under the Kansas simplified estates act" on their face. The fiduciary bond duty in K.S.A. 59-1101 attaches to any fiduciary who receives letters at all; it doesn't distinguish between a simplified-estate letter and a regular one. K.S.A. 59-3202 lets the court weigh the estate's size, the heirs' kinship and wishes, solvency, and the probable cost of administration when deciding whether a case runs as simplified or supervised — but that determination controls how much court oversight and how many filings the case requires, not whether K.S.A. 59-1101's bond duty applies. The only Kansas track that skips letters — and the bond duty with them — is the § 59-1507b small estate affidavit below.
Does the 125% under K.S.A. 59-1101 include my mother's house, or just her bank accounts?
Just the bank accounts, investments, vehicles, and other personal property — plus one more figure people often miss. K.S.A. 59-1101 sets the bond at "not less than 125 percent of the value of the personal property and the probable annual income from real estate which shall come into his or her possession." That second clause is annual income the real estate is expected to generate while the fiduciary controls it — rental income, for example — not the real estate's underlying value. A decedent's house that isn't rented and generates no income adds nothing to the bond calculation, even though it's very much part of the estate the fiduciary is managing. This trips people up because several neighboring states (Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina) also run personal-property-based formulas but define the real-estate component differently.
Is $75,000 really the small-estate affidavit ceiling, and is that a new number?
Yes to both. K.S.A. 59-1507b lets an heir collect a decedent's property by affidavit — no letters, no district court probate case, no bond — "if the total assets of the estate of the decedent subject to probate do not exceed $75,000 in value." That $75,000 figure is recent: the Kansas Legislature raised it from $40,000 in 2023 Kan. Sess. Laws ch. 77 (House Bill 2130), effective July 1, 2023. If you're working from an older description of Kansas small-estate procedure that still cites $40,000, it's out of date — nearly double the estate can now bypass probate and bond entirely.
Can a Kansas bank or trust company just skip the bond automatically?
Yes — K.S.A. 59-1104 lists it as one of four specific ways a bond gets excused, and it's the only one that doesn't depend on a will provision or anyone's consent: bond isn't required "when the fiduciary is a bank having trust authority or a trust company organized and having its principal place of business within the state of Kansas." Note the "within the state of Kansas" qualifier — an out-of-state bank or trust company acting as fiduciary doesn't get this automatic exemption the way a Kansas-domiciled institution does, even if it holds trust powers in its home state.
The will waived my bond and the court already issued Letters — can Kansas still make me post one later?
Yes, and K.S.A. 59-1104 says so directly: "On the application of any interested party, or on its own motion, the court may at any time require bond be given." A will's waiver, an all-heir written waiver, or the corporate-fiduciary exemption all excuse the bond up front, but none of them are permanent immunity — if a creditor raises a concern, an heir petitions the court, or the judge simply has doubts about how the estate is being handled, the court can order a bond mid-administration on any of the four excused paths. Budget for the possibility even if you start out exempt.
I'm about to be appointed conservator for a family member — did Kansas just change how that bond works?
It changed the entire statute number, and it happened recently. The old conservator-bond statute, K.S.A. 59-3069, was repealed effective January 1, 2026 under 2025 Kan. Sess. Laws ch. 40 (House Bill 2359), which replaced Kansas's prior guardian/conservator code with the Uniform Guardianship, Conservatorship and Other Protective Arrangements Act, now codified starting at K.S.A. 59-30,101. This page covers executor and administrator (probate) bonds under K.S.A. 59-1101, which the recodification didn't touch — but if you're quoting a conservator's bond specifically, confirm you're working from the new 59-30,101-series citations, not the repealed Article 30 numbering still floating around older guides. See our conservatorship bond page for the ward-specific bond mechanics.
All content is researched from official state and federal sources (.gov) and verified before publication. BuySuretyBonds.com works with Treasury-certified, A-minimum rated surety carriers serving all 50 states.
General information, not legal, tax, or underwriting advice. Kansas probate bond requirements are set by the Kansas Probate Code (K.S.A. Chapter 59, including §§ 59-1101, 59-1104, and the Kansas Simplified Estates Act at §§ 59-3201–59-3206) and by K.S.A. 59-1507b’s small estate affidavit provisions, and they change over time — the affidavit threshold itself moved from $40,000 to $75,000 in 2023. Confirm the current requirement with the district court probate division handling your matter — and with Kansas probate counsel on waiver and simplified-estate questions — before relying on this page, then request a quote for your specific bond form and amount.
Three tracks, one formula — let’s find out which applies to you
Tell us your county, your estate track, and a court-set figure or estimate. We size the bond to Kansas’s 125% formula and get it filed before your Letters hearing — free quote, no obligation.
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