FAQ
Is this legal advice?
No. EstateClaim is an automated document-preparation tool, not a law firm. The free check applies your state’s statute to the facts you enter, and the packet completes your state’s affidavit from your own answers. It never represents you, never files anything, never contacts an institution, and never advises you on what you shoulddo. For advice about your specific situation, consult a licensed probate attorney — for a contested or complicated estate, that’s genuinely the right move, and our free check will say so.
Will the bank, DMV, or court actually accept the affidavit?
No one can honestly promise that, and we don’t. Institutions run their own review, and an individual branch may be unfamiliar with the procedure. What we do is make acceptance as likely as the law allows: the affidavit tracks the statute’s required elements word for word, cites the sections a legal department can verify, the checklist tells you which documents to bring for each asset, and the counter script explains the procedure to a teller who hasn’t seen one. If the packet is rejected for a reason attributable to us — a missing statutory element, a wrong citation — we fix it or refund it. We also follow up by email once, about two weeks after delivery, to ask whether it was accepted; that answer improves the packet for the next family.
Which states are covered?
Right now: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington. We only answer for a state whose small-estate statutes we’ve verified against the official legislature or judicial-council text — every dollar limit, waiting period, citation, and form name traces to that dataset, and several states’ limits change with the date of death, which we apply correctly. For any other state the check refuses honestly and points you to that state’s official self-help resources. See the state-by-state guides.
What if family members disagree about who inherits?
Then a small-estate affidavit is the wrong tool — in every state, the process assumes everyone entitled agrees. If you tell the free check there’s a disagreement, it stops there, at no charge, and won’t sell you a packet. A probate attorney can help resolve the dispute; many offer free initial consultations, and your county bar association can refer you.
What exactly is in the $79 packet?
Four things, delivered as a private page and a PDF: (1) the completed affidavit for your state’s procedure, with every statutory element filled from your answers — and an explicit marked blank, with a note on what belongs there, anywhere a fact wasn’t collected; (2) a cover sheet sequencing your state’s actual steps — waiting period, signatures, notarization, and whether papers go to a clerk or straight to the institution; (3) a per-asset checklist naming the agency and documents for each account or vehicle; and (4) a short script for the counter. For estates without a will, it also includes a who-receives-what table computed from your state’s intestacy statute.
What if I make a mistake in my answers?
Edit and regenerate, free. Your packet page has an “Edit answers & regenerate” button — fix the name, add the missed account, and the packet regenerates from the corrected facts. Nothing is final until you print and sign.
Why is the date of death required for the free check?
Because in several states the dollar limit depends on it. California, for example, applies a different limit to deaths before and after April 1, 2025, and other states adjust their figures on statutory schedules. A checker that ignores the date of death would give confidently wrong answers — so ours asks.
What do you do with my information?
The estate and family facts you enter are used only to determine eligibility and prepare your packet. We never sell your data, and we send exactly two automated emails per order: the delivery email, and one follow-up asking whether the institution accepted the packet. No marketing sequences, ever. See the privacy policy.
What's the refund policy?
Three paths, all grounded in something verifiable. If our pipeline can’t produce a packetthat passes its own quality and accuracy checks, the order refunds automatically — you don’t have to ask. If our logs show you never opened your packet after delivery, you can refund yourself from the packet page within 30 days. And if an institution rejects the packet for a reason attributable to us, reply to your delivery email — we fix it or refund it. Outside those paths, email estateclaim@forage.botand we’ll look at it case by case. The Terms state the same conditions.
How long does it take?
The free check is instant. After payment, the detail questions take most people a few minutes (your progress saves as you go), and the completed packet is usually ready a minute or two after you submit them. Note that several states have a waiting period after the death before the affidavit can be used — the check and the cover sheet both tell you your exact date.
Why $79?
It’s a flat, one-time fee — no subscription, no percentage of the estate. It’s meant to sit well below what document preparation through an office visit typically costs, while doing the thing that actually matters: getting your state’s procedure right, with the statute checked, so you don’t make a second trip to the counter.
EstateClaim is an automated document-preparation tool — not a law firm, and not legal advice. For advice about your specific situation, consult a licensed probate attorney.