Where the estate is opened.
Only if the statute's conditions are met. Read the section below.
See the tax section for the exemption or the repeal.
Living trust or probate
A revocable living trust holds assets you title in the trustee's name. You can serve as trustee while you are able.
At death, the successor trustee handles those assets. Property you leave in your own name can still go through the probate court. A pour-over will sends leftover assets into the trust, and those leftover assets may pass through probate first.
The probate path
In Mississippi, the estate is opened in the Chancery Court.
Enrolled Senate Bill 2850 of 2020 restates Mississippi Code section 91-7-1: wills shall be proved in and letters testamentary thereon granted by the chancery court of the county in which the testator had a fixed place of residence. If the testator had no fixed place of residence and land is devised, the will is proved and letters are granted by the chancery court of the county where the land, or some part of it, is situated. The same act provides a successor affidavit for certain personal property, and if the holder refuses, payment or delivery may be compelled in chancery court.
Source: Mississippi Senate Bill 2850, enrolled 2020, section 91-7-1
Small estate
Mississippi's small-estate figure on this page is $75,000 when the statute's conditions are met.
Section 91-7-322, as amended by that enrolled act effective July 1, 2020, states that at any time after thirty days from the death of a decedent, a person indebted to the decedent or having possession of tangible personal property or an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock, or chose in action shall pay or deliver it to a successor upon an affidavit. The affidavit must state that the value of the entire probate estate of the decedent, wherever located, excluding all liens and encumbrances thereon, does not exceed seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000.00), that at least thirty days have elapsed, and that no application or petition for a personal representative is pending and none has been appointed in any jurisdiction. Successor means the spouse, or if none then any child, or if none then any grandchild, or if none then either parent or any siblings.
Source: Mississippi Senate Bill 2850, enrolled 2020, section 91-7-322
Estate or inheritance tax
Mississippi has no current estate tax on the page linked below.
The Mississippi Department of Revenue states that, as of January 1, 2005, no estate tax return is required for decedents dying on or after January 1, 2005, and that Mississippi does not have an inheritance tax nor a gift tax. The page still lists estate tax laws in Title 27, Chapter 9.
Source: Mississippi Department of Revenue, Estate
Questions
The answers use the same statute and court pages as the sections above.
Does a living trust avoid probate in Mississippi?
A revocable living trust holds the assets you title in the trustee's name. The successor trustee handles those assets. Property still titled in your own name can be a probate matter. A pour-over will can send leftover assets into the trust, and those leftover assets may still pass through probate first.
What is the small-estate procedure in Mississippi?
Section 91-7-322, as amended by that enrolled act effective July 1, 2020, states that at any time after thirty days from the death of a decedent, a person indebted to the decedent or having possession of tangible personal property or an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock, or chose in action shall pay or deliver it to a successor upon an affidavit. The affidavit must state that the value of the entire probate estate of the decedent, wherever located, excluding all liens and encumbrances thereon, does not exceed seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000.00), that at least thirty days have elapsed, and that no application or petition for a personal representative is pending and none has been appointed in any jurisdiction. Successor means the spouse, or if none then any child, or if none then any grandchild, or if none then either parent or any siblings.
Does Mississippi tax an estate or an inheritance?
The Mississippi Department of Revenue states that, as of January 1, 2005, no estate tax return is required for decedents dying on or after January 1, 2005, and that Mississippi does not have an inheritance tax nor a gift tax. The page still lists estate tax laws in Title 27, Chapter 9.
Sources
These are the statute and court pages used above.