About Kinclaim
Every US state wrote a shortcut into its probate code so that ordinary families wouldn't need a lawyer to close out a modest estate. Almost nobody knows it exists.
The problem we set out to solve
When someone dies leaving a bank account, a car, a last paycheck and some belongings, the family hits a wall. The bank won’t release the money. The DMV won’t transfer the title. Somebody says the word “probate”, a lawyer quotes $1,000–$3,000, and that figure is often larger than the account they’re trying to reach.
Meanwhile the answer already exists, for free, in the state’s own code. It is called a small estate affidavit, and it lets the next of kin collect the property without opening a case at all. The form is usually a single page, published by the state, costing nothing.
So why does anyone pay a lawyer? Because the free form doesn’t tell you:
- whether you qualify, because states set wildly different limits;
- what actually counts toward that limit. A great many estates that look too large are comfortably under it once the joint accounts and beneficiary designations come out;
- how long you have to wait after the death;
- whether the house can pass this way, or needs a second document;
- and, the part people really get stuck on, what to physically do with the thing once it’s signed.
That gap is the whole product. The form is the easy part. We built the rest.
What we will not do
A company that sells legal documents to grieving people has obvious ways to behave badly. Here is what we have committed to instead.
- We tell you when the answer is no.The eligibility check is built to decline as readily as it accepts. If the estate is over the limit, if there’s a dispute, if the debts look larger than the assets: we say so, we explain why, and we send you to an attorney. A checker that said yes to everybody would be worth nothing.
- We don’t charge before you know. The eligibility check and the entire interview are free. You see your documents before you pay for them.
- We don’t use urgency.No countdown timers, no fake scarcity, no “only 3 left”. Our customers have just been through a death; manufacturing pressure on top of that would be contemptible.
- We don’t sell your data. Not to advertisers, not to insurers, not to funeral services, not to anyone. There is no asterisk on that.
- We refund without argument.Thirty days, any reason, including after you’ve downloaded everything.
- We show our working.Every state page cites the statute, links the sources, and carries the date we last verified it. Where we’re uncertain, we say so on the page.
How we make money
One payment, once, for the estate you’re settling. That’s the entire business model. There is no subscription, no upsell to a “premium review”, no partnership commission, no lead sale to law firms. If you never pay us, you still get the eligibility answer and every word of our state guides for free, and honestly, for many people that’s all they need, and that’s fine.
Who we are
Kinclaim is built by Handler Labs LLC. We are a small software company, not a law firm, and we are careful about the difference, see the legal disclaimer for exactly what that means for you.
Our state rules are read from primary statutory text and then independently cite-checked before publication. That process, and its limits, is described in full on how we verify state law.
Tell us when we’re wrong
If a figure on this site disagrees with what a court clerk or your state’s statute tells you, the clerk and the statute are right, and we want to know immediately. Write to support@getkinclaim.com. We would far rather correct a number than defend one.