Estate Settling Stuff

I guess I have been dragging my feet on officially getting property transferred. It's all been effectively under my control all along, so, no rush, right? Today I got in contact with Morgan Stanley regarding those stocks that H got as incentives or something - they were always kind of mysterious. I'm now wishing I had just sold them all using the userid and password that I already knew and closed the account. That would have been so much simpler, but I think that ship has sailed.

Anyway, they want a Small Estate Affidavit in lieu of complete probate, so I am trying to determine if the "estate" is indeed "small" - I'm unclear on exactly how to value the house, for one thing, which could make a significant difference.

I got an e-copy of Nolo's How to Probate an Estate in California to help me figure it all out. It's a little head-spinny, but I can skip a lot of things that obviously don't apply and, I hope, end up filing the correct forms.

It's all pretty tiresome and seems stupid and unnecessary, but what can you do?