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MORTL → State Guides → Idaho
State Guide
What Idaho law actually says about death, probate, cremation, advance directives, and estate taxes. No legal jargon. Just what you need to know.
Someone just died in Idaho? The first 24 hours, step by step →
Guide Status
● Last reviewed August 2026
Laws change. Each section shows when it was last verified. Always confirm with a licensed Idaho attorney for your specific situation.
This is general information, not legal advice. Idaho law changes. Your situation is specific. For anything that matters, talk to a licensed Idaho attorney. Our directory doesn't list attorneys, so you'll find one on your own.
The short answer
In Idaho, estates under $100,000 can skip full probate through a simplified process or affidavit. Cremation requires a 24-hour wait. There's no Idaho estate or inheritance tax. Every figure below names its source and the date it was checked.
Reviewed August 2026 · Idaho
Someone just died in Idaho: the first 24 hours →Verified providers in Idaho →
Last verified: August 7, 2026
Source: Idaho Code § 39-260, Idaho Dept. of Health and Welfare ↗At a Glance
File within 5 days · Restricted for 25 years · Then public
In Idaho, the funeral home, mortuary, or other person in charge of the deceased person's remains typically files the death certificate with the local registrar within five days of death. Certified copies can only be ordered by individuals with a 'direct and tangible interest,' such as immediate family members, legal representatives, or those needing it to claim a property right.
Ask each bank, insurer, court, agency, and property office whether it requires a certified copy. Order an initial quantity based on those actual needs, and confirm the current fee and process for ordering more.
Certified copies are available from the Idaho Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics. Requests can be submitted online or by mail.
Order certified copies from Idaho's vital records office; this section's source link is the official process. The funeral home or cremation provider usually orders the first copies for you. Ask each bank, insurer, court, and agency whether it needs its own certified copy before you decide how many to order.
$16 per certified copy in Idaho, as shown above. Additional-copy pricing varies; the official source linked in this section has the current fee schedule.
Last verified: August 9, 2026
Source: Idaho Code § 15-3-1201 (collection of personal property by affidavit); § 15-3-801 (notice to creditors) ↗At a Glance
Small estate threshold vs. national average
In Idaho, probate is generally required if the deceased person owned real estate or if their assets subject to probate exceed $100,000. Under Idaho Code § 15-3-1201 that $100,000 is the fair market value of the whole estate subject to probate, wherever it is, less liens and encumbrances, and you have to wait 30 days from the death before presenting the affidavit. The affidavit covers tangible personal property and instruments, not real estate.
The creditor window sets the floor on how fast this can finish. If the personal representative publishes notice to creditors, they get four months from the first publication to file claims or be barred (Idaho Code § 15-3-801). A creditor given written notice gets that four months or 60 days from the mailing, whichever is later.
If an Idaho resident dies without a valid will (intestate), state law dictates how their property will be distributed. The order of inheritance depends on surviving family members.
Idaho residents can use several strategies to avoid probate, including creating a revocable living trust, using payable-on-death (POD) or transfer-on-death (TOD) designations for bank accounts and vehicles, and holding property in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship.
A straightforward Idaho probate typically runs 4+ months, as shown in this section. Contested wills, missing heirs, or real property in other states stretch it well past that.
$100,000. Estates under that figure can use the simplified process or affidavit covered above instead of full probate.
Not always. If the estate qualifies for the simplified process covered above, many people handle it without a lawyer. Hire one for full probate, a contested will, or property in more than one state. Before you hire anyone, know the fee structures: hourly, flat, and (in a few states) statutory percentages. Our probate attorney cost guide covers what each should run you.
No will yet, or one that's out of date? How to write a will covers what belongs in one and the signing requirements, step by step. The rules on this page are what Idaho law adds.
No. Idaho has no transfer-on-death deed statute. A living trust, joint ownership with survivorship, or (for spouses) community property with right of survivorship does the same job here; and a uniform-act bill (S 1399) died in the 2026 session, so watch for it to come back.
Idaho doesn't require a private employer to give bereavement leave, paid or unpaid. Whatever you get is your employer's policy, and it can be changed or refused.
Who it covers. No one. No Idaho employer, public or private, is required to provide bereavement or funeral leave.
How much. 0 required
Paid or unpaid. n/a (no mandate)
Idaho's Division of Human Resources has a bereavement leave policy and request form (dhr.idaho.gov, DHR-03), but that covers executive-branch state employees only. It's a personnel policy, not a statute binding private employers. School districts run on a permissive rule of their own: Idaho Code 33-1216 lets a local board of trustees establish a policy governing leave for the illness or death of members of an employee's family, so even there the leave is the district's choice. Nothing for pregnancy loss in the private sector.
Yes. Idaho enforces pet trusts under Idaho Code § 15-7-601 (purpose trusts), so money you set aside for an animal is legally binding on whoever you put in charge of it. Idaho's statute sets no end date at all, neither the death of your animal nor a year limit, so write the ending into the trust yourself and say where the money goes when it's over. Whoever you name in the trust enforces it, and naming nobody doesn't void the trust. If the person you named resigns, is removed, or can't act and you named no successor, the trustee has to go to court and a judge appoints someone. While nobody is enforcing it, the court can step in on its own, and any interested person can sue to enforce it. Idaho has no pet-specific trust statute. Yours runs on the general purpose-trust law, which supplies none of the defaults other states hand you: no automatic ending when your animal dies, no judge who can trim a trust that holds far more than the animal needs, no fallback caretaker. Write every one of those into the document.
Last verified: July 17, 2026
Source: Idaho Code §§ 15-2-101 to 15-2-114 ↗If you die intestate (without a valid will) in Idaho, Idaho Code §§ 15-2-101 to 15-2-114 decides who inherits everything a will would have covered. The shares depend on exactly who survives you: spouse, children, parents, siblings. What you told people you wanted doesn't matter. Only a signed will changes these defaults.
Community property state: the surviving spouse already owns half the community property and inherits the decedent's half in every scenario, so children and parents only ever share in separate property. Heirs stop at grandparents' descendants: Idaho has no remoter-kin tier.
What your spouse inherits depends on who else survives you. The four common family shapes:
With no spouse, the issue take everything: equally if all in the same degree, otherwise remoter descendants take by representation.
After issue come parents equally, then the parents' issue by representation, then half to the paternal grandparents (or their issue) and half to the maternal grandparents (or their issue): Idaho's list stops there, and with no takers the property escheats to the state under Idaho Code § 14-113 (the old § 15-2-105 was repealed in 1996).
Last verified: August 7, 2026
Source: Idaho Code § 39-4510; Idaho Department of Health and Welfare ↗At a Glance
Living Will
Specifies end-of-life care wishes
Healthcare Proxy
Names a decision-maker for you
DNR / POLST
Do-not-resuscitate orders
Idaho law allows individuals to make their healthcare wishes known through an Advance Directive, which typically includes a Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare and a Living Will. Idaho Code § 39-4510 sets a short list of what a valid document needs: your name, date of birth, phone number and mailing address, your signature, and the date you signed. That's it. Witnesses and notarization are on the statute's list of things the document may include but isn't required to have. Blanks you leave empty are treated as deliberate and don't invalidate the rest.
Store it where it can be found. Idaho runs the Healthcare Directive Registry, moved from the Secretary of State to Health and Welfare, where you can upload or create your directive and share it with family and clinicians. A directive nobody can locate at 2am does nothing.
A Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare (HCPOA) in Idaho allows you to appoint an agent to make medical decisions on your behalf if you become unable to do so. This can be a standalone document or part of a combined Idaho Advance Directive.
Idaho recognizes Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST) forms. A POST form is a medical order signed by a healthcare professional and the patient (or their surrogate) that provides clear instructions for current medical treatment. It differs from an Advance Directive, which is a legal document for future care decisions, and is intended for individuals with serious illnesses.
Start with Idaho Code § 39-4510; Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, linked as this section's source. Use the current form or sample that the official source provides or identifies. Form authority and execution requirements vary by state, so confirm the source before signing and get legal help if your situation or the instructions are unclear.
Idaho requires no witnesses; notarization isn’t required. Anyone 18 or older of sound mind can make one.
Last verified: August 7, 2026
Source: Idaho Code § 39-268; IDAPA 24.08.01.100 (Rules of the State Board of Morticians) ↗At a Glance
If a body is going to be held longer than 24 hours before burial, cremation, or other disposition, Idaho requires it to be embalmed or refrigerated at 36 degrees Fahrenheit or colder until disposition (IDAPA 24.08.01.100). Cremation needs the written authorization of the county coroner in the county where the death occurred, on top of the authority of the legal next of kin. Watch the paperwork here: the mortician's written report to the registrar, due within 24 hours of taking possession, works as a permit to transport, bury, or entomb, but it is not a permit to cremate. That takes a separate authorization for final disposition plus the coroner's sign-off (Idaho Code § 39-268).
Idaho allows for home burials, though local zoning laws should be checked. Human composting (terramation) is available through private services. While alkaline hydrolysis (water cremation) is also an option, Idaho doesn't currently have active green burial cemeteries, meaning families seeking natural burial grounds may need to look to neighboring states.
Funeral homes in Idaho are subject to state licensing requirements and must comply with the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Funeral Rule. This rule mandates price disclosure, allowing consumers to compare prices and choose only the goods and services they want.
Idaho sets this order by statute. The first person on the list who is available and willing decides, and a funeral home takes its instructions from them.
Naming someone in advance. Idaho recognizes a stand-alone written designation: "a written document executed by the decedent and acknowledged in the same manner as required for instruments conveying real property," meaning it must be notarized to deed standards, and the designation is subject to whatever limitations, restrictions or directions the document itself sets. No statutory form text is prescribed. A DD Form 93 designee sits in the same top tier for service members. Below that, Idaho gives disposition authority to the agent under a durable power of attorney for health care (Idaho Code title 39, chapter 45) unless that document expressly denies it, and to the agent under a general durable power of attorney (Idaho Code § 15-12-102) only if that document expressly grants it. Separately, a prearranged funeral plan under Idaho Code § 54-1139 outranks the whole § 54-1142 list.
When the same tier disagrees. Not stated. Section 54-1142 sets no court procedure for deadlock. It resolves conflict only inside a tier by majority rule, plus a fallback that lets a minority act if it used reasonable efforts to notify everyone else in the tier and is unaware of opposition from more than half (for children) or from one-half or more (for equal-degree kin).
Idaho puts the health care power of attorney agent above the surviving spouse, so a signed advance directive can outrank a husband or wife by default unless the directive expressly says otherwise. Anyone charged with first or second degree murder or voluntary manslaughter in connection with the death loses the right the moment the funeral director or cemetery authority knows of the charge, and gets it back if the charges are dropped or they are acquitted. Section 54-1142(6) also lets a funeral director or mortician dispose of unclaimed cremated remains if the person with the right does not claim them or fails to exercise control for at least one year, with records kept ten years, and expressly exempts unclaimed veterans' remains under § 54-1144. The section was last amended in 2025 (ch. 137, sec. 1), and the site notes Idaho statutes are updated to the web July 1 following each session.
Three separate pots of money, on three different agencies' websites, collected nowhere. A family that qualifies for all three usually claims none of them.
1. When nobody can pay. County indigent burial or cremation under Idaho Code § 31-3412 (Title 31, Chapter 34, Nonmedical Indigent Assistance). No statewide program. Verbatim: "It shall be the duty of the board to provide for burial or cremation of any deceased indigent person." A companion section, Idaho Code § 31-2802, covers unclaimed bodies: when nobody takes charge within fourteen days, the coroner arranges disposition and, if the estate can't cover it, "the expenses are a legal charge against the county pursuant to the provisions of section 31-3412, Idaho Code." Families find their program through the county clerk or county assistance office, e.g. the Kootenai County Assistance Office. The board of county commissioners, working through the county's assistance office; the county coroner for unclaimed bodies.
What it pays. not published as a statewide figure. Idaho Code § 31-3412, verbatim: "The amount paid by the obligated county shall not in any case exceed the established or negotiated rate set by each board." Kootenai County's page likewise says the county pays "an amount established by the Board of County Commissioners" without naming it.
What disqualifies you. A deceased indigent person, judged on "requirements of indigency and residency" (Kootenai County), covering "deceased Kootenai County residents or unclaimed bodies." The applicant is often not the family: "Local funeral homes, friends or relatives of the deceased, or the Kootenai County Coroner can submit an application for cremation," and a coroner, mortician, or other responsible party may apply when next of kin can't be established or has signed a waiver of intent to abandon.
2. If the death was caused by a crime. "The Program may reimburse claimants for funeral and burial expenses, to a maximum of $5,000, as authorized under Idaho Code § 72-1019(4)." The guidelines add that beyond "traditional" costs (casket, plot, headstone, organist, vocalist, clergy, flowers), "food and beverages for a wake or reception following a funeral service, and funeral expenses which are customary to the victim's culture or religious beliefs" are also reimbursable, subject to the same $5,000 cap. Benefits "shall first be directed to the funeral and burial providers (if not yet paid.)." Aggregate cap across all benefits is $25,000, and a claim must be filed "with the commission within one (1) year after the day the crime occurred."
Idaho crime victim compensation ↗
3. Money the person was already owed. Search Idaho's unclaimed property before you borrow anything. Searching and claiming are free.
The timing rule is the one that costs families money: Kootenai County states that "State law requires that the application must be filed with the Kootenai County Assistance Office BEFORE the cremation or burial services are rendered." Apply first, then let the funeral home proceed. Separately, once an application is on file a coroner may authorize cremation ten days after death, and the county "shall be free from any liability for said burial or cremation."
Last verified: July 16, 2026
Source: Idaho State Tax Commission, Estates and Taxes ↗At a Glance
Idaho is one of many states that doesn't impose a state-level estate tax. Therefore, Idaho residents don't need to worry about a state estate tax, regardless of the size of their estate.
Even without a state estate tax, larger estates in Idaho may still be subject to the federal estate tax.
Idaho doesn't levy an inheritance tax. This means that beneficiaries who inherit property from an Idaho resident won't pay a state tax on their inheritance.
The federal estate tax applies to estates over $15 million per person (2026), $30 million for married couples. This is separate from any state estate or inheritance tax. The Working Families Tax Cuts Bill (Public Law 119-21, 2025) made the higher exemption permanent, so the drop to roughly $7 million once scheduled under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act never took effect.
No. Idaho has no state estate tax. Only the federal estate tax applies, and only to estates over $15 million per person (2026), $30 million for a married couple.
No. Idaho doesn’t tax inheritances. Heirs owe no state tax on what they receive.
$15 million per person, $30 million for a married couple, indexed for inflation. The Working Families Tax Cuts Bill (Public Law 119-21, 2025) made the higher exemption permanent. Estates below the threshold owe no federal estate tax.
Last verified: August 8, 2026
Source: Idaho Code Title 39, Chapter 34, Yes Idaho ↗At a Glance
Idaho residents can register to be organ, eye, and tissue donors through the Yes Idaho registry. This decision can be made when obtaining or renewing a driver's license or state ID, or by registering online directly with Yes Idaho.
In Idaho, a registered organ donor decision is legally binding, and nobody else can amend or revoke it after your death (Idaho Code § 39-3408(1)). One exception: if the donor is an unemancipated minor, a parent who is reasonably available can revoke or amend the gift (Idaho Code § 39-3408(7)). Organ procurement organizations still consult families in practice, so tell yours what you decided.
Source: Idaho Code § 39-3408 (preclusive effect of anatomical gift) ↗
Need Help in Idaho?
Wills, trusts, advance directives, and probate all benefit from a licensed professional. We've compiled a directory of funeral directors, grief counselors, hospice providers, and financial advisors. Sorted by state. Before a listing appears, we check the provider's phone and address against the provider's own website.
Find Help in Idaho →From The MORTL Edit
Sources: Idaho Code Titles 15, 39, 54 (legislature.idaho.gov); Idaho Department of Health and Welfare; Idaho State Tax Commission; Yes Idaho donor registry. Individual sections are updated and re-dated whenever a law changes, which is why the date at the top of the guide can be newer than this one. The whole guide also gets a front-to-back review on a schedule. Last front-to-back review: June 2026.
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