West Virginia probate leads and inheritance data, by county.
If you are researching West Virginia probate leads, the public court file is only one part of the inherited-property market. USLeadList starts with death and property records, typically about five weeks after death, and generates an average of 946 records a month across West Virginia.
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West Virginia counties
Browse 55 counties.Every West Virginia county has its own page. Highlighted counties currently generate the largest monthly record volume.
How inherited property moves in West Virginia
Verified state rules behind the county data.Probate rules matter because they determine when a public court record appears and which inherited properties never appear in an ordinary probate case.
What changes for an heir
West Virginia attaches no recurring cost to holding an inherited house. There is no reassessment on transfer, no inheritance tax, and the West Virginia Estate Tax Act levies only an amount equal to the federal credit for state death taxes (W. Va. Code 11-11-2(5), 11-11-4), a credit federal law eliminated for deaths after 2004. What is distinctive runs the other way. The Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act (W. Va. Code 36-12, enacted by 2014 Senate Bill 3) lets an owner record a revocable transfer on death deed that moves the house to a named beneficiary at death with no county commission filing, so a large share of inherited West Virginia property never appears in a probate record. Since July 9, 2025 an estate that does hold probate real property must go through full administration.
Where probate records appear
County Commission No statewide probate search. Wills, appraisements, settlements and fiduciary records are indexed and searched at each county clerk's office
Ways property can avoid ordinary probate
Transfer on death deed under the Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act (W. Va. Code 36-12-5, enacted by 2014 Senate Bill 3), which is revocable during life and passes real property at death outside probate, together with joint tenancy with right of survivorship and revocable living trusts. The small estate affidavit under W. Va. Code 44-1A-2 covers personal assets only and is unavailable to any estate holding probate real property.
Small-estate route
$50,000 in personal probate assets, and only where the decedent owned no probate real property and no interest in probate real property. HB 2867 of the 2025 regular session, passed April 10, 2025 and in effect July 9, 2025, amended W. Va. Code 44-1A-2 to preclude any estate holding probate real property from the small estate procedure. HB 2867 did not touch 44-1A-1, so the definition of a small estate still carries a $100,000 ceiling on the total aggregate fair market value at death of the decedent's West Virginia real estate at 44-1A-1(b)(5)(B), excluding real estate held in any nonprobate form, along with the 167 percent of assessed value presumption. The condition in 44-1A-2 leaves that ceiling inoperative in practice, and 44-1A-1 read alone still describes the pre 2025 procedure. The affidavit is tendered for recording to the clerk of the county commission or the fiduciary supervisor, and may be filed 30 days after death by a successor nominated as personal representative or executor under the will, or 60 days after death by any other successor. The resulting certificate and authorization runs six months and may be extended once for up to six more.
Timing investors should understand
The clerk of the county commission publishes notice of administration once a week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, and claims against the estate must be filed within 60 days of the date of first publication; objections to the personal representative's qualification or to venue have the later of 60 days from first publication or 30 days from service (W. Va. Code 44-1-14a). That notice is published within 30 days of filing the appraisement, or within 120 days of the personal representative's qualification if no appraisement is filed, so the floor from death to the close of the claim window runs several months. Where the appraisement shows $200,000 or less, excluding specifically devised real estate and nonprobate assets, or there is a single competent beneficiary, settlement proceeds without reference to a fiduciary commissioner unless one is requested within 60 days. No West Virginia source publishes a typical duration.
West Virginia inheritance volume
Updated monthly · September 2026 edition.Newly inherited residential properties recorded in West Virginia, from the same database that builds the lists. Published nationally in the Inheritance Property Index.
Biggest West Virginia counties by volume
Free to cite with attribution: USLeadList Inheritance Property Index, September 2026 edition. See every state and download the data.
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