Indemnity
A promise to make good somebody else's loss — and on several small-estate forms, the price of the shortcut.
What it means
An indemnity moves a risk from one person to another. The person giving it agrees that if the other loses money because of what they did, they will pay it back.
Small-estate paperwork uses it heavily and quietly. The Illinois affidavit requires the affiant to indemnify creditors, heirs and the institution for any loss caused by reliance on it, and to pay the winner's legal costs. Idaho's motor vehicle affidavits require the claimant to defend the Transportation Department regardless of outcome.
It is not the same as being liable for the estate's debts. It is liability for what your own statement causes.
Why it matters
It is how a bank is protected on a form with no court behind it: the exposure moves to the family member who signed.
It is the reason to sign a small-estate affidavit after the debts are known rather than before.
When you are likely to meet it
- In bold type on a statutory affidavit form.
- In a sentence that says regardless of outcome, or hold harmless.