Intangible personal property
Property with value but no physical form — bank accounts, shares, policies, pensions, patents, a debt somebody owes.
What it means
Intangible personal property is the third category, alongside real property and tangible personal property. It is where most of the value in a modern estate sits.
It is usually governed by the law of the owner's domicile rather than by where a certificate or a branch happens to be, which is why it rarely needs a second proceeding in another state.
Much of it passes outside the estate entirely, on a beneficiary designation or a survivorship registration.
Why it matters
Small-estate thresholds are frequently written against personal property, which includes this category — so a modest house and a large pension can produce opposite answers about which procedure applies.
It also explains why a family can be dealing with more money than the will controls: the accounts pass on their forms and the will never touches them.
When you are likely to meet it
- When measuring an estate against a threshold.
- When deciding whether property in another state needs its own proceeding.
- When separating what the will controls from what it does not.
How this varies by state
Whether a small-estate threshold is measured against personal property, real property, or both, is set by state law.