Travis Bunn

Founder, AppealDesk · Published March 27, 2026 · Updated August 19, 2026

Connecticut Won't Reassess an Inherited Home, But Its Estate Tax Exemption Just Hit $15 Million

Updated August 2026

Connecticut assesses property at 70% of fair market value, with revaluations run on a municipal cycle rather than tied to any single ownership event. Nothing in that framework treats inheritance as a trigger separate from the town's scheduled revaluation. What has changed recently, and changed a lot, is the state estate tax exemption, which now sits at $15 million for 2026 deaths, tracking the federal basic exclusion amount by statutory design.

Assessed Value Carries Forward Regardless of Ownership

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 12-62a sets the uniform assessment date as October 1 and the assessment ratio at 70% of present true and actual value. Under § 12-62, each municipality implements a revaluation on a cycle now set by OPM zone assignment rather than a single statewide five-year clock, with some towns phasing in increases over several years. Nothing in that revaluation chapter conditions a reassessment on a change of ownership. An inherited home keeps the assessed value set at the town's last revaluation until the next one takes effect, the same as it would under any other owner.

No Homestead Exemption, and Relief Programs Don't Follow the Deed

Connecticut has no broad ad valorem homestead exemption. Relief is delivered instead through means-tested programs, and none of them transfer automatically to a new owner. The state Circuit Breaker under § 12-170aa serves homeowners 65 or older, or permanently and totally disabled, with statutory base income limits of $16,200 for an unmarried applicant or $20,000 married, subject to state indexing. Some municipalities also offer their own local-option freeze under § 12-170v. That statute directly addresses what happens on a transfer: subsection (d) pro-rates the relief for the year of conveyance based on the number of months the qualifying owner actually held the property, and requires the new owner, meaning an heir who takes full title, to notify the assessor within 10 days or face a corrective tax bill. Whoever inherits has to independently apply and qualify under their own age, disability, and income; the benefit does not pass with the deed.

The Estate Tax Exemption Now Tracks the Federal Number, and It's $15 Million

Connecticut has a state estate tax, not a separate inheritance tax, and it hasn't had the latter since the old succession tax stopped applying to decedents after 2004. Under § 12-391, for deaths on or after January 1, 2023, the Connecticut exemption equals whatever the federal basic exclusion amount is for that year, with a flat 12% rate applied above it. The Department of Revenue Services' own 2026 Form CT-706/709 instructions confirm the current figure directly: for 2026 decedents, the exemption is $15,000,000, with 12% owed on the excess. That number moves whenever the federal exclusion moves, since Connecticut's statute is written to follow it automatically rather than set its own fixed dollar figure.

Estates at or under $15 million with no Connecticut QTIP election only need to file Form CT-706 NT with the Probate Court; larger estates, or those making that election, file Form CT-706/709 with both DRS and the Probate Court. Either return is due six months after the date of death.

Heirs Can Appeal Without Waiting for Probate to Close

During estate settlement, § 45a-321 gives the fiduciary possession, care, and control of the real property, and the income it produces, while separately protecting the family's right to occupy the homestead during that period. Legal title is understood to pass to the heirs or devisees at the moment of death, subject to the fiduciary's statutory right to take possession for administration.

The Board of Assessment Appeals statute, § 12-111, resolves the standing question directly rather than by inference: appeals are open to "any person to whom title to such property has been transferred since the assessment date," which covers a new owner, including an heir, who has taken title after the October 1 assessment date, independent of whether probate has formally closed. The standard filing deadline is February 20, moving to March 20 if the assessor received a filing extension, with the Board meeting in March per § 12-110. From there, a Superior Court appeal under § 12-117a is due within two months of the Board's decision notice, with a real-property appraisal required within 120 days for properties valued at $1 million or more.

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