Short answer. Yes, if the decedent left no will and no debts. Rule 74 lets a sole heir adjudicate the entire estate to themselves by affidavit filed with the register of deeds, instead of going through letters of administration — but a bond and a publication step still apply.
What the law says
If there is only one heir, he may adjudicate to himself the entire estate by means of an affidavit filed in the office of the register of deeds.
Rule 74, Section 1 — Extrajudicial settlement by agreement between heirs. Read the full provision →
The affidavit route depends on no will and no debts
This shortcut is available where the decedent left no will and no debts — the same conditions that let multiple heirs settle an estate among themselves without letters of administration. Where there is only one heir, the rule lets that heir skip even the step of dividing the estate among co-heirs: there is only one heir, so there is nothing to divide.
A bond has to be filed alongside the affidavit
The affidavit is not the only requirement. The sole heir must, simultaneously with and as a condition precedent to filing the affidavit, file a bond with the register of deeds equal to the value of the personal property involved, as certified under oath. That bond is conditioned on paying any just claim that may later be filed against the estate — it protects creditors who have not yet stepped forward. Without it, the register of deeds is not meant to accept the affidavit at all.
No debts is presumed, not proven upfront
The rule does not require proving in advance that no debts exist. It provides instead that the decedent is presumed to have left no debts if no creditor files a petition for letters of administration within two years after death. That presumption, together with the bond, is how the rule balances a simple process for the heir against protection for anyone the decedent owed money to, without forcing the heir to track down every possible creditor beforehand.
Publication and the limits of the affidavit's effect
The self-adjudication has to be published in a newspaper of general circulation, the same as an extrajudicial settlement among multiple heirs. And even then, it is not binding on anyone who did not participate in it or had no notice of it — someone who later turns out to be an heir, or a creditor who was never notified, is not automatically bound by an affidavit they knew nothing about. That limit is what keeps a genuinely sole heir's shortcut from being used to cut out someone with an actual claim to the estate.