Probate Cost by State
Plain-English breakdowns of what probate costs in all 50 states. Each guide documents attorney fees, executor commissions, court costs, the state's small-estate threshold, and the transfers that pass outside probate — each cited to the state code.
Educational information only — not legal advice. Figures vary by state and change over time; confirm current statutes and costs with a licensed attorney in your state.
| State | Court filing fee | Fee basis | Typical duration | Fee sheet | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | Roughly $435 per petition. A probate case usually involves more than one filing. | Statutory | Not published | Printable sheet | |
| Texas | — | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Florida | Fla. Stat. §28.2401(1) sets maximums, not prices: the clerk "may impose service charges or filing fees ... not to exceed the following amounts". Formal administration §28.2401(1)(g): $395. Summary administration §28.2401(1)(e): $340 where the estate is valued at $1,000 or more — the tier that applies to most summary estates, since the procedure runs to $75,000 under §735.201(2) — and §28.2401(1)(f): $230 below $1,000. §28.2401(3) adds a $4 service charge to a petition seeking summary or formal administration, so $344 and $399 respectively. Under §28.2401(2) a circuit court may increase these in an individual matter on the clerk's application and a showing of extraordinary circumstances. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | |
| New York | SCPA 2402(7) sets the Surrogate's Court fee on a petition for probate or administration by the value of the estate: $45 under $10,000; $75 for $10,000 to under $20,000; $215 for $20,000 to under $50,000; $280 for $50,000 to under $100,000; $420 for $100,000 to under $250,000; $625 for $250,000 to under $500,000; and $1,250 at $500,000 and over. | Statutory | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Pennsylvania | Set by each county Register of Wills and tiered by estate value. The opening fee, the charge per short certificate and the charges for certified copies and will filings are each set by the county Register of Wills on its own published schedule; we found no statewide figure as of September 2026. Larger estates and urban counties (Philadelphia, Allegheny) sit at the higher end. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Illinois | Court filing fees vary by county. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Ohio | Filing fees vary by county (ORC 2101.16(A) sets a statewide base — $15 to probate a will, $35 to appoint a fiduciary — and ORC 2101.16(E) lets a court require an advance deposit for costs capped at $125, while ORC 2746.06 directs that a probate court "shall tax as costs or otherwise require the payment of fees" for a list of items — among them the fees provided for in §§2101.16, 2101.17, 2101.18 and 2101.32 under (A), and fees to computerize the court, provide computerized legal research and computerize the clerk's office under (B) — in addition to any fees under §§2746.01, 2746.02 and 2746.04, and subject to the combat-zone-casualty waiver in §2101.164 and the fee reduction in §2101.20). Certified copies, publication, bond and appraisal are charged on top of those figures; the amounts are set locally and no published schedule for them is cited here. | Statutory | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Georgia | Set locally under O.C.G.A. §15-9-60. The Petition to Probate Will in Solemn Form fee is set by each county; we found no published statewide figure as of September 2026. The required four-week newspaper publication is billed by the newspaper and certified-mail service by the postal rate; we found no published statewide figure for either. Add the cost of service on each heir/beneficiary. Not read at the primary source: the only source previously cited for this field was a commercial reproduction of the Georgia code, and Georgia law cannot be read at a primary source from the environment this page was checked in. This field is recorded as unverified. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| North Carolina | Under N.C.G.S. §7A-307, the clerk collects $120 in fixed fees to open the estate — $10 for the courtroom and related judicial facilities under §7A-307(a)(1), $4 for judicial and county courthouse telecommunications and data connectivity under §7A-307(a)(1a), and $106 for support of the General Court of Justice under §7A-307(a)(2) — plus, under the same subdivision (a)(2), 40 cents per $100 "or major fraction thereof" of the gross estate, capped at $6,000. §7A-307(a)(2) also sets a minimum of $15 for each filing. That gross estate is personalty at fair market value when received plus proceeds from the sale of realty coming into the fiduciary's hands; §7A-307(a)(2) expressly excludes the value of realty, so an unsold house is not in the base. Additional flat fees apply for specific filings (e.g., $20 for probate without qualification, certified copies, etc.). | Statutory | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Michigan | Typical fees: ~$175 to file an application/petition to open a decedent estate, plus $12 per Letters of Authority (~$187 to open); $23 for most subsequent filings; publication of Notice to Creditors usually $100–$200; plus the MCL 600.871 inventory fee scaled to estate value. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Connecticut | The probate court fee for settling a decedent's estate is a sliding scale under Conn. Gen. Stat. §45a-107. For decedents dying on or after July 1, 2016: $0–$500 = $25; $500–$1,000 = $50; $1,000–$10,000 = $50 plus 1% of the excess over $1,000; $10,000–$500,000 = $150 plus 0.35% of the excess over $10,000; $500,000–$2,000,000 = $1,865 plus 0.25% of the excess over $500,000; $2,000,000 and over = $5,615 plus 0.5% of the excess over $2,000,000. Maximum fee: $40,000. Interest of 0.5% per month accrues on fees unpaid after 30 days. | Statutory | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Arkansas | — | Statutory | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Indiana | No Indiana figure is stated in this field. The governing provision is §33-37-4-7,. The figure previously stated here was never verified against a statute or an independent publisher: its only source was a commercial reproduction of the code, and Indiana law cannot be read at a primary source from the environment this page was checked in. It is recorded in data/withdrawn-figures.json as in-court-filing, so it cannot return to any page without failing the build. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Oklahoma | — | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Oregon | Probate petition filing fees under ORS 21.170 scale with estate value: $278 if under $50,000; $591 from $50,000 to under $1 million; $882 from $1 million to under $10 million; $1,176 at $10 million or more. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| New Jersey | Probate of a will (up to 2 pages) is about $100 at the county Surrogate's Court, plus roughly $5 per extra page and small per-document charges for certificates and short-form letters. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Washington | $290 to open a probate case. The amount is fixed by statute statewide and does not vary by county: a $200 filing fee (RCW 36.18.020(2)(f)), a $40 clerk surcharge (RCW 36.18.020(5)(c)) and a $50 surcharge (RCW 36.18.020(6)). | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Arizona | A.R.S. §12-284(A) sets the Superior Court fee for an application for informal probate or informal appointment at $149. On top of that, the presiding judge of a superior court may add up to $15 for document and digital evidence storage (A.R.S. §12-284.01(C)), and the Arizona Supreme Court may raise the §12-284(A) fees by the annual change in the consumer price index (A.R.S. §12-284(L)). What a county clerk actually charges therefore varies by county and by the Supreme Court's current adjusted schedule; $149 is the statewide statutory base. Add publication of the notice to creditors and certified copies. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | |
| Colorado | Add publication of notice to creditors and certified copies (Letters Testamentary). | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Massachusetts | Massachusetts sets no probate filing fee by statute; the fee is set by the Probate and Family Court's own schedule, which we have not read at source, so no figure is stated here. Certified copies, citation publication, and a surety bond where one is required are charged separately, and no figure is stated for those either. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Maryland | Md. Code, Est. & Trusts §2-206(b)(2) sets the Register of Wills probate fee on the value of the probate estate: $0 under $50,000; $100 for $50,000 to under $100,000; $200 for $100,000 to under $500,000; $1,000 for $500,000 to under $1,000,000; $2,000 for $1,000,000 to under $2,500,000; $5,000 for $2,500,000 to under $5,000,000; $7,500 for $5,000,000 to under $7,500,000; $10,000 for $7,500,000 to under $10,000,000; and $10,000 plus 0.02% of the excess over $10,000,000 above that. §2-206(b)(3) defines the value used. §2-206(a)(1) does not itself waive anything — it defines "poverty", as a family household income at the decedent's death below 50% of the State median family income as reported in the Federal Register, or a personal representative represented by an attorney retained through the Maryland Legal Services Corporation. The waiver is §2-206(a)(4), and it requires that poverty and a property condition: the decedent's Maryland real property subject to administration must either be transferred to an heir of the decedent who resides on the property, or be encumbered by a lien and subject to sale under Title 14, Subtitle 8 of the Tax-Property Article. Income alone does not waive the fee. | Statutory | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Minnesota | A $310 first-paper filing fee in district court under Minn. Stat. §357.021, subd. 2(1), plus a county law library fee collected on a probate petition under Minn. Stat. §134A.09, subd. 2 (Hennepin and Ramsey) or §134A.10, subd. 2 (all other counties). The library fee amount is set locally by each county law library board and published in the State Register, not fixed by statute; the Minnesota Judicial Branch district court fee schedule shows $12 in Hennepin County (total $322) and up to $15 elsewhere (total $325). Total first-paper court filing cost is therefore about $310 to $325 depending on the county. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Missouri | RSMo §483.580 charges probate court costs against the estate but sets no dollar amount itself; the amounts are 'determined pursuant to sections 488.010 to 488.020' and collected by the clerk of the probate division, so they differ by county. We have not verified current county amounts against a primary source. Newspaper publication of the notice to creditors is a separate cost billed by the newspaper. | Statutory | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Alabama | Set by each county's probate court, plus per-document and certification charges. No statewide schedule is published, and no county's schedule is cited here. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Alaska | No filing-fee figure is stated here. Alaska court filing fees are set by the Alaska Court System rather than by statute, and no published fee schedule could be read from this environment on 2026-09-27: courts.alaska.gov did not answer, and akleg.gov's statutes viewer serves a title index only. The case also carries per-document and certified-copy charges. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Delaware | Delaware sets no statewide Register of Wills probate fee. 12 Del. C. §2510 provides that 'the governing body of each county shall determine the fees which shall be charged by the Register of Wills of that county,' so the amount differs between New Castle, Kent and Sussex. Two fees are fixed by statute: $5 to deposit a will during the testator's lifetime and $1 for the testator to examine it (12 Del. C. §2513). We have not verified the current county schedules against a primary source. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Hawaii | The base probate filing fee in the Circuit Court is about $100 (HRS § 607-5.5), plus newspaper publication of the notice to creditors (commonly $150–$300). | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Idaho | $120. Probate of wills and administration of decedents' estates are assigned to the magistrate division of the district court (Idaho Code §1-2208(2)), and Idaho Code §31-3201A(1) sets the filing fee for a case assigned to the magistrate division at $120 (against $175 for a district court civil case). Separate later fees apply: $25 for a petition for distribution of the estate (§31-3201A(6)) and $9 for filing an account (§31-3201A(5)). | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Iowa | Iowa charges clerk's filing costs and, separately, court costs tied to the size of the estate. No published schedule for either is cited here. | Statutory | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Kansas | $109.50 to open a probate case. K.S.A. 59-104(a)(1) sets the docket fee for “probate of an estate or of a will” at $109.50. The same section provides that the docket fee “shall be the only fee collected” and may be established “only by an act of the legislature,” so it does not vary by county. Separately, 59-104(a)(2) lets the Kansas Supreme Court impose an additional charge of up to $22 per docket fee to fund the costs of non-judicial personnel; 2026 House Bill 2393, signed by the Governor, extends that authority through June 30, 2030. Where the Supreme Court imposes the full charge the total is $131.50 — we have not read the Supreme Court order setting the current amount. The statute text published by the Revisor of Statutes and by the Legislature still shows the earlier sunset of June 30, 2025, which is why older sources differ. Other probate docket fees under 59-104(a)(1): determination of descent of property $49.50; refusal to grant letters of administration $48.50; filing a will and affidavit under K.S.A. 59-618a $48.50; certified probate proceedings under K.S.A. 59-213 $23.50; decrees in probate from another state $173.00. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Kentucky | — | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Louisiana | — | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | |
| Maine | — | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Mississippi | — | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Montana | — | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Nebraska | Neb. Rev. Stat. §33-125(1)(a)(i) sets a flat $22 county court fee for a probate proceeding commenced and closed informally, plus $22 for each subsequent petition filed in that proceeding. §33-125(1)(b) sets a sliding scale for probate commenced or closed formally, keyed to the gross value of the estate: $22 up to $1,000, rising through $100 at $25,000–$50,000, $400 at $300,000–$400,000, $500 at $400,000–$500,000, and topping out at $1,500 above $5,000,000. Informal fees may not exceed what formal probate would cost on the same estate. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Nevada | — | Statutory | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| New Hampshire | — | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| New Mexico | — | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| North Dakota | — | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Rhode Island | R.I. Gen. Laws §33-22-21(a) sets the fee on a petition for probate of a will or for appointment of an administrator, guardian or conservator at 1% of the decedent's personal property over which the court has jurisdiction, but not less than $30 and not more than $1,500. That fee covers subsequent filing and recording in the same proceeding. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| South Carolina | A sliding-scale filing fee under §8-21-770(B), on the gross value of the probate estate as shown on the inventory and appraisement: $25 below $5,000; $45 from $5,000 to under $20,000; $67.50 from $20,000 to under $60,000; $95 from $60,000 to under $100,000; $95 plus 0.15% of the value between $100,000 and $600,000 ($695 on a $500,000 estate); and above $600,000, that amount plus one-fourth of one percent of the value above $600,000. §8-21-770(A) makes those fees payable on the filing of the application or petition, allows the probate judge to defer payment for no longer than the time allowed by law for filing the inventory and appraisement, and requires any adjustment to be made "before or at the time of final settlement". For this subsection §8-21-770(B) defines the "decedent’s probate estate" as the decedent’s property passing under the will plus property passing by intestacy. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| South Dakota | No filing-fee figure is stated here. The South Dakota circuit-court fee could not be read from this environment on 2026-09-27: sdlegislature.gov serves a JavaScript application that returns no statutory text without a browser. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Tennessee | — | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Utah | $375 to open a probate case in Utah district court. The fee is set by statute, not by the Judicial Council: Utah Code §78A-2-301(1)(a) charges $375 for “any civil complaint or petition invoking the jurisdiction of a court of record not governed by another subsection,” which is the subsection a probate petition falls under. The version of §78A-2-301 effective 1 January 2027 keeps the same $375. Publishing the notice to creditors is a separate charge billed by the newspaper. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Vermont | 32 V.S.A. §1434(a) sets the Probate Division entry fee by estate value: $50 for estates of $10,000 or less; $110 for more than $10,000 to not more than $50,000; $265 for more than $50,000 to not more than $150,000; $500 for more than $150,000 to not more than $500,000; $1,000 for more than $500,000 to not more than $1,000,000; $1,750 for more than $1,000,000 to not more than $5,000,000; $2,500 for more than $5,000,000 to not more than $10,000,000; and $3,250 for estates of more than $10,000,000. The subsection directs those fees to the State, except for subdivisions (18) and (19), which are for the benefit of the county in which the fee was collected. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Virginia | A state probate tax of $0.10 per $100 of estate value (Va. Code §58.1-1712), plus an optional local probate tax of up to one-third of the state tax (about $0.0333 per $100). No probate tax is due on estates of $15,000 or less. Add modest clerk recording fees. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| West Virginia | §44-3A-42(a) lets the county commission, "[w]hen necessary solely for the purpose of financing the cost of settling estates", authorise the fiduciary supervisor to charge at qualification a fee NOT TO EXCEED $25 where gross assets do not exceed $10,000, $100 where they are more than $10,000 and do not exceed $50,000, and $175 where they exceed $50,000. These are statutory maximums a county may authorise, not fees every county charges. §44-3A-42(a) adds a $10 fee where the supervisor must prepare a statement of deficiencies, and recording fees are separate. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Wisconsin | Register-in-probate fee under Wis. Stat. §814.66(1)(a)2: a fee of $20 if the value of the property subject to administration, less encumbrances, liens or charges, is $10,000 or less, and 0.2 percent of that value if it is more. On a $300,000 estate this is about $600. Scheduled change — effective 2026-11-01, 2025 Wis. Act 179 amends §814.66(1)(a)2 to read "$18,500 or less, a fee of $36"; the 0.2 percent rate above the threshold is unchanged. The figures above are the fee in force through 2026-10-31. | Reasonable / negotiated | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
| Wyoming | Wyo. Stat. §5-3-206(a)(i) directs the clerk of each district court to charge an original filing fee of $160.00 for filing instruments or documents in each civil action, payable by the plaintiff, of which $40.00 is for court automation and $10.00 for indigent civil legal services. Title 5 sets no separate probate filing fee. The estate also pays the cost of publishing the notice to creditors. | Statutory | Not published | Printable sheet | — |
A date means every citation in that row has been checked against the statute. A dash means it has not been checked yet.
All 50 states are listed above. Probate cost is the sum of separately-set components — attorney fees, executor commissions, court filing fees and appraisal costs — each cited on the state's page.
Want to understand probate first?
If you’re new to probate, start with our main explainer — it covers the whole process step by step before you dive into state-specific costs:
- What Is Probate and How Does It Work?
- How Long Does Probate Take by State (companion guide)
- Estate Planning Checklist — the documents and decisions that determine what passes through probate
Educational information only — not legal advice. Always confirm current statutes and figures with a licensed attorney in your state.