How Much Does Probate Cost in 2026? Free Calculator by State

What Probate Costs, How Long It Takes, and Whether Your Family Has to Do It at All

My father, Monte, passed away three days after a triple bypass I had been told was a success. I was at sea when it happened. By the time I understood what was going on, the decisions had already started stacking up, and not one of them arrived with instructions. I was one of the fortunate ones who was able to bypass probate. But I have watched people I love and care about go through it, and nobody was there to sit down with them and answer the question they actually had: how much does probate cost in your situation, what does the law actually require of you, and what are you allowed to skip?

That gap, between what families are told and what families are charged, is the reason this page exists. The Probate Cost Calculator below asks for your state, roughly what the estate owns and a few yes or no questions. It shows the probate cost in dollars for your state, whether the estate can skip full probate, and what to do next, and it can email you the full report as a 4-page PDF.

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How to Use the Probate Cost Calculator

Video: the free Probate Cost Calculator, for families, the press and website owners (2 minutes 14 seconds)

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This is the free Memorial Merits Probate Cost Calculator. It shows what probate costs in any state, in dollars, fee by fee.

It covers all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Four questions set up the estimate: whether someone has passed away, the state, what the estate is worth, and what it includes.

In California, probate on a $400,000 estate comes to about $22,600.

Every fee gets its own line, with the state law that sets it printed underneath.

If a family member serves as executor and does not take the fee, check this box. The total drops to $11,600.

It shows the earliest date the estate can close, and how long creditors have to file their claims.

It lists every document the estate needs, with the free court forms first.

Send yourself the full 4-page PDF report, print it, or save a link to come back later.

Planning ahead? The planning path shows what probate would cost your family, and the steps that keep assets out of probate in your state.

For reporters and writers: every fee rule comes from each state's statutes and court fee schedules, checked in October 2026. It is free to use, and no account is needed to see an answer.

If you run a website, you can add this calculator to your site for free.

It fits estate planning and elder law firms, financial advisors, funeral homes, hospices, senior living communities and churches. Any site where people ask what probate costs.

Your visitors get the full estimate and the emailed report without leaving your page, so they stay longer.

Memorial Merits keeps every fee and state law current, so there is nothing for you to maintain.

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1. Choose your path under "Has the person already passed away?" Select the first button if someone has passed away and you are settling the estate. Select the second button if you are planning ahead. The questions for that path open.
2. Pick the state from the list and select Continue. Use the state where the person lived, or your own state if you are planning ahead.
3. Enter roughly what the estate owns, or pick a range, and select Continue. Use the full value before any mortgage is subtracted, because probate fees are figured on the full value.
4. If you chose the planning path, answer "Where are you starting from today?" by picking nothing in place yet, a will but no trust, or a living trust.
5. Check every box that is true, such as a house, a will, a living trust or a family disagreement. If none apply, check "I do not know / none of these."
6. Select "Show My Probate Cost Estimate." The estimate shows a low and a high cost in dollars, split into the attorney fee, the executor fee, the court filing fee and other costs.
7. Read the timeline and the shorter path box under the estimate. They show how long probate takes in your state and whether the estate can skip full probate.
8. Select "Email My Probate Cost Report" to get the 4-page PDF workbook, "Print My Probate Cost Report" to print it, or "Copy a Link to This Estimate" to save your answers.
9. Select "Start over" to run a different state or estate value.

To see which documents the estate needs once you know the cost, use the free Probate Document Finder.

How Much Does Probate Cost in 2026?#

A full probate generally consumes 3 to 7 percent of the gross value of an estate, and the percentage climbs when there is real property, a contested will, or property in more than one state. The word gross is doing more work in that sentence than any other. The fee is calculated on what the property is worth, not on what is left after the mortgage. A $400,000 house with $250,000 still owed against it counts as $400,000 when the fee is figured.

California is the clearest and most expensive illustration, because it is the one state that computes the fee exactly and then awards it twice over. Probate Code sections 10800 and 10810 set an identical schedule for the personal representative and for the attorney: 4 percent of the first $100,000, 3 percent of the next $100,000, 2 percent of the next $800,000, 1 percent of the next $9,000,000, and 0.5 percent of the next $15,000,000. Each is entitled to the full schedule independently of the other. On a $1,000,000 gross estate the attorney is owed $23,000 and the executor is owed $23,000, which comes to about $46,000 before the court filing fee and the appraisal costs are added. On a $500,000 estate the two fees together come to roughly $26,000. The statute measures the estate without reference to encumbrances or other obligations on estate property, which is the legal phrasing of the mortgage rule above.

Court filing fees sit on top of the attorney and executor fees, and they vary more than most people expect. California charges a flat $435 statewide. New York charges on a sliding scale from $45 to $1,250 depending on the size of the estate. North Carolina charges 40 cents for every $100 of the estate, capped at $6,000. Virginia charges a probate tax of $1 for every $1,000 of value, with a local surcharge on top in most localities. Ohio charges $35 to appoint an executor. Kansas charges $109.50 statewide. None of those figures are estimates; each comes from that state's own statute or its published fee schedule.

Probate Cost Examples: $100,000 to $1,000,000 Estates

The table shows what the attorney fee and the executor fee come to at four estate values, using the fee schedules state legislatures have written into law. The low end is the lowest of those schedules and the high end is the highest. The court filing fee is added on top: $435 in California, $395 in Florida, and $45 to $1,250 in New York, depending on the size of the estate.

In states where the fee is left to what is reasonable, these schedules are the closest thing to a published benchmark. At $500,000 the attorney range matches 28 to 40 hours of work at the 2025 average of $371 an hour for wills and estates attorneys reported by Clio Legal Trends. Run the calculator above to see the figure for your own state and estate value.

How Much Are Probate Attorney Fees, and Are They Negotiable?#

This is the question that decides how much a family actually loses, and it is the one almost nobody answers correctly, because the honest answer depends entirely on which state you are standing in.

In six states the legislature has written the attorney fee into law. California, Nevada, Missouri, Arkansas and Wyoming set a percentage schedule, and Florida sets a presumed reasonable schedule that the attorney must tell you in writing is negotiable. California is the strictest, with the double schedule described above. Iowa caps the attorney fee at its executor schedule. In those states the number comes from the statute, not from the lawyer across the table.

In the other states the attorney fee is whatever is reasonable for the work done, and you can agree on it before the work starts. Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, Washington, Arizona, Massachusetts, Illinois and Pennsylvania all use a reasonableness standard with no percentage schedule, and Michigan requires a written fee agreement. Before you hire anyone, ask for a flat fee or an hourly estimate in writing, and ask what it includes. To decide whether the estate needs a lawyer at all, read Do Executors Need a Probate Lawyer?

Florida deserves its own paragraph, because Florida law contains a protection that most Florida families never learn about until it is too late to use it. Florida Statute 733.6171 provides a presumed reasonable fee schedule for estate attorneys, but subsection (2)(b) requires the attorney to disclose in writing, before charging on that schedule, that there is not a mandatory statutory attorney fee for estate administration and that the fee is subject to negotiation. Without that written disclosure, subsection (2)(d) says the attorney may not be paid without court approval or the written consent of all interested parties. An executor who does not know that disclosure exists will pay a schedule fee they were never required to agree to.

Executor Fees by State

The executor fee is paid by the estate for the work of settling it, and it comes out before the heirs receive their shares. States set it in one of four ways.

• A percentage schedule set by law: California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Wyoming, Arkansas, Missouri and South Dakota.
• A cap the court cannot go above: Texas and North Carolina at 5%, South Carolina at 5% of personal property, Kentucky at 5% of the personal estate, Alabama at 2.5% of receipts plus 2.5% of payments, and Maryland at 9% of the first $20,000 plus 3.6% above that.
• A flat percentage: Louisiana at 2.5% of the inventory and Wisconsin at 2% of the inventory value.
• Whatever is reasonable: the remaining states, where the court approves a fee that fits the work.

On a $500,000 estate the schedules give very different numbers. California pays the executor $13,000. Florida pays $15,000. New York pays $19,000, figured on the money actually received and paid out. New Jersey pays $20,500. The Probate Cost Calculator above figures the executor fee for your state as one line of the estimate.

An executor fee is taxable income to the executor and is reported on the executor's own return, as IRS Publication 559 explains. An executor who is also an heir can waive the fee and take the same money as an inheritance instead. For the full state by state rules, see the Memorial Merits executor compensation guide.

Probate Without a Lawyer vs Hiring One: What Each Costs

An executor does not have to choose between doing everything alone and paying a full attorney fee. There are four levels of help, and the cost difference between them is thousands of dollars on an average estate. The figures below are for a $500,000 estate.

Most executors of a simple estate fall in the middle two rows: forms to do the filing, and a lawyer on call for the questions that come up. A will contest, a business, property in a second state or a family dispute is where the full attorney earns the fee.

What Makes Probate Cost More

The fee schedules cover ordinary work: opening the case, gathering the property, paying the bills and handing out what is left. Extra work is billed on top. Florida Statute 733.6171(4) lists the kinds of work that count as extraordinary, and California Probate Code 10811 allows extra fees for the same kinds of work.

• A will contest or a family disagreement. Court hearings and filings add attorney hours.
• Selling a house. The sale needs court approval in some states and adds paperwork in all of them.
• Running a business. Someone has to keep it operating, value it and pass it on.
• Property in another state. Real estate in a second state usually needs a second, smaller probate case there, called ancillary administration.
• An estate tax return. Large estates file a federal return, and some states require their own.
• Homestead questions. Deciding who receives the home under state protection rules adds legal work.

A higher fee in these situations pays for more work, not a higher rate for the same work. Three things lower the cost: a will that waives the executor bond, an estate small enough for the state's shorter path, and accounts that already name a beneficiary.

Can You Skip Probate and Its Costs?#

Many estates never pay a probate fee, because every state has a shorter process for smaller estates. The limit runs from $15,000 in Rhode Island to $400,000 in Wyoming, and each state has its own rule about what counts toward it, such as whether a house is included.

To see when probate is required in your state and which documents the estate needs, use the free Memorial Merits Probate Document Finder. It covers all 50 states and DC, and it cites the statute behind every rule.

If the estate qualifies, the form that replaces the court case is a small estate affidavit. Your state court publishes a free version, and Legal Templates builds the small estate affidavit for your state from guided questions. For the full list of documents an estate can need, see Probate Documents and Forms.

How Long Does Probate Take?#

Probate commonly runs somewhere between nine and twenty-four months, and the honest answer is that very few states publish a real figure. Most of the duration estimates you will find online trace back to law firm marketing rather than to any court.

Four jurisdictions publish something defensible. The Judicial Branch of California states that probate there generally takes nine to eighteen months and can sometimes take longer. The Florida Bar's consumer pamphlet says a simple estate can reasonably be expected to take about five or six months, and notes that no estate can close faster than the three month creditor claim period. The Minnesota Judicial Branch states that most estates are expected to be completed within eighteen months. Virginia's Supreme Court publication indicates a first and final accounting is often made at the end of the first year following qualification.

For every other state, a more useful number exists, and it is legally binding rather than anecdotal: the creditor claim period. That is the window during which anyone owed money by the person who passed can file a claim, and an executor who distributes the estate before it closes can be held personally responsible for what was owed. In Ohio a final account is due within six months of appointment. In Michigan an estate cannot be closed by sworn statement earlier than five months after appointment. In New York the creditor period runs seven months from the issuance of letters. In Illinois claims run six months from first publication, with an absolute bar at two years after death. Those are the real floors, and where no court has published a duration, those are the numbers this page uses instead of guessing.

Probate Costs by State: What the Limits and Fees Actually Are

The table below carries all fifty-one jurisdictions. The four states with the most families searching this question are covered in more detail underneath it, because their rules are the ones most often reported incorrectly elsewhere.

How to read this. The dollar limit is only half the answer. What counts toward it decides more cases than the figure does, and the rules differ in every state. A No in the real estate column means owning property does not disqualify you, but it does not always mean the short form can transfer that property; California and Colorado both count real estate toward the limit while requiring a separate procedure to actually move it. Alabama, Georgia and New Hampshire have no small estate affidavit at all and use a different procedure. Where a court filing fee is shown for one county, other counties in that state can differ. Three fee rules could not be confirmed from the statute and are marked not verified rather than estimated: the Georgia and Tennessee executor fees and the West Virginia attorney fee. Every figure traces to that state's statute or its court. Reviewed October 2026.

What Probate Costs in California#

The most expensive statutory scheme in the country, for the reason described earlier: the attorney and the executor each collect the full schedule. The small estate affidavit limit is $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, and it adjusts every three years under Probate Code section 890. Real property counts toward that limit even though the affidavit itself cannot transfer real estate, which trips up a great many families. There is a separate affidavit for real property of small value at $69,625, and a petition to determine succession to a primary residence at $750,000. The court filing fee is $435 statewide and the waiting period is 40 days. One thing to know before you trust anything you read elsewhere, including on state websites: the California courts' own self-help page still publishes the older $184,500 figure.

What Probate Costs in Florida#

Florida has no small estate affidavit in the way most states do. It has disposition without administration, which carries no dollar threshold and instead covers only estates consisting of exempt personal property plus non-exempt personal property worth no more than the final funeral and last-illness medical expenses. Summary administration under Florida Statute 735.201 is the practical simplified path, available when the estate subject to administration, less property exempt from creditors, does not exceed $150,000 (raised from $75,000 on July 1, 2026), or when the person has been gone more than two years. Filing fees are capped by statute at $395 for formal administration and $340 for summary administration. There is no waiting period.

What Probate Costs in Texas#

The small estate affidavit limit is $75,000 under Estates Code 205.001, excluding the homestead and exempt property, with a 30 day waiting period. Texas attaches conditions the other three states do not: the person must have died without a will, the estate must be solvent, two disinterested witnesses must swear to the affidavit, and a judge must approve it. The affidavit can transfer the homestead, but only when the homestead is the only real property in the estate. For a person who left a will, muniment of title under Estates Code 257.001 is often the faster path and it carries no dollar limit at all. Filing fees are set county by county and run roughly $360 to $515.

What Probate Costs in New York#

The voluntary administration limit is $50,000 under SCPA 1301, and New York counts personal property only, excluding real estate from the definition entirely. There is no waiting period. The filing fee for voluntary administration is one dollar. Full probate carries a sliding fee from $45 for estates under $10,000 up to $1,250 for estates of $500,000 and over. New York also allows payments without administration under SCPA 1310: up to $30,000 to a surviving spouse with no wait, $15,000 to other close relatives after 30 days, and $5,000 to a creditor after six months. The state runs a free guided small estate affidavit program through the court system.

How Do You Avoid Probate?#

The clearest answer is a funded living trust. Property placed into a trust during life passes at death without a court case, without a statutory fee and without a public file. A trust only covers the property you move into it, so the house deed and the accounts have to be retitled in the trust's name.

There are free options that work first, and they deserve to be checked before anyone spends money. Naming a beneficiary on a retirement account or a life insurance policy moves that asset outside probate entirely. Holding property jointly with right of survivorship does the same. Payable on death and transfer on death designations on bank and brokerage accounts cost nothing to add and take about ten minutes.

For real estate, the free tool is a transfer on death deed, and sixteen states do not allow one: Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Kentucky, Connecticut, Idaho, Rhode Island, Vermont, Iowa, Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina. Maryland began allowing transfer on death deeds on October 1, 2026. Louisiana's answer is structural rather than a legislative gap, because Civil Code article 1570 provides that a disposition taking effect at death may be made only in the form of a testament, so a death-effective deed cannot exist there as a deed at all. In a state that allows one, Legal Templates builds the transfer on death deed for your state, and the transfer on death deed rules for every state show whether yours does.

If you are planning ahead rather than settling an estate, the free Estate Readiness Tool walks through which of these fits your situation in about two minutes. If digital assets or cryptocurrency are part of the picture, crypto estate planning and building a digital legacy plan cover the parts a trust alone does not reach.

Where Every Number on This Page Came From#

I want to be direct about why this page exists in the form it does, because the reason is the whole value of it.

Most of the pages that rank for what probate costs are law firms answering for the one state they practice in. That is not a criticism of those firms. It is the shape of the problem: a firm licensed in Texas has no reason to research Rhode Island. The result is that a family searching for a straight answer finds fifty different partial answers and no way to tell which one applies to them.

So we assembled all fifty-one jurisdictions from primary sources: small estate limits, what counts toward each one, waiting periods, court filing fees, attorney and executor fee rules, creditor deadlines, and whether the state publishes its forms for free. Every figure traces to a state legislature, a state court, a judicial branch publication or the IRS. Law firm blogs, form-selling sites and aggregators were read for orientation and used as a source for nothing.

That process turned up changes that are not published together anywhere else. Since March 2025, six jurisdictions changed their numbers: Illinois raised its limit from $100,000 to $150,000 effective August 15, 2025; Arizona raised its limits to $200,000 for personal property and $300,000 for real property, signed March 31, 2025; South Carolina moved from $25,000 to $45,000 effective May 8, 2025; Delaware went from $30,000 to $50,000 on June 10, 2026; Florida raised summary administration from $75,000 to $150,000 on July 1, 2026; and the District of Columbia created a true affidavit procedure effective March 21, 2025. Four states reindex their limits to inflation, so any static figure goes out of date: Maine is at $52,500 for 2026, Michigan at $53,000, Colorado at $88,000, and Alabama runs on a three year cycle.

Arkansas and Mississippi do not host their codes on a state website, so their fee rules were read from the published statute text: Arkansas Code 28-48-108 and Mississippi Code 91-7-299. Georgia keeps its official code behind a private publisher. Three fee rules could not be confirmed from the statute and are marked not verified instead of estimated: the Georgia and Tennessee executor fees and the West Virginia attorney fee. A number a family might act on is not a place to guess.

None of that is here to impress anyone. It is here because we could not find it, and because the alternative was letting families guess. This page is reviewed on a thirty day cycle, and when a state changes its rule, this page changes with it.

Common Questions About Probate Cost#

The questions below are the ones families actually search for, in the words they use when they search for them.

Sources#

Every statute, court publication, and government source behind the figures on this page, listed in full.

Related Resources From Memorial Merits#

If debts are part of what you are facing, what happens to debt when someone dies covers who is actually responsible by debt type and by state, and what happens to credit card debt covers the case that comes up most often. If you are still in the first week, your rights around death certificates explains how many certified copies you will actually need before you order them. If you have been named executor and want the whole process laid out in order, how to be an executor walks it step by step. For funeral costs and verified providers in your state, the funeral costs and directory by state covers all fifty.

About the Author Gabriel Killian Founder, Memorial Merits · US Navy Certified Instructor · #1 in Journal Writing on Amazon Memorial Merits began out of personal loss, and out of finding that almost nothing available at the time gave a family a straight answer on cost, rights, or paperwork. Gabriel Killian built it to be that answer, and writes from lived experience rather than theory. Every partner named on this site is vetted before it is recommended, and every price is verified against the provider's own checkout. He is the author of the Legacy Journal series, ranked #1 in Journal Writing and 5-star rated on Amazon. His work in the end-of-life space has been published by Sociology Group, the Animal Hospice Group and Memoria Sky, cited by Google AI Overviews, and adapted for training use by U.S. Army CASCOM. Verified researcher, ORCID 0009-0008-0751-6129. As Featured In CBS · ABC · Fox · AP · Business Life Magazine · The New York Telegraph · Insider Weekly · Tampa Bay Observer · Benzinga · SociologyGroup.com · Animal Hospice Group · MemoriaSky.com Member in the Spotlight, Home Funeral Alliance · Cake.com Professional Directory · Cited by Google AI Overviews Memorial Merits Amazon Author Page LinkedIn

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