Rankings · Probate filing fees

States with the lowest probate filing fees

Maximum probate court filing fees across 51 surveyed states, ranked lowest first. This is the same basis used for corpus placement on each state page.

Data updated 2026-08-06

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Lowest max filing fee (Colorado)
$164
Highest max filing fee (New York)
$1,250
States + DC with a published max fee
51
States with a small-estate shortcut
51

According to published state court fee schedules compiled by PlainEstate, maximum probate filing fees alone range from $164 to $1,250 across surveyed states. Attorney fees and timelines are separate costs disclosed on each state page; this listing ranks only the court filing-fee max so entity corpus ordinals stay listing-matched. See our methodology for the exact sort basis.

The verdict

Colorado posts the lowest maximum probate filing fee at $164, while New York reaches $1,250 on the same published-fee basis. New York is the #51 bottom of this complete state-and-DC list.

$164
Lowest max fee (Colorado)
$1,250
Highest max fee (New York)
51
States + DC in this ranking
51
States with a small-estate shortcut

Maximum probate filing fee by state

Lowest 14 of 51 surveyed states (corpus basis)

  1. 1
    Colorado $164
  2. 2
    Alaska $200
  3. 3
    Idaho $200
  4. 4
    Indiana $200
  5. 5
    Montana $200
  6. 6
    Nebraska $200
  7. 7
    North Dakota $200
  8. 8
    Connecticut $200
  9. 9
    Maine $250
  10. 10
    Wisconsin $250
  11. 11
    Georgia $300
  12. 12
    Kansas $300
  13. 13
    Kentucky $300
  14. 14
    Mississippi $300

Source PlainEstate · State probate fee schedules · 2026

The bar to make this top-14 list

Maximum filing fee among all 51 surveyed states, showing where the #14 cutoff sits

$300 Lower than most lower than 57% of 51 states

surveyed states, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $0.2K-wide band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source PlainEstate · State probate fee schedules · 2026

Probate attorney fee by state (complementary)

24 states with a published attorney-fee percentage; not the corpus ordinal basis

  1. 1
    Iowa 2.0%
  2. 2
    Nevada 2.0%
  3. 3
    Mississippi 2.5%
  4. 4
    Arizona 3.0%
  5. 5
    Connecticut 3.0%
  6. 6
    Florida 3.0%
  7. 7
    Kentucky 3.0%
  8. 8
    Louisiana 3.0%
  9. 9
    Wisconsin 3.0%
  10. 10
    California 4.0%
  11. 11
    Delaware 4.0%
  12. 12
    Hawaii 4.0%
  13. 13
    Nebraska 4.0%
  14. 14
    Ohio 4.0%
  15. 15
    Pennsylvania 4.0%
  16. 16
    Arkansas 5.0%
  17. 17
    District of Columbia 5.0%
  18. 18
    Maryland 5.0%
  19. 19
    Missouri 5.0%
  20. 20
    New York 5.0%
  21. 21
    Oklahoma 5.0%
  22. 22
    South Carolina 5.0%
  23. 23
    Tennessee 5.0%
  24. 24
    West Virginia 5.0%

Source PlainEstate · State probate fee schedules · 2026

# State Max filing fee Timeline Attorney Fee Small Estate
#1 Colorado $164 6–12 mo - $80K
#2 Alaska $50–$200 6–12 mo - $150K
#3 Idaho $71–$200 6–12 mo - $100K
#4 Indiana $60–$200 6–12 mo - $50K
#5 Montana $50–$200 6–12 mo - $100K
#6 Nebraska $35–$200 6–12 mo 4% $50K
#7 North Dakota $45–$200 6–12 mo - $50K
#8 Connecticut $25–$200 9–18 mo 3% $40K
#9 Maine $55–$250 6–12 mo - $40K
#10 Wisconsin $70–$250 6–12 mo 3% $50K
#11 Georgia $55–$300 6–12 mo - $10K
#12 Kansas $60–$300 6–12 mo - $40K
#13 Kentucky $75–$300 6–12 mo 3% $30K
#14 Mississippi $50–$300 6–12 mo 2.5% $50K
#15 New Hampshire $75–$300 6–12 mo - $10K
#16 New Mexico $64–$300 6–12 mo - $50K
#17 South Dakota $100–$300 6–12 mo - $50K
#18 West Virginia $50–$300 6–12 mo 5% $50K
#19 Wyoming $100–$300 6–12 mo - $200K
#20 Arkansas $75–$300 9–18 mo 5% $100K
#21 Hawaii $35–$300 9–18 mo 4% $100K
#22 District of Columbia $45–$300 9–18 mo 5% $40K
#23 Utah $165–$350 6–12 mo - $100K
#24 Arizona $140–$380 6–12 mo 3% $100K
#25 Missouri $105–$400 6–12 mo 5% $40K
#26 Texas $100–$400 6–12 mo - $75K
#27 Virginia $25–$400 6–12 mo - $50K
#28 Washington $240–$400 6–12 mo - $100K
#29 Florida $285–$400 9–18 mo 3% $75K
#30 Louisiana $100–$400 6–18 mo 3% $75K
#31 Oklahoma $170–$400 9–18 mo 5% $200K
#32 Rhode Island $100–$400 9–18 mo - $15K
#33 California $435 9–18 mo 4% $185K
#34 Vermont $150–$450 6–12 mo - $45K
#35 Iowa $45–$450 9–18 mo 2% $100K
#36 Alabama $50–$500 6–12 mo - $25K
#37 Delaware $150–$500 6–12 mo 4% $30K
#38 Nevada $70–$500 6–12 mo 2% $25K
#39 Oregon $100–$500 6–12 mo - $275K
#40 Illinois $238–$500 9–18 mo - $100K
#41 New Jersey $75–$500 9–18 mo - $50K
#42 Ohio $83–$500 9–18 mo 4% $35K
#43 South Carolina $25–$500 9–18 mo 5% $25K
#44 Tennessee $175–$500 9–18 mo 5% $50K
#45 Michigan $25–$600 6–12 mo - $15K
#46 Minnesota $320–$600 6–12 mo - $75K
#47 North Carolina $120–$600 9–18 mo - $20K
#48 Pennsylvania $140–$700 9–18 mo 4% $50K
#49 Maryland $100–$1000 9–18 mo 5% $50K
#50 Massachusetts $375–$1000 9–18 mo - $25K
#51 New York $215–$1250 9–24 mo 5% $50K

How to use this ranking

Filing-fee max is the corpus ordinal on every state page. Attorney fees and timelines still dominate total probate cost for most estates.

  • Open a state page to see the according-to #N of M lead that matches this table. Browse states
  • Compare estate-tax exemptions and top rates on the dedicated tax rankings. All rankings
  • Estimate combined federal and state exposure for a specific estate size. Open calculator

Attorney fee range among publishers: 2% to 5%. General information, not legal advice.

Every figure on PlainEstate is rendered directly from IRS Statistics of Income and state statutory data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, the data changelog, or report a data error about this page.