Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: Connecticut fixes the petition filing fee at $250 by statute, and the periodic accounting is not annual — it is not annual – triennial, with an ad valorem fee. Everything on this page is quoted from the jurisdiction’s own statute or an official court schedule, and where Connecticut publishes no figure this page says so rather than printing an estimate. What drives the rest of the bill — lawyers, an investigation, a capacity evaluation — is on what guardianship costs.
What Connecticut fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | $250.00 flat. The fee to file a motion, petition or application in a Probate Court in a matter other than a decedent’s estate is $250, and the enumerated list expressly includes, ‘With respect to a conservatorship: (A) Appoint a temporary conservator, conservator or special limited conservator’ and, for an adult with intellectual disability, ‘Appoint a temporary limited guardian, guardian or standby guardian’. | C.G.S. s.45a-106a(a), (b)(7)(A), (b)(11)(A) |
| Bond | Mandatory for the estate, discretionary for the person: ‘If the court appoints a conservator of the estate of the respondent, THE COURT SHALL REQUIRE A PROBATE BOND. The court may, if it considers it necessary for the protection of the respondent, require a bond of any conservator of the person appointed under this section.’ A written designation of a future conservator may excuse the designee from the s.45a-650 bond (s.45a-645(c)). A successor conservator of the estate may not assume duties before furnishing a bond or proving a restricted account where one was required. | C.G.S. s.45a-650(i); s.45a-645(c) |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | A respondent or conserved person ‘shall have the right to be represented by an attorney of the respondent’s or conserved person’s choosing at the expense of the respondent or conserved person or, if indigent, within the payment guidelines of the Court of Probate.’ If the court finds the person indigent or otherwise unable to pay, it shall appoint an attorney from a panel provided by the Probate Court Administrator, unless the person refuses representation and the court finds the refusal understood. Appointed counsel must also consult about, and on request assist in filing, a Superior Court appeal. | C.G.S. s.45a-649a(a)-(c) |
| Periodic accounting or report | Not annual – triennial, with an ad valorem fee. ‘All conservators, guardians and trustees of testamentary trusts … shall render periodic accounts of their trusts … AT LEAST ONCE DURING EACH THREE-YEAR PERIOD and more frequently if required by the court’. A fiduciary holding less than $2,000 – or less than $10,000 if a corporate fiduciary under the Banking Commissioner or a fiduciary bonded by an authorised surety – need not account unless ordered. The account fee is the greater of (i) the number of one-year periods covered times 0.05% of the largest of four measures of assets on hand at the start/end of the period, or (ii) 0.05% of all receipts during the period – with A minimum of $50 regardless of period and A maximum of $500 per year or part of a year covered. | C.G.S. s.45a-177(a)-(b); s.45a-108a(a)-(b) |
What the proceeding is called here. Conservator of the person and conservator of the estate (C.G.S. ch. 802h) for adults; ‘guardian’ is reserved for minors and for adults with intellectual disability (ss.45a-669 to 45a-683). Proceedings are in the Probate Court.
The filing fee
$250.00 flat. The fee to file a motion, petition or application in a Probate Court in a matter other than a decedent’s estate is $250, and the enumerated list expressly includes, ‘With respect to a conservatorship: (A) Appoint a temporary conservator, conservator or special limited conservator’ and, for an adult with intellectual disability, ‘Appoint a temporary limited guardian, guardian or standby guardian’.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: C.G.S. s.45a-106a(a), (b)(7)(A), (b)(11)(A).
The bond
Mandatory for the estate, discretionary for the person: ‘If the court appoints a conservator of the estate of the respondent, THE COURT SHALL REQUIRE A PROBATE BOND. The court may, if it considers it necessary for the protection of the respondent, require a bond of any conservator of the person appointed under this section.’ A written designation of a future conservator may excuse the designee from the s.45a-650 bond (s.45a-645(c)). A successor conservator of the estate may not assume duties before furnishing a bond or proving a restricted account where one was required.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: C.G.S. s.45a-650(i); s.45a-645(c).
Who pays the premium is not answered. A surety bond carries a recurring premium and it is usually the largest ongoing cost of a guardianship of the estate. Connecticut states no express rule on who bears it in the chapter read for this page, and no figure for what one costs is published anywhere this project could verify. That is a gap in the law and in the published record, not a gap we have filled with a guess.
Guardian ad litem and attorney fees
A respondent or conserved person ‘shall have the right to be represented by an attorney of the respondent’s or conserved person’s choosing at the expense of the respondent or conserved person or, if indigent, within the payment guidelines of the Court of Probate.’ If the court finds the person indigent or otherwise unable to pay, it shall appoint an attorney from a panel provided by the Probate Court Administrator, unless the person refuses representation and the court finds the refusal understood. Appointed counsel must also consult about, and on request assist in filing, a Superior Court appeal.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: C.G.S. s.45a-649a(a)-(c).
How often you have to account
Not annual: Not annual – triennial, with an ad valorem fee. This is the correction most published guidance gets wrong, because it generalises one state’s cadence to all of them. Your own appointing court can order more often than the statutory minimum, and the document that governs you is your order.
Not annual – triennial, with an ad valorem fee. ‘All conservators, guardians and trustees of testamentary trusts … shall render periodic accounts of their trusts … AT LEAST ONCE DURING EACH THREE-YEAR PERIOD and more frequently if required by the court’. A fiduciary holding less than $2,000 – or less than $10,000 if a corporate fiduciary under the Banking Commissioner or a fiduciary bonded by an authorised surety – need not account unless ordered. The account fee is the greater of (i) the number of one-year periods covered times 0.05% of the largest of four measures of assets on hand at the start/end of the period, or (ii) 0.05% of all receipts during the period – with A minimum of $50 regardless of period and A maximum of $500 per year or part of a year covered.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: C.G.S. s.45a-177(a)-(b); s.45a-108a(a)-(b).
What an accounting has to contain, and the duties that come with it, are on the guardian accounting duties page.
What this page does not tell you
All four items this page set out to establish were read at primary and are stated above with their cites. What is missing everywhere, in every state, is a price: what an attorney charges to bring an uncontested petition, what a court-ordered capacity evaluation or investigation costs, and what a surety charges for the bond. None of it is published by any authority, and this page does not estimate it.
Where this fits
The filing fee is the smallest part of what a guardianship costs, and the national page sets out the costs that are larger and are not published anywhere. If nobody has been appointed yet, the comparison that actually matters is against the document that avoids this proceeding entirely — guardianship against a power of attorney.
Sources
| Item | Citation | Tier | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | C.G.S. s.45a-106a(a), (b)(7)(A), (b)(11)(A) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Bond | C.G.S. s.45a-650(i); s.45a-645(c) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | C.G.S. s.45a-649a(a)-(c) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Periodic accounting or report | C.G.S. s.45a-177(a)-(b); s.45a-108a(a)-(b) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
General consumer information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Guardianship and conservatorship are governed by STATE law and differ materially between states; every figure here is quoted from the cited source as read on the date shown and changes without notice. Read as of August 14, 2026.