Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: Florida fixes the petition filing fee at $395 by statute, and the periodic accounting is annual. Everything on this page is quoted from Florida’s own statutory text where it exists, and where Florida 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.
Jump to: the document that avoids this proceeding entirely
The rule in the source’s own words. Florida Statutes, section 28.2401(1): “the clerk may impose service charges or filing fees for the following services or filings, not to exceed the following amounts” (source, read October 5, 2026). This page’s governing citation: Fla. Stat. §28.2401(1)(g).
What Florida fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | Up to $395 for a guardianship proceeding. That is a ceiling set for the clerk, not a fixed price, and the same section lists $230 for guardianship of the person only and $230 for a petition for determination of incompetency. | Fla. Stat. §28.2401(1)(g), (h), (k) |
| Bond | Bond with surety required before a guardian of the property exercises authority; approved by the clerk, payable to the Governor. Penal sum fixed by the court. The court may waive the bond, or require use of a designated financial institution instead, when the petitioner or guardian ‘presents compelling reasons’. Where the sureties are natural persons, the guardian must file proof they are alive and solvent with each annual guardianship report. | Fla. Stat. §744.351(1), (2), (3) |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | Not published here. Guardian ad litem and attorney fees is not stated on this page because it could not be verified against statutory text; no value was established. This page will not print an estimate in its place. The route tried was https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0744/Sections/0744.331.html. | — |
| Periodic accounting or report | Annual accounting required of every guardian of the property. The clerk’s audit fee is graduated by estate value: up to $20 for estates of $25,000 or less; up to $85 for >$25,000 to $100,000; up to $170 for >$100,000 to $500,000; up to $250 for estates over $500,000. | Fla. Stat. §744.3678(1), (4)(a)-(d) |
What the proceeding is called here. Guardianship (Fla. Stat. Ch. 744), circuit court. Separate petitions to determine incapacity and to appoint a guardian.
The filing fee
Up to $395 for a guardianship proceeding. That is a ceiling set for the clerk, not a fixed price, and the same section lists $230 for guardianship of the person only and $230 for a petition for determination of incompetency.
the clerk may impose service charges or filing fees for the following services or filings, not to exceed the following amounts
Fee for formal administration, guardianship, ancillary, curatorship, or conservatorship proceedings
Read at statute source on 2026-10-05: Fla. Stat. §28.2401(1)(g), (h), (k).
The bond
Bond with surety required before a guardian of the property exercises authority; approved by the clerk, payable to the Governor. Penal sum fixed by the court. The court may waive the bond, or require use of a designated financial institution instead, when the petitioner or guardian ‘presents compelling reasons’. Where the sureties are natural persons, the guardian must file proof they are alive and solvent with each annual guardianship report.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-11: Fla. Stat. §744.351(1), (2), (3).
Who pays the premium is answered in part. A surety bond carries a recurring premium and it is usually the largest ongoing cost of a guardianship of the estate. Florida addresses it: Fla. Stat. §744.641 lets a guardian recover from the ward’s estate the reasonable premiums paid to a corporate surety on the guardian’s bond. No figure for what a bond 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
Not published here. The guardian ad litem and attorney-fee provisions is not stated on this page because it could not be verified against statutory text; no value was established. This page will not print an estimate in its place. The route tried was https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0744/Sections/0744.331.html.
How often you have to account
Annual. Do not carry that assumption across a state line: the interval is set by each state separately, several are biennial or triennial, and your own appointing court can order more often than the statutory minimum. The document that governs you is your order.
Annual accounting required of every guardian of the property. The clerk’s audit fee is graduated by estate value: up to $20 for estates of $25,000 or less; up to $85 for >$25,000 to $100,000; up to $170 for >$100,000 to $500,000; up to $250 for estates over $500,000.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-11: Fla. Stat. §744.3678(1), (4)(a)-(d).
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
Of the four things this page set out to establish from primary text, 1 could not be: guardian ad litem and attorney fees. Each is marked above with the route that was tried. 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 | Fla. Stat. §28.2401(1)(g), (h), (k) | statute | 2026-10-05 |
| Bond | Fla. Stat. §744.351(1), (2), (3) | statute | 2026-08-11 |
| Periodic accounting or report | Fla. Stat. §744.3678(1), (4)(a)-(d) | statute | 2026-08-11 |
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.