Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: Maryland’s petition filing fee could not be established from primary text, and the periodic accounting is not annual — it is delegated, not statutory. Everything on this page is quoted from Maryland’s own statutory text where it exists, and where Maryland 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 Maryland fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | Not published here. Petition filing fee is not stated on this page because no primary source returned the text; 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://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2024RS/Statute_Web/gcj/7-202.pdf. | — |
| Bond | Discretionary and narrowed by three rules. A corporate guardian may not be required to furnish bond (s.13-208(b)). Where the nominating instrument excuses a noncorporate guardian, the court shall not require a bond absent exceptional circumstances (s.13-208(a)). Where the guardian estate consists entirely of restricted cash/securities/real property not exceeding $10,000, the court shall not require or continue a bond absent exceptional circumstances (s.13-208(d)). Otherwise the court may require a bond in its discretion; the penalty may not exceed the aggregate value of the estate under the guardian’s control less deposited securities or money. | Md. Code, Est. & Trusts s.13-208(a)-(e) |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | Two rules, one of which caps ongoing cost hard. (1) On a petition made in reasonable detail, the court may order reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees incurred in bringing a petition to appoint a guardian of the person to be paid from the estate of the disabled person, after considering that person’s financial resources and needs and whether there was substantial justification for the filing. (2) A guardian is entitled to the same compensation as a trustee, with no petition or hearing required – but if the guardian is appointed for a disabled person receiving Maryland Medical Assistance long-term care services whose income is subject to Health-General s.15-122.3, the guardian may not receive more than $50 per month unless the court finds unusual circumstances. | Md. Code, Est. & Trusts ss.13-704(c), 13-218(a)-(b) |
| Periodic accounting or report | Delegated, not statutory. S.13-209 provides in full: ‘Inventory and accounting in proceedings under this subtitle shall be as provided by the Maryland Rules.’ The Estates & Trusts Article sets no interval and no accounting fee. Separately, s.13-210(a)(2) lets any interested person petition for an order requiring an accounting of the administration of the estate. | Md. Code, Est. & Trusts ss.13-209, 13-210(a)(2) |
What the proceeding is called here. Guardian of the property (Est. & Trusts Title 13, subtitle 2) and guardian of the person (subtitle 7) are separate appointments.
The filing fee
Not published here. The petition filing fee is not stated on this page because no primary source returned the text; 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://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2024RS/Statute_Web/gcj/7-202.pdf.
The bond
Discretionary and narrowed by three rules. A corporate guardian may not be required to furnish bond (s.13-208(b)). Where the nominating instrument excuses a noncorporate guardian, the court shall not require a bond absent exceptional circumstances (s.13-208(a)). Where the guardian estate consists entirely of restricted cash/securities/real property not exceeding $10,000, the court shall not require or continue a bond absent exceptional circumstances (s.13-208(d)). Otherwise the court may require a bond in its discretion; the penalty may not exceed the aggregate value of the estate under the guardian’s control less deposited securities or money.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Md. Code, Est. & Trusts s.13-208(a)-(e).
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. Maryland 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
Two rules, one of which caps ongoing cost hard. (1) On a petition made in reasonable detail, the court may order reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees incurred in bringing a petition to appoint a guardian of the person to be paid from the estate of the disabled person, after considering that person’s financial resources and needs and whether there was substantial justification for the filing. (2) A guardian is entitled to the same compensation as a trustee, with no petition or hearing required – but if the guardian is appointed for a disabled person receiving Maryland Medical Assistance long-term care services whose income is subject to Health-General s.15-122.3, the guardian may not receive more than $50 per month unless the court finds unusual circumstances.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Md. Code, Est. & Trusts ss.13-704(c), 13-218(a)-(b).
How often you have to account
Not annual: Delegated, not statutory. 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.
Delegated, not statutory. S.13-209 provides in full: ‘Inventory and accounting in proceedings under this subtitle shall be as provided by the Maryland Rules.’ The Estates & Trusts Article sets no interval and no accounting fee. Separately, s.13-210(a)(2) lets any interested person petition for an order requiring an accounting of the administration of the estate.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Md. Code, Est. & Trusts ss.13-209, 13-210(a)(2).
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: petition filing fee. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bond | Md. Code, Est. & Trusts s.13-208(a)-(e) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | Md. Code, Est. & Trusts ss.13-704(c), 13-218(a)-(b) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Periodic accounting or report | Md. Code, Est. & Trusts ss.13-209, 13-210(a)(2) | 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.