Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: Minnesota fixes the petition filing fee at $310 by statute, and the periodic accounting is annually. Everything on this page is quoted from the jurisdiction’s own statute or an official court schedule, and where Minnesota 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 Minnesota fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | $310 payable by the petitioner when the first paper is filed ‘in every civil action or proceeding’ in district court, and $310 again by each separately-appearing adverse or intervening party. Filing a motion or a response to a motion in guardianship cases is $100. | Minn. Stat. s.357.021 subd. 2(1), (4) |
| Bond | Discretionary: ‘The court MAY require a conservator to furnish a bond conditioned upon faithful discharge of all duties of the conservatorship according to law, with sureties as it may specify.’ A bond is not required of a bank or trust company conservator provided total conservatorship assets do not exceed $1,000,000; above $1,000,000 a bond shall be required even of a bank or trust company. | Minn. Stat. s.524.5-415 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | The court may appoint a visitor on receipt of a guardianship petition (duties limited to the relief requested). The proposed person has the right to counsel at any proceeding, and the court shall appoint counsel for the initial s.524.5-307 hearing if neither the person nor others provide counsel – unless, in a meeting with a visitor, the person makes an informed decision in writing specifically waiving the right. Proposed or appointed counsel must disclose concurrent representation of the proposed guardian and any conflict risk. | Minn. Stat. s.524.5-304(a)-(b) |
| Periodic accounting or report | Both fiduciaries report annually. Guardian: ‘shall report to the court in writing on the condition of the person subject to guardianship AT LEAST ANNUALLY and whenever ordered by the court’, with a copy to the person and to interested persons of record; the report must include any restrictions placed on the person’s right to communicate, visit or interact with others and the factual bases for those restrictions. Conservator: ‘shall report to the court for administration of the estate ANNUALLY unless the court otherwise directs’, plus within 30 days of specified events. | Minn. Stat. ss.524.5-316(a), 524.5-420(a), (d) |
What the proceeding is called here. Guardian and conservator under Minn. Stat. Ch. 524 art. 5. Minnesota’s statutes say ‘person subject to guardianship’, not ‘ward’.
The filing fee
$310 payable by the petitioner when the first paper is filed ‘in every civil action or proceeding’ in district court, and $310 again by each separately-appearing adverse or intervening party. Filing a motion or a response to a motion in guardianship cases is $100.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Minn. Stat. s.357.021 subd. 2(1), (4).
The bond
Discretionary: ‘The court MAY require a conservator to furnish a bond conditioned upon faithful discharge of all duties of the conservatorship according to law, with sureties as it may specify.’ A bond is not required of a bank or trust company conservator provided total conservatorship assets do not exceed $1,000,000; above $1,000,000 a bond shall be required even of a bank or trust company.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Minn. Stat. s.524.5-415.
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. Minnesota 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
The court may appoint a visitor on receipt of a guardianship petition (duties limited to the relief requested). The proposed person has the right to counsel at any proceeding, and the court shall appoint counsel for the initial s.524.5-307 hearing if neither the person nor others provide counsel – unless, in a meeting with a visitor, the person makes an informed decision in writing specifically waiving the right. Proposed or appointed counsel must disclose concurrent representation of the proposed guardian and any conflict risk.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Minn. Stat. s.524.5-304(a)-(b).
How often you have to account
Annually. 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.
Both fiduciaries report annually. Guardian: ‘shall report to the court in writing on the condition of the person subject to guardianship AT LEAST ANNUALLY and whenever ordered by the court’, with a copy to the person and to interested persons of record; the report must include any restrictions placed on the person’s right to communicate, visit or interact with others and the factual bases for those restrictions. Conservator: ‘shall report to the court for administration of the estate ANNUALLY unless the court otherwise directs’, plus within 30 days of specified events.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Minn. Stat. ss.524.5-316(a), 524.5-420(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
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 | Minn. Stat. s.357.021 subd. 2(1), (4) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Bond | Minn. Stat. s.524.5-415 | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | Minn. Stat. s.524.5-304(a)-(b) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Periodic accounting or report | Minn. Stat. ss.524.5-316(a), 524.5-420(a), (d) | 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.