Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: Washington sets the petition filing fee at $200 by statute (no filing fee is charged if the petition alleges total assets under $3,000, or for an Article 2 petition where the potential guardian is a relative and not a professional guardian or conservator), and the periodic accounting is by a date established by the court, which may set the review interval at annual, biennial, or triennial. Everything on this page is quoted from Washington’s own statutory text where it exists, and where Washington 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
What Washington fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | $200 payable at the time of filing the first document in probate proceedings (RCW 36.18.020(2)(f)); however, no filing fee is charged for a guardianship or conservatorship petition if the petition alleges the respondent has total assets of less than $3,000, or for a petition under Article 2 of chapter 11.130 RCW where the potential guardian is a relative and not a professional guardian or conservator (RCW 11.130.170(2), (3)). | RCW 36.18.020(2)(f); RCW 11.130.170(2), (3) |
| Bond | Except as provided in subsections (3) and (4), the court shall require a conservator to furnish a bond with a surety the court specifies, or require a verified receipt, conditioned on faithful discharge of all duties of the conservator. The court may waive the requirement only if it finds that a bond or other verified receipt is not necessary to protect the interests of the individual subject to conservatorship, and may not waive it if the conservator is in the business of serving as a conservator and is being paid. A regulated financial institution qualified to do trust business in Washington need not give a bond, and where the person subject to conservatorship has total assets of less than $3,000 the court may dispense with a bond. | RCW 11.130.445(1), (3), (4) |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | The court sets the court visitor’s hourly rate and maximum in the appointing order, and the fee is charged to the person subject to the guardianship or conservatorship proceeding unless the court finds substantial hardship, in which case the county is responsible; the court may instead charge the petitioner or any person who appeared, and charges the petitioner if the petition is frivolous or not brought in good faith. The court visitor informs the respondent that all costs and expenses of the proceeding, including the respondent’s attorney’s fees, may be paid from the respondent’s assets. | RCW 11.130.280 |
| Periodic accounting or report | A guardian for an adult shall file a report with the court by the date the court establishes, covering the condition of the adult and accounting for funds and other property in the guardian’s possession or control. Separately, a guardian must file a care plan within 90 days of appointment. | RCW 11.130.345(1); RCW 11.130.340(1) |
What the proceeding is called here. Guardianship of an adult and/or conservatorship (RCW 11.130, the Uniform Guardianship, Conservatorship, and Other Protective Arrangements Act, effective 2022-01-01), superior court. Washington replaced its former Title 11.88/11.92 guardianship scheme — citations to those chapters are to repealed law.
The filing fee
$200 payable at the time of filing the first document in probate proceedings; however, no filing fee is charged for a guardianship or conservatorship petition if the petition alleges the respondent has total assets of less than $3,000, or for a petition under Article 2 of chapter 11.130 RCW where the potential guardian is a relative and not a professional guardian or conservator (RCW 11.130.170(2), (3)).
(f) In probate proceedings, the party instituting such proceedings, shall pay at the time of filing the first document therein, a fee of $200.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-11: RCW 36.18.020(2)(f).
The bond
Except as provided in subsections (3) and (4), the court shall require a conservator to furnish a bond with a surety the court specifies, or require a verified receipt, conditioned on faithful discharge of all duties of the conservator. The court may waive the requirement only if it finds that a bond or other verified receipt is not necessary to protect the interests of the individual subject to conservatorship, and may not waive it if the conservator is in the business of serving as a conservator and is being paid. A regulated financial institution qualified to do trust business in Washington need not give a bond, and where the person subject to conservatorship has total assets of less than $3,000 the court may dispense with a bond.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-11: RCW 11.130.445(1), (3), (4).
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. Washington 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 sets the court visitor’s hourly rate and maximum in the appointing order, and the fee is charged to the person subject to the guardianship or conservatorship proceeding unless the court finds substantial hardship, in which case the county is responsible; the court may instead charge the petitioner or any person who appeared, and charges the petitioner if the petition is frivolous or not brought in good faith. The court visitor informs the respondent that all costs and expenses of the proceeding, including the respondent’s attorney’s fees, may be paid from the respondent’s assets. Source: RCW 11.130.280.
How often you have to account
By a date established by the court, which may set the review interval at annual, biennial, or triennial. Do not carry another state’s cadence across a state line: the interval is set by each state separately. Your own appointing court can order more often than the statutory minimum, and the document that governs you is your order.
A guardian for an adult shall file a report with the court by the date the court establishes, covering the condition of the adult and accounting for funds and other property in the guardian’s possession or control. Separately, a guardian must file a care plan within 90 days of appointment. After approving a report the court sets the next due date and may set the review interval at annual, biennial, or triennial, with the report due within ninety days of the anniversary date of appointment (RCW 11.130.345).
(1) A guardian for an adult shall file with the court by the date established by the court a report in a record regarding the condition of the adult and accounting for funds and other property in the guardian’s possession or subject to the guardian’s control.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-11: RCW 11.130.345(1); RCW 11.130.340(1).
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 things this page set out to establish from primary text were read in the statute: the petition filing fee, the bond, the court visitor and attorney-fee rules, and the accounting. 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 | RCW 36.18.020(2)(f) | statute | 2026-08-11 |
| Bond | RCW 11.130.445(1), (3), (4) | statute | 2026-08-11 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | RCW 11.130.280 | statute | 2026-10-26 |
| Periodic accounting or report | RCW 11.130.345(1); RCW 11.130.340(1) | 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.