Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: Virginia’s clerk’s qualification fee scales from $0 for estates under $5,000 to $30 for estates over $100,000, plus a separate state probate tax on larger estates.
If a trust could save your estate this fee in Virginia
A living trust avoids probate entirely in Virginia, which means the estate skips the $0 above along with every other cost the court charges once a case is open. LawDepot builds a state-specific one.
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What Virginia charges to open probate
Virginia sets this fee on a statutory tier tied to the estate’s value, starting at $0 for estates of $5,000 or less and rising in steps as the estate gets larger.
| Estates of $5,000 or less | $0 |
| Estates up to $100,000 | $25.00 |
| Estates over $100,000 | $30.00 |
A separate state probate tax of $0.10 per $100 of estate value (plus an optional local add-on) applies above $15,000 under Va. Code § 58.1-1712, on top of this clerk’s fee.
Where this money goes and who sets it
The authority for this figure is Va. Code § 17.1-275(A)(3). In the source’s own words: “$20 for estates not exceeding $50,000, $25 for estates not exceeding $100,000 and $30 for estates exceeding $100,000. No fee shall be charged for estates of $5,000 or less.”
What this fee doesn’t cover
Because Virginia prices this by tier, the fee jumps at each threshold in the table above rather than climbing smoothly with the estate’s value. Either way, this is the court’s own charge just to open the file and issue letters, separate from what an attorney charges to actually handle the estate and separate from any state estate or inheritance tax the estate itself might owe.
Sources
Source: Va. Code § 17.1-275(A)(3).