Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: Alabama fixes the petition filing fee at $20 by statute, and the periodic accounting is not annual — it is not annual – triennial. Everything on this page is quoted from the jurisdiction’s own statute or an official court schedule, and where Alabama 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 Alabama fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | The judge of probate’s schedule fixes small, itemised amounts rather than one petition fee: grant of letters of guardianship or conservatorship, including three certified copies, $20.00; appointment of a guardian ad litem, special attorney, or administrator ad litem, $5.00; approving bonds, $10.00; partial or final settlement of a guardianship or conservatorship, $15.00; each additional certified copy of letters, $3.00; presiding in a noncontested cause or examining papers/pleadings/testimony, $10.00. | Ala. Code s.12-19-90(a)(3), (4), (5); (b)(12), (13), (14) |
| Bond | ‘The court MUST require a conservator to furnish a bond payable to the judge of probate conditioned upon faithful discharge of all duties of the trust according to law, with sureties as it shall specify.’ Default amount = aggregate capital value of estate property in the conservator’s control, plus one year’s estimated income, minus restricted deposits and land the fiduciary cannot sell without court authorization. The court may accept other collateral (including a pledge of securities or other assets, or a mortgage of land) in lieu of sureties, and may reduce the bond at any time. | Ala. Code ss.26-2A-139(a)-(b), 26-2A-140 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | The probate judge’s fee schedule charges $5.00 for the appointment of a guardian ad litem, special attorney, or administrator ad litem. | Ala. Code s.12-19-90(a)(12) |
| Periodic accounting or report | Not annual – triennial. ‘Each conservator shall account to the court for administration of the conservatorship upon resignation or removal and at other times as the court may direct, BUT IF NOT OTHERWISE DIRECTED, THE CONSERVATOR MUST, AT LEAST ONCE IN THREE YEARS, ACCOUNT TO THE COURT.’ If the conservator dies first, their personal representative – or, failing that, the sureties on the bond – may make the accounting. Each partial or final settlement costs $15.00. | Ala. Code s.26-2A-147; s.12-19-90(a)(4) |
What the proceeding is called here. Guardian (person) and conservator (property) under the Alabama Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act, Ala. Code Title 26, Ch. 2A.
The filing fee
The judge of probate’s schedule fixes small, itemised amounts rather than one petition fee: grant of letters of guardianship or conservatorship, including three certified copies, $20.00; appointment of a guardian ad litem, special attorney, or administrator ad litem, $5.00; approving bonds, $10.00; partial or final settlement of a guardianship or conservatorship, $15.00; each additional certified copy of letters, $3.00; presiding in a noncontested cause or examining papers/pleadings/testimony, $10.00.
It is not one number. The statute states it as: Itemised: $20 letters + $10 bond approval + $5 GAL appointment + $15 per settlement + extras
(a) The following fees for service provided by the probate offices shall be charged and paid into the county treasury or to the judge of probate as may be authorized or required by law: … (3) Grant of letters of guardianship or conservatorship, three certified copies ….. 20.00 (4) Partial or final settlement of guardianship or conservatorship ….. 15.00 (5) Each additional certified copy of letters testamentary, letters of administration, or letters of guardianship or conservatorship ….. 3.00 … (b) Fees for services other than those specified in subsection (a) shall be: … (12) Appointment of guardian ad litem, special attorney, or administrator ad litem ….. 5.00 (13) Approving bonds ….. 10.00 (14) Presiding in noncontested cause or examining papers, pleadings, taking testimony, etc. ….. 10.00
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Ala. Code s.12-19-90(a)(3), (4), (5); (b)(12), (13), (14).
The bond
‘The court MUST require a conservator to furnish a bond payable to the judge of probate conditioned upon faithful discharge of all duties of the trust according to law, with sureties as it shall specify.’ Default amount = aggregate capital value of estate property in the conservator’s control, plus one year’s estimated income, minus restricted deposits and land the fiduciary cannot sell without court authorization. The court may accept other collateral (including a pledge of securities or other assets, or a mortgage of land) in lieu of sureties, and may reduce the bond at any time.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Ala. Code ss.26-2A-139(a)-(b), 26-2A-140.
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. Alabama 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 probate judge’s fee schedule charges $5.00 for the appointment of a guardian ad litem, special attorney, or administrator ad litem.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Ala. Code s.12-19-90(a)(12).
How often you have to account
Not annual: Not annual – triennial. 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.
Not annual – triennial. ‘Each conservator shall account to the court for administration of the conservatorship upon resignation or removal and at other times as the court may direct, BUT IF NOT OTHERWISE DIRECTED, THE CONSERVATOR MUST, AT LEAST ONCE IN THREE YEARS, ACCOUNT TO THE COURT.’ If the conservator dies first, their personal representative – or, failing that, the sureties on the bond – may make the accounting. Each partial or final settlement costs $15.00.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Ala. Code s.26-2A-147; s.12-19-90(a)(4).
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 | Ala. Code s.12-19-90(a)(3), (4), (5); (b)(12), (13), (14) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Bond | Ala. Code ss.26-2A-139(a)-(b), 26-2A-140 | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | Ala. Code s.12-19-90(a)(12) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Periodic accounting or report | Ala. Code s.26-2A-147; s.12-19-90(a)(4) | 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.
Also on Alabama: Alabama Small Estate Affidavit and Alabama Power of Attorney Requirements and Alabama Advance Directive Requirements.