Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: Arizona fixes the petition filing fee at $188 by statute, and the periodic accounting is annual. Everything on this page is quoted from the jurisdiction’s own statute or an official court schedule, and where Arizona 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 Arizona fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | $188.00 Class A initial case filing fee in the superior court clerk’s statutory fee schedule. | A.R.S. §12-284(A), Class A |
| Bond | The court shall require a conservator to furnish a bond conditioned on faithful discharge of all duties. Default amount, unless otherwise directed: the aggregate capital value of the property of the estate in the conservator’s control, plus one year’s estimated income, minus the value of certain excluded assets. | A.R.S. §14-5411(A) |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | A single statute compensates the whole cast of court appointees: an investigator, accountant, lawyer, physician, registered nurse, psychologist, guardian or guardian ad litem appointed under the article — including an independent lawyer representing the alleged incapacitated person under §14-5303(C) — is entitled to reasonable compensation if not otherwise compensated for services rendered. | A.R.S. §14-5314(A) |
| Periodic accounting or report | Every conservator must account to the court for the administration of the estate annually pursuant to rules adopted by the supreme court, and on termination of the protected person’s minority or disability. For good cause shown on the application of an interested person, the court may relieve the conservator of some accounting obligations. | A.R.S. §14-5419(A) |
What the proceeding is called here. Guardianship of an incapacitated person and/or conservatorship for a protected person (A.R.S. tit. 14, ch. 5), superior court.
The filing fee
$188.00 Class A initial case filing fee in the superior court clerk’s statutory fee schedule.
Except as otherwise provided by law, the clerk of the superior court shall receive fees classified as follows: Class Description Fee A Initial case filing fee … 188.00
Read at statute source on 2026-08-11: A.R.S. §12-284(A), Class A.
The bond
The court shall require a conservator to furnish a bond conditioned on faithful discharge of all duties. Default amount, unless otherwise directed: the aggregate capital value of the property of the estate in the conservator’s control, plus one year’s estimated income, minus the value of certain excluded assets.
A. Except as otherwise provided in subsection B of this section, the court shall require a conservator to furnish a bond conditioned on faithful discharge of all duties according to law, with sureties as it shall specify. Unless otherwise directed, the bond shall be in the amount of the aggregate capital value of the property of the estate in the conservator’s control plus one year’s estimated income minus the value of securities deposited under arrangements requiring an order of the court for their removal and the value of any land that the fiduciary, by express limitation of power, lacks power to sell or convey without court authorization.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-11: A.R.S. §14-5411(A).
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. Arizona 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
A single statute compensates the whole cast of court appointees: an investigator, accountant, lawyer, physician, registered nurse, psychologist, guardian or guardian ad litem appointed under the article — including an independent lawyer representing the alleged incapacitated person under §14-5303(C) — is entitled to reasonable compensation if not otherwise compensated for services rendered.
A. If not otherwise compensated for services rendered, an investigator, accountant, lawyer, physician, registered nurse, psychologist, guardian or guardian ad litem who is appointed pursuant to this article, including an independent lawyer representing the alleged incapacitated person pursuant to section 14-5303, subsection C, is entitled to reasonable compensation from the estate of the ward if the petition is granted, or from the petitioner if the petition is denied.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-11: A.R.S. §14-5314(A).
How often you have to account
Annual. 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.
Every conservator must account to the court for the administration of the estate annually pursuant to rules adopted by the supreme court, and on termination of the protected person’s minority or disability. For good cause shown on the application of an interested person, the court may relieve the conservator of some accounting obligations.
A. Except as provided pursuant to subsection F of this section, every conservator must account to the court for the administration of the estate annually pursuant to rules adopted by the supreme court and on termination of the protected person’s minority or disability, except that for good cause shown on the application of an interested person, the court may relieve the conservator of filing annual or other accounts by an order entered in the minutes.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-11: A.R.S. §14-5419(A).
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 | A.R.S. §12-284(A), Class A | statute | 2026-08-11 |
| Bond | A.R.S. §14-5411(A) | statute | 2026-08-11 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | A.R.S. §14-5314(A) | statute | 2026-08-11 |
| Periodic accounting or report | A.R.S. §14-5419(A) | 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.