Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: Arkansas fixes the petition filing fee at $150 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 Arkansas 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 Arkansas fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | $150.00 uniform circuit court filing fee ‘For initiating a cause of action in the circuit court, including appeals’. No portion is refundable. No fee is charged where the court, by order under Ark. R. Civ. P. 72, allows an indigent person to proceed in forma pauperis. Reopening a cause of action is $50.00. | Ark. Code s.21-6-403(a)-(c) |
| Bond | A capped bond for the person. ‘If the guardianship is to be OF THE PERSON ONLY, THE AMOUNT OF THE BOND SHALL NOT EXCEED ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($1,000), or the court may dispense with the bond.’ ‘At every accounting, the court shall inquire into the sufficiency of the bond and of the sureties’, ordering a new or additional bond if either is insufficient. A testator’s expressed wish that no bond be required relieves the nominee as to property given by that will. The personal-representative bond rules (s.28-48-201 et seq.) apply, except that in fixing a guardian’s bond the value of real property – as distinguished from income arising from it, unless sold – is not taken into consideration. | Ark. Code s.28-65-215(a)-(e) |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | ‘The guardian may employ legal counsel in connection with the discharge of his or her duties, and the court shall fix the attorney’s fee, which shall be allowed as an item of the expense of administration.’ If the guardian is themselves an attorney and has performed necessary legal services, the court shall take the nature and extent of those services into account in fixing the guardian’s compensation. The guardian may, when authorised by the court, employ accountants, engineers, appraisers, brokers and other persons whose services are reasonably required. | Ark. Code s.28-65-319(a)-(b) |
| Periodic accounting or report | ‘Unless otherwise directed by the court, a guardian OF THE ESTATE shall file with the court a written verified account of his or her administration: (1) ANNUALLY WITHIN SIXTY (60) DAYS AFTER THE ANNIVERSARY DATE of his or her appointment; and (2) within sixty (60) days after termination of his or her guardianship.’ Notice of the hearing of every accounting must be given to the same persons and in the same manner as notice of the appointment petition, except that the court may dispense with notice to a mentally incompetent ward on a satisfactory showing that notice would be detrimental to their well-being. Each item claimed as a credit must show whether it has been paid. | Ark. Code s.28-65-320(a)-(c) |
What the proceeding is called here. Guardian of the person and/or of the estate of an incapacitated person under Ark. Code Title 28, ch. 65; Arkansas has no separate ‘conservator’.
The filing fee
$150.00 uniform circuit court filing fee ‘For initiating a cause of action in the circuit court, including appeals’. No portion is refundable. No fee is charged where the court, by order under Ark. R. Civ. P. 72, allows an indigent person to proceed in forma pauperis. Reopening a cause of action is $50.00.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Ark. Code s.21-6-403(a)-(c).
The bond
A capped bond for the person. ‘If the guardianship is to be OF THE PERSON ONLY, THE AMOUNT OF THE BOND SHALL NOT EXCEED ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($1,000), or the court may dispense with the bond.’ ‘At every accounting, the court shall inquire into the sufficiency of the bond and of the sureties’, ordering a new or additional bond if either is insufficient. A testator’s expressed wish that no bond be required relieves the nominee as to property given by that will. The personal-representative bond rules (s.28-48-201 et seq.) apply, except that in fixing a guardian’s bond the value of real property – as distinguished from income arising from it, unless sold – is not taken into consideration.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Ark. Code s.28-65-215(a)-(e).
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. Arkansas 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 guardian may employ legal counsel in connection with the discharge of his or her duties, and the court shall fix the attorney’s fee, which shall be allowed as an item of the expense of administration.’ If the guardian is themselves an attorney and has performed necessary legal services, the court shall take the nature and extent of those services into account in fixing the guardian’s compensation. The guardian may, when authorised by the court, employ accountants, engineers, appraisers, brokers and other persons whose services are reasonably required.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Ark. Code s.28-65-319(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.
‘Unless otherwise directed by the court, a guardian OF THE ESTATE shall file with the court a written verified account of his or her administration: (1) ANNUALLY WITHIN SIXTY (60) DAYS AFTER THE ANNIVERSARY DATE of his or her appointment; and (2) within sixty (60) days after termination of his or her guardianship.’ Notice of the hearing of every accounting must be given to the same persons and in the same manner as notice of the appointment petition, except that the court may dispense with notice to a mentally incompetent ward on a satisfactory showing that notice would be detrimental to their well-being. Each item claimed as a credit must show whether it has been paid.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: Ark. Code s.28-65-320(a)-(c).
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 | Ark. Code s.21-6-403(a)-(c) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Bond | Ark. Code s.28-65-215(a)-(e) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | Ark. Code s.28-65-319(a)-(b) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Periodic accounting or report | Ark. Code s.28-65-320(a)-(c) | 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 Arkansas: Arkansas Power of Attorney Requirements and How Much Does a Will Cost in Arkansas?.