Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: Kansas fixes the petition filing fee at $69.50 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 Kansas 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 Kansas fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | $69.50 – and the same $69.50 for both roles combined. The statutory docket-fee table for cases filed under chapter 59 reads: Guardianship $69.50; Conservatorship $69.50; Trusteeship $69.50; combined guardianship and conservatorship $69.50. By comparison the same table charges $109.50 for probate of an estate or will and $173.00 for decrees in probate from another state. No case may be filed or docketed under chapter 59 without payment of the appropriate docket fee. | K.S.A. 59-104(a)(1) |
| Bond | Mandatory, and unwaivable for A paid professional. ‘the court shall require a conservator to furnish a bond with a surety, or require an alternative asset-protection arrangement … The court may waive the requirement only if the court finds that a bond or other asset-protection arrangement is not necessary to protect the interests of the individual subject to conservatorship. … the court may not waive the requirement if the conservator is in the business of serving as A conservator and is being paid for the conservator’s service.’ Default amount = aggregate capital value of the conservatorship estate, plus one year’s estimated income, less restricted deposits and less the value of real property. Collateral may be accepted in place of surety. S.59-30,175 makes surety and conservator jointly and severally liable and submits the surety to the court’s personal jurisdiction. | K.S.A. 59-30,174(a)-(b); 59-30,175 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | ‘The court at any time may appoint a guardian ad litem for an individual if the court determines the individual’s interest otherwise would not be adequately represented … the guardian ad litem may not be the same individual as the attorney representing the respondent. The court shall state the duties of the guardian ad litem and the reasons for the appointment in the order of appointment.’ Separately, ‘Unless otherwise compensated or reimbursed, an attorney for a respondent … is entitled to reasonable compensation for services and reimbursement of reasonable expenses FROM THE PROPERTY OF THE RESPONDENT’, as is an attorney or other person whose services resulted in a beneficial order. The court must approve compensation before payment (not before the service), and costs may be taxed to the respondent’s property or to those bound by law to support them. | K.S.A. 59-30,116; 59-30,119(a)-(c) |
| Periodic accounting or report | ‘A guardian for an adult shall file with the court at least annually and at any other time the court directs 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.’ The report must state the adult’s mental, physical and social condition, living arrangements, a summary of supported decision making, technological assistance, medical/educational/vocational services and the guardian’s opinion on the adequacy of care, visit frequency, actions taken, the extent to which the adult participated in decisions, and – if the adult lives in a mental health or care facility – whether the guardian considers the facility’s current plan adequate. | K.S.A. 59-30,157(a)-(b) |
What the proceeding is called here. Guardian and conservator under a brand-new act, K.S.A. 59-30,101 et seq., enacted by L. 2025, ch. 40 and effective january 1, 2026. The former Kansas act at K.S.A. 59-3050 to 59-3097 – and the older 59-3001 to 59-3039 – are shown repealed on the revisor’s own chapter index. Any source citing K.S.A. 59-3050 et seq. For current Kansas guardianship law is citing repealed law.
The filing fee
$69.50 – and the same $69.50 for both roles combined. The statutory docket-fee table for cases filed under chapter 59 reads: Guardianship $69.50; Conservatorship $69.50; Trusteeship $69.50; combined guardianship and conservatorship $69.50. By comparison the same table charges $109.50 for probate of an estate or will and $173.00 for decrees in probate from another state. No case may be filed or docketed under chapter 59 without payment of the appropriate docket fee.
Docket fee; authorized only by legislative enactment; poverty affidavit; additional court costs.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: K.S.A. 59-104(a)(1).
The bond
Mandatory, and unwaivable for A paid professional. ‘the court shall require a conservator to furnish a bond with a surety, or require an alternative asset-protection arrangement … The court may waive the requirement only if the court finds that a bond or other asset-protection arrangement is not necessary to protect the interests of the individual subject to conservatorship. … the court may not waive the requirement if the conservator is in the business of serving as A conservator and is being paid for the conservator’s service.’ Default amount = aggregate capital value of the conservatorship estate, plus one year’s estimated income, less restricted deposits and less the value of real property. Collateral may be accepted in place of surety. S.59-30,175 makes surety and conservator jointly and severally liable and submits the surety to the court’s personal jurisdiction.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: K.S.A. 59-30,174(a)-(b); 59-30,175.
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. Kansas 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 at any time may appoint a guardian ad litem for an individual if the court determines the individual’s interest otherwise would not be adequately represented … the guardian ad litem may not be the same individual as the attorney representing the respondent. The court shall state the duties of the guardian ad litem and the reasons for the appointment in the order of appointment.’ Separately, ‘Unless otherwise compensated or reimbursed, an attorney for a respondent … is entitled to reasonable compensation for services and reimbursement of reasonable expenses FROM THE PROPERTY OF THE RESPONDENT’, as is an attorney or other person whose services resulted in a beneficial order. The court must approve compensation before payment (not before the service), and costs may be taxed to the respondent’s property or to those bound by law to support them.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: K.S.A. 59-30,116; 59-30,119(a)-(c).
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.
‘A guardian for an adult shall file with the court at least annually and at any other time the court directs 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.’ The report must state the adult’s mental, physical and social condition, living arrangements, a summary of supported decision making, technological assistance, medical/educational/vocational services and the guardian’s opinion on the adequacy of care, visit frequency, actions taken, the extent to which the adult participated in decisions, and – if the adult lives in a mental health or care facility – whether the guardian considers the facility’s current plan adequate.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: K.S.A. 59-30,157(a)-(b).
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 | K.S.A. 59-104(a)(1) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Bond | K.S.A. 59-30,174(a)-(b); 59-30,175 | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | K.S.A. 59-30,116; 59-30,119(a)-(c) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Periodic accounting or report | K.S.A. 59-30,157(a)-(b) | 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 Kansas: Kansas Small Estate Affidavit.