Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: Nevada fixes the petition filing fee at $5 by statute, and the periodic accounting is annual from the appointment anniversary, displaceable only for good cause. Everything on this page is quoted from the jurisdiction’s own statute or an official court schedule, and where Nevada 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 Nevada fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | $5.00 – and nothing at all for A small estate. The county clerk charges, ‘On the filing of a petition for a guardianship, to be paid by the petitioner: Where the stated value of the estate is more than $2,500 … $5.00. Where the stated value of the estate is $2,500 or less, NO FEE MAY BE CHARGED OR COLLECTED.’ The general $56.00 commencement fee for any action or proceeding in the district court expressly excepts ‘probate or guardianship proceedings’. | NRS 19.013(1) |
| Bond | ‘Except as otherwise provided by law, EVERY GUARDIAN SHALL, before entering upon his or her duties, execute and file a bond, with sufficient surety or sureties, IN SUCH AMOUNT AS THE COURT DETERMINES necessary for the protection of the protected person and the estate’, approved by the clerk, with sureties jointly and severally liable. No bond is required of a banking corporation appointed guardian of the estate unless the court specifically requires one; no bond is required if there are no assets of the protected person; and where a will, power of attorney or witnessed/notarised instrument nominating the guardian provides that no bond is required, the court may act on that. | NRS 159.065(1)-(5) |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | ‘UPON THE FILING of a petition for the appointment of a guardian for a proposed protected person, the court SHALL appoint an attorney for the proposed protected person unless the proposed protected person wishes to retain or has already retained an attorney of his or her own choice.’ Where the county has a legal-services programme for the indigent that can take the case, the court appoints an attorney from that organisation; if the person then wants a different attorney the court shall appoint that attorney. A guardian is allowed reasonable compensation, necessary and reasonable expenses, and reasonable expenses of retaining accountants, attorneys and appraisers – paid from the estate absent a court order shifting them (NRS 159.183(1)-(3)). | NRS 159.0485(1)-(2); NRS 159.183(1)-(3) |
| Periodic accounting or report | Annual from the appointment anniversary, displaceable only for good cause. A guardian of the estate or a special guardian authorised to manage property ‘shall make and file a verified account … ANNUALLY, NOT LATER THAN 60 DAYS AFTER THE ANNIVERSARY DATE of the appointment of the guardian, UNLESS THE COURT ORDERS SUCH AN ACCOUNT TO BE MADE AND FILED AT A DIFFERENT INTERVAL UPON A SHOWING OF GOOD CAUSE and with the appropriate protection of the interests of the protected person’, plus on resignation, within 30 days of removal, and within 90 days of termination or the protected person’s death. The account must be served on the protected person’s attorney and, if living, on the protected person. | NRS 159.177(1)-(2) |
What the proceeding is called here. Guardian of the person and/or of the estate of a protected person under NRS ch. 159 (adult guardianship); NRS 159A covers minors.
The filing fee
$5.00 – and nothing at all for A small estate. The county clerk charges, ‘On the filing of a petition for a guardianship, to be paid by the petitioner: Where the stated value of the estate is more than $2,500 … $5.00. Where the stated value of the estate is $2,500 or less, NO FEE MAY BE CHARGED OR COLLECTED.’ The general $56.00 commencement fee for any action or proceeding in the district court expressly excepts ‘probate or guardianship proceedings’.
It is not one number. The statute states it as: $5 if stated estate value > $2,500; $0 if $2,500 or less
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: NRS 19.013(1).
The bond
‘Except as otherwise provided by law, EVERY GUARDIAN SHALL, before entering upon his or her duties, execute and file a bond, with sufficient surety or sureties, IN SUCH AMOUNT AS THE COURT DETERMINES necessary for the protection of the protected person and the estate’, approved by the clerk, with sureties jointly and severally liable. No bond is required of a banking corporation appointed guardian of the estate unless the court specifically requires one; no bond is required if there are no assets of the protected person; and where a will, power of attorney or witnessed/notarised instrument nominating the guardian provides that no bond is required, the court may act on that.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: NRS 159.065(1)-(5).
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. Nevada 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
‘UPON THE FILING of a petition for the appointment of a guardian for a proposed protected person, the court SHALL appoint an attorney for the proposed protected person unless the proposed protected person wishes to retain or has already retained an attorney of his or her own choice.’ Where the county has a legal-services programme for the indigent that can take the case, the court appoints an attorney from that organisation; if the person then wants a different attorney the court shall appoint that attorney. A guardian is allowed reasonable compensation, necessary and reasonable expenses, and reasonable expenses of retaining accountants, attorneys and appraisers – paid from the estate absent a court order shifting them (NRS 159.183(1)-(3)).
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: NRS 159.0485(1)-(2); NRS 159.183(1)-(3).
How often you have to account
Annual from the appointment anniversary, displaceable only for good cause. 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.
Annual from the appointment anniversary, displaceable only for good cause. A guardian of the estate or a special guardian authorised to manage property ‘shall make and file a verified account … ANNUALLY, NOT LATER THAN 60 DAYS AFTER THE ANNIVERSARY DATE of the appointment of the guardian, UNLESS THE COURT ORDERS SUCH AN ACCOUNT TO BE MADE AND FILED AT A DIFFERENT INTERVAL UPON A SHOWING OF GOOD CAUSE and with the appropriate protection of the interests of the protected person’, plus on resignation, within 30 days of removal, and within 90 days of termination or the protected person’s death. The account must be served on the protected person’s attorney and, if living, on the protected person.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: NRS 159.177(1)-(2).
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 | NRS 19.013(1) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Bond | NRS 159.065(1)-(5) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | NRS 159.0485(1)-(2); NRS 159.183(1)-(3) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Periodic accounting or report | NRS 159.177(1)-(2) | 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.