Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: New York’s petition filing fee could not be established from primary text, and the periodic accounting is annual. Everything on this page is quoted from New York’s own statutory text where it exists, and where New York 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 New York fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | Not published here. Petition filing fee is not stated on this page because it could not be verified against statutory text; no value was established. This page will not print an estimate in its place. The route tried was https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/MHY/81.25. | — |
| Bond | The court may require or dispense with the filing of a bond before the guardian enters upon the execution of duties — bond is discretionary in New York, not presumptive. | N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law §81.25(a) |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | Two separate court appointees, each separately compensated. Court evaluator: on a granted petition, reasonable compensation payable by the estate of the allegedly incapacitated person; on a denied or dismissed petition, payable by the petitioner or the alleged incapacitated person or both as the court deems just. Counsel: the court sets reasonable compensation, and the person alleged to be incapacitated is liable for it unless the court finds them indigent. | N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law §81.09(f); §81.10(f) |
| Periodic accounting or report | An annual report is required of an Article 81 guardian. No filing fee is stated in the annual-report section itself. | N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law §81.31 |
What the proceeding is called here. Article 81 guardianship of the person and/or property (Mental Hygiene Law art. 81), Supreme Court or County Court. Not a Surrogate’s Court proceeding — scpa art. 17-A guardianship is a separate track for intellectual/developmental disability.
The filing fee
Not published here. The petition filing fee is not stated on this page because it could not be verified against statutory text; no value was established. This page will not print an estimate in its place. The route tried was https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/MHY/81.25.
The bond
The court may require or dispense with the filing of a bond before the guardian enters upon the execution of duties — bond is discretionary in New York, not presumptive.
Before the guardian, or special guardian appointed under this article, or a trustee of a trust created pursuant to this article, enters upon the execution of his or her duties, the court may require or dispense with the filing of a bond.
Read at official source on 2026-08-11: N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law §81.25(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. New York 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
Two separate court appointees, each separately compensated. Court evaluator: on a granted petition, reasonable compensation payable by the estate of the allegedly incapacitated person; on a denied or dismissed petition, payable by the petitioner or the alleged incapacitated person or both as the court deems just. Counsel: the court sets reasonable compensation, and the person alleged to be incapacitated is liable for it unless the court finds them indigent.
If the petition is dismissed, the court may in its discretion direct that petitioner pay such compensation for the person alleged to be incapacitated.
Read at official source on 2026-08-11: N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law §81.09(f); §81.10(f).
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.
An annual report is required of an Article 81 guardian. No filing fee is stated in the annual-report section itself.
Read at official source on 2026-08-11: N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law §81.31.
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
Of the four things this page set out to establish from primary text, 1 could not be: petition filing fee. Each is marked above with the route that was tried. 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. Currency note: bond, periodic accounting or report came from a source whose publisher does not certify it as the current official text. The text was read and quoted as found; check it against the current official edition before relying on 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bond | N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law §81.25(a) | official | 2026-08-11 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law §81.09(f); §81.10(f) | official | 2026-08-11 |
| Periodic accounting or report | N.Y. Mental Hyg. Law §81.31 | official | 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.