Updated August 14, 2026. Quick answer: West Virginia fixes the petition filing fee at $110 by statute, and the periodic accounting is initial at 6 months, then annual (due Dec. 31); waivable. Everything on this page is quoted from the jurisdiction’s own statute or an official court schedule, and where West Virginia 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 West Virginia fixes by statute
| Item | What the text says | Where it says it |
|---|---|---|
| Petition filing fee | §44A-2-1(c): ‘The fee for filing a petition shall be $110 payable upon filing to the circuit clerk, $75 of which shall be retained by the circuit clerk and $35 of which shall be remitted by the circuit clerk to the special revenue account’ — the ‘Enforcement of Guardianship and Conservatorship Act Fund,’ created by §44A-2-1(e) and administered by the wv Supreme Court of Appeals. §44A-2-1(d): the person who files the petition is responsible for this fee (and service/copy fees) up front but is reimbursed from the protected person’s estate if a guardian/conservator is appointed and estate funds are available; petitioners who are ‘pecuniarily unable to pay’ are exempt per Chapter 59 Article 1 and Chapter 51 Article 2. | W. Va. Code § 44A-2-1(c)-(e) |
| Bond | Bond for a guardian (of the person) is fully discretionary: §44A-1-9(a) ‘The court has the discretion to determine whether the posting of a bond by a guardian, once appointed, is necessary.’ Bond for a conservator (estate) is presumptively required: §44A-1-9(b) ‘The court shall order the posting of a bond by a conservator prior to appointment except where the conservator is excused from posting bond under the provisions of section eighteen, article four, chapter thirty-one-a of this code’ (a banking-law cross-reference not chased further here). §44A-1-9(b) lists 7 factors the court weighs in setting the conservator’s bond amount/type (estate value, whether funds are court-restricted, whether accountings were waived or are less-than-annual, direct-pay arrangements to a care facility, federal/state-program accountings, whether a guardian has already reported adequately, and whether the nominating instrument requested a bond waiver). §44A-1-9(c) allows a property bond in lieu of cash. This mirrors the same gap found in Idaho. | W. Va. Code § 44A-1-9 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | West Virginia does not use the term ‘guardian ad litem’ for the protected person’s own advocate in Chapter 44A; instead §44A-2-7(a) requires the court to appoint legal counsel for the alleged protected person ‘to make recommendations to the court that are in the best interests of the alleged protected person’ (an alleged protected person may instead hire private counsel). Counsel’s areas of concern under §44A-2-7(b) explicitly include assuring ‘the adequacy of the bond.’ Payment is governed by §44A-1-13(c): ‘Attorneys appointed to represent individuals under this article shall be paid a reasonable rate of compensation from the estate, as approved by the circuit court, or, in the event the court determines that the estate is devoid of funds for the payment of such fees, the attorney shall be paid at a rate prescribed by and from funds allocated by the Supreme Court of Appeals.’ So: paid from the protected person’s estate first, falling back to the state (wv Supreme Court of Appeals) if the estate has no funds. §44A-2-7(e) additionally requires nonindigent-appointed counsel to disclose an hourly rate at case onset and get the fee approved by the court or mental hygiene commissioner as ‘reasonable in light of the going rate for legal services, the complexity of the matter and the amount of legal work involved.’ No statutory numeric dollar cap was found. | W. Va. Code §§ 44A-2-7 (appointment of counsel), 44A-1-13(c) (compensation: estate, then state) |
| Periodic accounting or report | Guardians file periodic ‘reports’ (§44A-3-2); conservators file periodic ‘accountings’ (§44A-3-9). frequency is set centrally by §44A-3-11(a): filings are due ‘(1) Within six months of being appointed; (2) By December 31 of each year thereafter; (3) When the court orders additional reports or accountings to be filed; (4) When the guardian or conservator resigns or is removed; and (5) When the appointment … is terminated’ — i.e. An initial 6-month report, then genuinely annual (calendar-year, due December 31) thereafter, plus event-triggered filings; §44A-3-10 separately allows the court to waive accountings entirely. §44A-3-11(b) says the fiduciary commissioner (or other court-appointed reviewer) ‘shall review the reports and accountings MULTIANNUALLY’ — this describes the review cadence, a different and ambiguous word I could not resolve to a defined frequency from the statute text alone; flagging it rather than guessing. No fixed dollar filing fee for the periodic report/accounting itself was found in Article 3. Where the court refers the accounting to a fiduciary commissioner, §44A-3-11(c)(3) says that commissioner ‘is entitled to fees as are allowed for fiduciary commissioners in the handling of accountings of a decedent’s estate, or as otherwise set by order of the circuit court’ — a cross-reference to the decedent’s-estate fiduciary-commissioner fee schedule (Chapter 44, not 44A), with no dollar amount stated in Chapter 44A itself. | W. Va. Code §§ 44A-3-2 (guardian reports), 44A-3-9 (conservator accountings), 44A-3-10 (waiver), 44A-3-11 (filing schedule and fiduciary-commissioner fee cross-reference) |
What the proceeding is called here. West Virginia Code Chapter 44A, the ‘West Virginia Guardianship and Conservatorship Act’ (§44A-1-1), separates ‘guardian’ (management of the person) from ‘conservator’ (management of the estate) of a ‘protected person’ — a person may have a guardian, a conservator, or both, and the two roles are severable.
The filing fee
§44A-2-1(c): ‘The fee for filing a petition shall be $110 payable upon filing to the circuit clerk, $75 of which shall be retained by the circuit clerk and $35 of which shall be remitted by the circuit clerk to the special revenue account’ — the ‘Enforcement of Guardianship and Conservatorship Act Fund,’ created by §44A-2-1(e) and administered by the wv Supreme Court of Appeals. §44A-2-1(d): the person who files the petition is responsible for this fee (and service/copy fees) up front but is reimbursed from the protected person’s estate if a guardian/conservator is appointed and estate funds are available; petitioners who are ‘pecuniarily unable to pay’ are exempt per Chapter 59 Article 1 and Chapter 51 Article 2.
The fee for filing a petition shall be $110 payable upon filing to the circuit clerk, $75 of which shall be retained by the circuit clerk and $35 of which shall be remitted by the circuit clerk to the special revenue account in the state Treasury created in subsection (e) of this section.
In the event that a guardian, conservator, or both, is appointed by the court, such fees shall be reimbursed to the individual who filed the petition from the protected person’s estate, if funds are available.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: W. Va. Code § 44A-2-1(c)-(e).
The bond
Bond for a guardian (of the person) is fully discretionary: §44A-1-9(a) ‘The court has the discretion to determine whether the posting of a bond by a guardian, once appointed, is necessary.’ Bond for a conservator (estate) is presumptively required: §44A-1-9(b) ‘The court shall order the posting of a bond by a conservator prior to appointment except where the conservator is excused from posting bond under the provisions of section eighteen, article four, chapter thirty-one-a of this code’ (a banking-law cross-reference not chased further here). §44A-1-9(b) lists 7 factors the court weighs in setting the conservator’s bond amount/type (estate value, whether funds are court-restricted, whether accountings were waived or are less-than-annual, direct-pay arrangements to a care facility, federal/state-program accountings, whether a guardian has already reported adequately, and whether the nominating instrument requested a bond waiver). §44A-1-9(c) allows a property bond in lieu of cash. This mirrors the same gap found in Idaho.
The court has the discretion to determine whether the posting of a bond by a guardian, once appointed, is necessary.
The court shall order the posting of a bond by a conservator prior to appointment except where the conservator is excused from posting bond under the provisions of section eighteen, article four, chapter thirty-one-a of this code.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: W. Va. Code § 44A-1-9.
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. West Virginia 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
West Virginia does not use the term ‘guardian ad litem’ for the protected person’s own advocate in Chapter 44A; instead §44A-2-7(a) requires the court to appoint legal counsel for the alleged protected person ‘to make recommendations to the court that are in the best interests of the alleged protected person’ (an alleged protected person may instead hire private counsel). Counsel’s areas of concern under §44A-2-7(b) explicitly include assuring ‘the adequacy of the bond.’ Payment is governed by §44A-1-13(c): ‘Attorneys appointed to represent individuals under this article shall be paid a reasonable rate of compensation from the estate, as approved by the circuit court, or, in the event the court determines that the estate is devoid of funds for the payment of such fees, the attorney shall be paid at a rate prescribed by and from funds allocated by the Supreme Court of Appeals.’ So: paid from the protected person’s estate first, falling back to the state (wv Supreme Court of Appeals) if the estate has no funds. §44A-2-7(e) additionally requires nonindigent-appointed counsel to disclose an hourly rate at case onset and get the fee approved by the court or mental hygiene commissioner as ‘reasonable in light of the going rate for legal services, the complexity of the matter and the amount of legal work involved.’ No statutory numeric dollar cap was found.
Attorneys appointed to represent individuals under this article shall be paid a reasonable rate of compensation from the estate, as approved by the circuit court, or, in the event the court determines that the estate is devoid of funds for the payment of such fees, the attorney shall be paid at a rate prescribed by and from funds allocated by the Supreme Court of Appeals.
A person appointed by the court as counsel for a nonindigent alleged protected person shall inform the court or the mental hygiene commissioner of his or her hourly rate at the onset of the case and seek approval of his or her fee for the case… The hourly rate and fee for the case must be reasonable in light of the going rate for legal services, the complexity of the matter and the amount of legal work involved.
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: W. Va. Code §§ 44A-2-7 (appointment of counsel), 44A-1-13(c) (compensation: estate, then state).
How often you have to account
Initial at 6 months, then annual (due Dec. 31); waivable. 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.
Guardians file periodic ‘reports’ (§44A-3-2); conservators file periodic ‘accountings’ (§44A-3-9). frequency is set centrally by §44A-3-11(a): filings are due ‘(1) Within six months of being appointed; (2) By December 31 of each year thereafter; (3) When the court orders additional reports or accountings to be filed; (4) When the guardian or conservator resigns or is removed; and (5) When the appointment … is terminated’ — i.e. An initial 6-month report, then genuinely annual (calendar-year, due December 31) thereafter, plus event-triggered filings; §44A-3-10 separately allows the court to waive accountings entirely. §44A-3-11(b) says the fiduciary commissioner (or other court-appointed reviewer) ‘shall review the reports and accountings MULTIANNUALLY’ — this describes the review cadence, a different and ambiguous word I could not resolve to a defined frequency from the statute text alone; flagging it rather than guessing. No fixed dollar filing fee for the periodic report/accounting itself was found in Article 3. Where the court refers the accounting to a fiduciary commissioner, §44A-3-11(c)(3) says that commissioner ‘is entitled to fees as are allowed for fiduciary commissioners in the handling of accountings of a decedent’s estate, or as otherwise set by order of the circuit court’ — a cross-reference to the decedent’s-estate fiduciary-commissioner fee schedule (Chapter 44, not 44A), with no dollar amount stated in Chapter 44A itself.
Reports of guardians and accountings of conservators, as described in this article shall be filed with the circuit clerk of the county in which appointed… (1) Within six months of being appointed; (2) By December 31 of each year thereafter; (3) When the court orders additional reports or accountings to be filed; (4) When the guardian or conservator resigns or is removed; and (5) When the appointment of the guardian or conservator is terminated…
The fiduciary commissioner, or other person appointed by the court or mental hygiene commissioner, shall review the reports and accountings multiannually…
Read at statute source on 2026-08-12: W. Va. Code §§ 44A-3-2 (guardian reports), 44A-3-9 (conservator accountings), 44A-3-10 (waiver), 44A-3-11 (filing schedule and fiduciary-commissioner fee cross-reference).
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 | W. Va. Code § 44A-2-1(c)-(e) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Bond | W. Va. Code § 44A-1-9 | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Guardian ad litem and attorney fees | W. Va. Code §§ 44A-2-7 (appointment of counsel), 44A-1-13(c) (compensation: estate, then state) | statute | 2026-08-12 |
| Periodic accounting or report | W. Va. Code §§ 44A-3-2 (guardian reports), 44A-3-9 (conservator accountings), 44A-3-10 (waiver), 44A-3-11 (filing schedule and fiduciary-commissioner fee cross-reference) | 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.