Updated July 26, 2026. Quick answer (2026): Probate costs are set two very different ways. 7 states publish a statutory percentage schedule, so the fee is arithmetic you can check — and in several of them the attorney and the personal representative are each entitled to the full amount, which doubles it. The other 44 jurisdictions use a reasonable-fee or hybrid standard with no schedule to compute. This calculator does the statutory math where a schedule exists, shows the filing fee everywhere, and — the part most guides bury — tells you whether your estate is small enough to skip full probate entirely.
Why the same estate costs wildly different amounts
- Percentage states charge on gross value, not equity. A $700,000 house with a $500,000 mortgage is a $700,000 asset for fee purposes in California. The debt does not reduce the fee.
- Some states pay the schedule twice. Where the personal representative and the attorney are each entitled to the statutory amount, the real number is double what a single schedule suggests.
- A floor is not a ceiling. Missouri’s schedule is a statutory minimum; Iowa’s is a maximum. Same-looking tables, opposite meanings.
- Small-estate procedures skip most of it. Thresholds vary enormously and several rose in 2025–2026. That is the single biggest lever on the bill.
The statute behind each state
The calculator prices an estate. These pages show the authority it is priced under — the fee statute, the filing fee, and the small-estate route, state by state. The seven states with a true statutory percentage schedule are California, Florida, Nevada, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Wyoming.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Go deeper
Full statute-cited detail for all 51 jurisdictions: probate cost by state and small-estate limits by state. If you are weighing a trust against probate, the will vs trust breakeven calculator compares the statutory fees a funded trust avoids against the trust’s extra cost. Moving state changes all of this — see retirement tax relocation. And if the estate holds real property in more than one state, each one is probated separately: the ancillary probate calculator prices that second proceeding.
Getting help
Probate cost is an estate-planning question before it is a legal one. Know what advice should cost first — see our advisor cost guide.
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Cite or share this calculator
Suggested citation: Clear Money Guide, “Probate Cost Calculator (2026),” statute-cited; clearmoneyguide.com/probate-cost-calculator/. Free to cite with attribution. Download the full dataset as CSV, or contact contact@clearmoneyguide.com for custom cuts.
Methodology: fee schedules are transcribed from the statutes cited beside each result and were adversarially verified in July 2026. Statutory schedules are the starting point, not the whole bill: filing fees, appraisal, publication, bond and any extraordinary fees are additional. Nothing here is legal advice.
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