Estimate what probate is likely to cost and how long it is likely to take. Statutory schedules are computed exactly for California, Florida, and New York; everywhere else the tool shows the benchmark range, along with a check against your state's small-estate threshold.
Every output here is a range, not a single figure. Probate cost and duration vary widely by court, county, and circumstance.
Enter only what passes through probate. The estimate updates as you type.
Probate assets only. Exclude anything in a trust, held in joint tenancy, or passing by POD, TOD, or beneficiary designation. Use gross value before subtracting mortgages and debts.
California, Florida, and New York have statutory fee schedules. Every other state uses reasonable fees.
Real property typically adds 4–8 months and appraisal costs, and can disqualify the estate from a personal-property-only small estate procedure.
Common when the executor is also a beneficiary.
$36,935 – $45,950
Roughly 4.9% – 6.1% of $750K in gross probate assets. California sets fees by statute.
12 – 24 months
Estates with real property, multiple heirs, or tax filings typically run 12–24 months; real estate alone tends to add 4–8 months.
Chart shows the midpoint of each range.
California Probate Code §10810 sets a mandatory sliding scale for ordinary services: 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, 2% of the next $800,000, 1% of the next $9,000,000, and 0.5% of the next $15,000,000. Extraordinary services are billed separately under §10811.
California Probate Code §10800 applies the identical sliding scale to the personal representative. On a $1,000,000 estate that is $23,000 each, or $46,000 combined.
Court filing fees range from about $45 in Ohio to $435 or more in California.
Publication of notice runs $100–$300. A bond, where required, costs 0.5%–1% of the estate. Real property adds appraisal costs.
The 3%–8% cost band and the 9–24 month timeline are directional benchmarks drawn from probate-industry and law-firm sources that attribute them to the American Bar Association, rather than figures published on a primary ABA page. The ABA's own consumer-facing material instead emphasizes a typical probate cost of about $1,500, a figure it attributes to AARP. Treat these ranges as orientation, not as a statute or a quote.
Probate cost scales with the value of assets that go through probate, so the most effective lever is moving assets out of the probate estate before death.
The most comprehensive option. Assets titled into the trust pass outside probate entirely. Note that a revocable trust does not reduce the taxable estate — trust assets are still counted for estate tax.
Property passes automatically to the surviving owner. Tenancy by the entirety works similarly for married couples. Caveats: adding a joint owner can trigger gift tax, exposes the asset to that person's creditors, and gives up sole control.
Payable-on-death bank accounts and transfer-on-death brokerage accounts pass directly to the named person. Many states also allow TOD deeds for real estate.
Life insurance and retirement accounts pass by designation. These override whatever a will says, so they must be reviewed whenever circumstances change — a stale designation naming an ex-spouse is a common and expensive error.
Probate is the court-supervised process of proving a will, paying debts and taxes, and transferring what remains to the heirs. It costs money and it takes time, and both vary enormously — by state, by county, by the composition of the estate, and by whether anyone objects. A straightforward estate in Texas and the same estate in California can differ by an order of magnitude in cost.
Total probate cost generally lands somewhere around 3%–8% of gross estate value, and duration around 9–24 months with a commonly cited mean near 16 months. Both are benchmarks rather than rules, which is why this tool reports ranges and never a single figure.
Five stages, and a mandatory creditor window that sets the floor on how fast any full probate can close.
The 3%–8% cost band and the 9–24 month timeline are directional benchmarks drawn from probate-industry and law-firm sources that attribute them to the American Bar Association, rather than figures published on a primary ABA page. The ABA's own consumer-facing material instead emphasizes a typical probate cost of about $1,500, a figure it attributes to AARP. Treat these ranges as orientation, not as a statute or a quote.
Percentage-based fees are normally calculated before subtracting mortgages and debts. A $400,000 home carrying a $300,000 mortgage generates fees on $400,000, not on the $100,000 of equity the heirs actually receive. This single detail explains a great deal of the surprise people feel at their first probate invoice.
Probate Code §§10800 and 10810 apply an identical sliding scale to both the attorney and the executor: 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, 2% of the next $800,000, 1% of the next $9,000,000, and 0.5% of the next $15,000,000. Above $25,000,000 the court sets the fee. On a $1,000,000 estate that is $23,000 each — $46,000 combined. Extraordinary services are billed separately under §10811.
Statute §733.6171 sets a presumed-reasonable attorney schedule: $1,500 for estates at or below $40,000, scaling to 3% of value between $100,000 and $1,000,000, 2.5% from $1,000,000 to $3,000,000, and down to 1% above $10,000,000. It is not mandatory, and the statute requires written disclosure that the fee is negotiable. §733.617 sets a comparable commission for the personal representative.
SCPA §2307 fixes executor commissions at 5% of the first $100,000, 4% of the next $200,000, 3% of the next $700,000, 2.5% of the next $4,000,000, and 2% above $5,000,000 — $34,000 on a $1,000,000 estate. Attorney fees are not a fixed percentage; they must be reasonable under SCPA §2110 and are subject to court review.
Most states allow fees that are reasonable for the work done, billed hourly or negotiated as a flat amount. That produces wider variation, which is why the estimator shows a band rather than a computed figure outside the three statutory states.
There is a practical floor. A mandatory creditor-claim notice period of roughly 3–6 months — up to 7 in some states, and 6 months from death in Ohio — means almost no full probate closes faster than 4–6 months. Real estate typically adds 4–8 months on its own. Roughly 3% of wills are contested, and contested cases commonly run two to three times longer. The fastest states are generally Texas, Arizona, and Nevada, which allow independent or informal administration; the slowest are generally California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.
Probate cost scales with the value of assets that pass through probate, so the most effective lever is moving assets out of the probate estate before death. Each of these carries trade-offs worth discussing with an attorney.
The most comprehensive option. Assets titled into the trust pass outside probate entirely. Note that a revocable trust does not reduce the taxable estate — trust assets are still counted for estate tax.
Property passes automatically to the surviving owner. Tenancy by the entirety works similarly for married couples. Caveats: adding a joint owner can trigger gift tax, exposes the asset to that person's creditors, and gives up sole control.
Payable-on-death bank accounts and transfer-on-death brokerage accounts pass directly to the named person. Many states also allow TOD deeds for real estate.
Life insurance and retirement accounts pass by designation. These override whatever a will says, so they must be reviewed whenever circumstances change — a stale designation naming an ex-spouse is a common and expensive error.
Before opening a full probate, find out whether the estate qualifies for your state’s simplified procedure. Thresholds range from roughly $5,000 to more than $275,000, and a qualifying estate typically settles in 30–90 days at a fraction of the cost. Thresholds count probate assets only, and most procedures cover personal property only — real estate often disqualifies an estate. Most also require a 30–45 day waiting period. An estate just above a threshold can pay several times what an estate just below it pays for identical work.
What drives the bill, how long it takes, and what actually reduces it.
Trusts, joint titling, and current beneficiary designations keep assets out of probate entirely. Legacy Suite helps you build the documents and keep the records your executor will actually need.
Legacy Suite is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.