How much does probate cost in Mississippi?
9 Aug 2026
Mississippi sets no percentage for either fee. The chancery court fixes the executor’s pay considering the worth of the estate and how hard the job was, and the attorney is paid by way of a credit claimed at settlement.
The one flat figure Mississippi does print is the court’s: $85.00 to the chancery clerk, which the statute says covers all the clerk’s services on the case, plus two automatic add-ons of $10.00 and $40.00 — $135.00 payable on filing. Two Mississippi rules catch people out: the bond is a penalty equal to the full value of the estate, the highest standard in this database, and where the executor is also the attorney the court may allow payment as one or the other, never both.
Miss. Code Ann. §91-7-299 and §91-7-281 — Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated, published by LexisNexis as the State’s official publisher · Verified 5 Aug 2026
Informational only, not legal advice. Figures verified on the date stamped. Details: /disclaimer/
Work it out on your own number
Mississippi publishes no schedule to compute for either professional fee. What it publishes is what the chancery court must weigh, and one flat court figure. Both are below.
| Executor or administrator — value and worth of the estate | a consideration, not a rate |
| Executor or administrator — extent or degree of difficulty of the duties discharged | a consideration, not a rate |
| Executor or administrator — necessary expenses, including a reasonable attorney’s fee | allowed on top, court determines |
| Attorney — reasonable sums paid, if the services were proper and rendered in good faith | credit at settlement |
| Chancery clerk — total fee for all services on the estate of a deceased person | $85.00 |
| Comprehensive Electronic Court Systems Fund, every civil case | $10.00 |
| Judicial System Operation Fund, every civil case | $40.00 |
| Certifying copies of filed documents, per complete document | $1.00 |
Worked through: the amount actually payable to the chancery clerk when a Mississippi estate is filed is $135.00 — the $85.00 total clerk fee plus the $10.00 and $40.00 statutory add-ons. It does not move with the size of the estate.
There is no percentage to compute for either professional fee, so the Fee Calculator returns the court figure for Mississippi and nothing else. Any percentage quoted to you for a Mississippi executor is a custom, not the statute.
What each part costs
Every row is one figure, one source, one date. Where Mississippi fixes no price, the row says so instead of guessing.
| Fee | Amount or formula | Set by | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attorney feeOrdinary services | No statutory rateMississippi sets no rate. What the statute decides is who bears the fee and when it is checked: at an annual or final settlement the executor, administrator or guardian is entitled to credit for such reasonable sums as they have paid for an attorney’s services in the management of or on behalf of the estate — but only if the court is of the opinion that those services were proper and rendered in good faith. So the executor pays, then claims it back, and the court can refuse the credit. One rule is worth knowing before anybody is hired: where the executor or administrator acts also as the attorney, the court may allow reasonable compensation as attorney in lieu of compensation as executor. One or the other, not both. | Credit at settlement, allowed by the chancery court | Miss. Code Ann. §91-7-281 Read inside the official LexisNexis portal; §91-7-299 is the parallel allowance route | 5 Aug 2026 |
| Personal representativeExecutor or administrator | No statutory rateNo percentage. The court shall allow the executor or administrator, as compensation for their trouble, in partial or final settlements, such sum as the court deems proper — considering the value and worth of the estate and the extent or degree of difficulty of the duties discharged. Both considerations are named and neither controls alone. Necessary expenses, including a reasonable attorney’s fee, may be assessed out of the estate on top, in an amount the court determines. The same section protects an honest executor: on final settlement the court makes allowance for estate property lost, perished or fallen in value without the executor’s fault, and no profit is allowed on an increase. | Chancery court, on two named considerations | Miss. Code Ann. §91-7-299 Read inside the official LexisNexis portal | 5 Aug 2026 |
| Court filing feeChancery clerk — a total, not a base | $85.00, or $135.00 on filing$85.00 as the total fee for all services performed by the chancery clerk in any civil case filed, expressly including the estate of a deceased person, payable on filing. That word matters: unlike states where the headline figure is a base with itemised charges stacked on it, Mississippi’s $85.00 is stated as covering the clerk’s services on the case. Two automatic statutory add-ons apply to every civil filing: $10.00 to the Comprehensive Electronic Court Systems Fund and $40.00 to the Judicial System Operation Fund, so $135.00 is what is actually payable. Certifying copies of filed documents is $1.00 per complete document. The clerk must itemise a detailed bill of all charges on the original document. | Statute — flat, statewide, payable on filing | Miss. Code Ann. §25-7-9 Version headed “from and after January 1, 2024, and through December 31, 2027” | 5 Aug 2026 |
| Newspaper publicationNotice to creditors — after the search, not before | Not fixed by statuteNot fixed by statute — the newspaper sets its own rate. Mississippi puts the searching before the advertising, and the sequence is a real requirement. The executor must make reasonably diligent efforts to identify persons having claims, mail each of them notice at their last known address, and file an affidavit with the clerk that this has been done. Only on filing that affidavit does publication follow: a notice in some newspaper in the county, stating when letters were granted and warning that failure to probate and register a claim within ninety days of the first publication bars it. The notice runs for three consecutive weeks and proof of publication is filed with the clerk. Where no paper is published in the county, posting at the courthouse door and three other public places of resort will do. | The newspaper | Miss. Code Ann. §91-7-145 §91-7-151, which sets the bar itself, is named in the section and is not read here | 5 Aug 2026 |
| BondExecutor’s bond — equal to the estate | A penalty equal to the full value of the estate
|
Statutory sum equal to the full value of the estate | Miss. Code Ann. §91-7-41 Covers executors and administrators with the will annexed | 9 Aug 2026 |
The 1 to 7 percent guideline people still quote for Mississippi is repealed. Mississippi did once publish a percentage band for executor compensation; it was removed by the 1989 amendment to §91-7-299 and it is not in the current text. It must never be treated as a live Mississippi rate, however often it appears in circulation.
How the Mississippi sources are linked. Mississippi does not publish its own code free of charge in per-section form. The Secretary of State’s Mississippi Law page links out to LexisNexis, which it names as the official publisher of the Mississippi Code, and states that the laws of Mississippi are copyrighted by the State under §1-1-9. Every source above therefore points at the Secretary of State’s page, which is the State’s own gateway, and prints the section number beside it; each section was read inside that portal. The portal states it is current with legislation from the 2026 Regular Session.
What can change the bill — allowances, waivers and one-off charges
- Two automatic add-ons on every civil filing — $10.00 to the Comprehensive Electronic Court Systems Fund and $40.00 to the Judicial System Operation Fund. Neither is discretionary and neither depends on the size of the estate.
- Certified copies — $1.00 per complete document, which matters because banks and land records generally want certified letters rather than photocopies.
- The clerk must itemise before demanding payment. §25-7-9 requires a detailed bill of all charges due or paid for filing, recording and abstracting to be entered on the original document.
- Process costs fall on the party who issues it. And where the filer wants the clerk to pay the cost of publication, the clerk shall demand the actual charges at the time of filing — which is the closest Mississippi comes to naming what publication costs.
- Attorney fees can be assessed as a necessary expense. Separately from the settlement credit, §91-7-299 lets the court assess a reasonable attorney’s fee out of the estate as a necessary expense of the executor, in an amount the court determines.
- Losses without fault are allowed for; gains bring no profit. On final settlement the court makes allowance for estate property lost, perished or decreased in value without the executor’s fault, and the executor takes no profit from an increase.
Miss. Code Ann. §25-7-9 and §25-7-9(4); §91-7-299 — Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated · Verified 5 Aug 2026
What changes YOUR number in Mississippi
- Both considerations count, and the estate’s size is only one of them
- The chancery court is directed to consider the value and worth of the estate and the extent or degree of difficulty of the duties discharged. A large but simple estate and a small but litigious one are not the same job, and the statute says so. An argument built on estate value alone is only half the test.
- If the executor is also the lawyer, it is one fee or the other
- This is Mississippi’s distinctive rule. Where the same person serves as executor and acts as attorney, the court may allow reasonable compensation as attorney in lieu of compensation as executor. Not both, and not a share of each. It is worth settling which hat is being worn before the work starts.
- The attorney fee arrives as a credit, and the credit can be refused
- The executor pays the attorney and claims the sum back at the annual or final settlement. The court allows it only if it considers the services proper and rendered in good faith. That is a real filter, and it means an unagreed or unexplained bill is the executor’s exposure, not the estate’s.
- The bond is the full value of the estate
- Mississippi states the amount as an equality rather than a range: a penalty equal to the full value of the estate. That is the strictest standard in this database, and it is taken at or before the grant of letters. Where a will purports to waive it, the waiver route sits outside §91-7-41 and we have not read it, so this page does not say whether a Mississippi will can excuse the bond.
- The ninety-day claim bar is one of the shortest anywhere
- Creditors have ninety days from the first publication to probate and register their claims, against four months in Minnesota and eight in South Carolina. But the clock only starts once the diligent-search affidavit has been filed, so a slow search delays the start of a short window.
- The court fee has a version with an end date
- The section read is the version headed “from and after January 1, 2024, and through December 31, 2027”. A later version already exists in the code. The figures on this page are the ones in force now, and this page is re-checked before 1 January 2028.
Mississippi’s small-estate route is $75,000 and needs no court appointment
Thirty days after the death, if the entire probate estate is worth $75,000.00 or less excluding all liens and encumbrances, a successor can collect the property by affidavit — no application, no appointment, no letters. Nobody may have applied to be appointed personal representative in any jurisdiction, and none may have been appointed.
- The figure is net — liens and encumbrances come off before the estate is measured — and it counts the whole probate estate wherever the property is located.
- Who may sign is fixed in order: the spouse; if none, any child; if none, any grandchild; if none, either parent or any sibling. That is narrower than states which let any heir sign.
- A minor or incapacitated successor is represented by a guardian, conservator or attorney-in-fact.
- Whoever collects takes on a duty to pass the property to anyone with a better right to it, and a bank or debtor who pays out on the affidavit is protected.
- If a holder refuses to pay on the affidavit, the successor can compel payment in chancery court.
- The section opens with an exception list — §§81-5-63, 81-12-135, 81-12-137 and 91-7-323 may provide otherwise. None of those has been read here, so this route should not be treated as universally available until the holder confirms it applies.
Miss. Code Ann. §91-7-322, raised to the current figure by Laws 2020 ch. 343 §7, effective 1 July 2020 — Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated · Verified 5 Aug 2026
Check your own estate against the Mississippi route →
Three tools, in the order most people need them
Mississippi probate cost questions
How much does an executor get paid in Mississippi?
Mississippi sets no percentage. The chancery court allows such sum as it deems proper, considering two things together: the value and worth of the estate, and the extent or degree of difficulty of the duties discharged. Necessary expenses, including a reasonable attorney fee, can be allowed on top. If the same person is both executor and attorney, the court may allow compensation as attorney instead of compensation as executor — one or the other, not both. Any one to seven percent guideline quoted for Mississippi is repealed and has not been in the statute since 1989.
Does Mississippi set probate attorney fees by statute?
No rate and no formula. What the statute does is decide the route: the executor pays the attorney and then claims credit for the reasonable sums paid at the annual or final settlement, and the court allows the credit only if it considers the services were proper and rendered in good faith. Separately, the court may assess a reasonable attorney fee out of the estate as a necessary expense of the executor, in an amount it determines.
What does it cost to file for probate in Mississippi?
The chancery clerk’s fee is eighty-five dollars, and the statute describes that as the total fee for all services the clerk performs on the case, including the estate of a deceased person. Two automatic add-ons apply to every civil filing — ten dollars to the electronic court systems fund and forty dollars to the judicial system operation fund — so one hundred and thirty-five dollars is what is actually payable. It does not vary with the size of the estate. Certifying copies is a dollar per complete document.
Does an executor need a bond in Mississippi?
Yes, and Mississippi states the amount plainly: a penalty equal to the full value of the estate. Sureties are approved by the court or the clerk, and the bond is payable to the state, conditioned on faithfully discharging every duty required by law. It is given at or before the point when letters are issued, alongside the statutory oath, so it cannot be arranged afterwards. Whether a Mississippi will can waive the bond is governed by a section outside this one, which we have not read, so this page does not say.
Does Mississippi have a small estate affidavit?
Yes, for estates of seventy-five thousand dollars or less excluding all liens and encumbrances, thirty days after the death, provided nobody has applied to be appointed personal representative and none has been appointed anywhere. The people who can sign are fixed in order by the statute: the spouse first, then a child, then a grandchild, then a parent or sibling. Whoever collects has to pass the property on to anyone with a better right, and a bank or debtor who pays out on the affidavit is protected. If a holder refuses to pay, the successor can compel it in chancery court.
Sources & verification
Every figure on this page was checked against the official source on the date shown. Mississippi is a special case for sourcing: the State does not publish its own code free of charge in per-section form, the Secretary of State names LexisNexis as the official publisher, and the State asserts copyright in the text under §1-1-9. The links below therefore go to the Secretary of State’s own Mississippi Law gateway, with the section number printed beside each one; every section was read inside that portal, which states it is current with legislation from the 2026 Regular Session.
- Attorney fee — Miss. Code Ann. §91-7-281 www.sos.ms.govVerified 5 Aug 2026 · Title 91, Chapter 7, General Provisions · annual statutory re-check
- Executor’s compensation — Miss. Code Ann. §91-7-299 www.sos.ms.govVerified 5 Aug 2026 · the percentage guideline was removed by Laws 1989 ch. 443 and the history line on the page is the evidence · annual statutory re-check
- Chancery clerk fee and the two add-ons — Miss. Code Ann. §25-7-9 www.sos.ms.govVerified 5 Aug 2026 · read as a PDF · the section has more than one version and the one read runs through 31 December 2027 · re-check before 1 January 2028
- Publication and the diligent-search affidavit — Miss. Code Ann. §91-7-145 www.sos.ms.govVerified 5 Aug 2026 · §91-7-151 named and not read · annual statutory re-check
- Bond — Miss. Code Ann. §91-7-41 www.sos.ms.govVerified 9 Aug 2026 · the waiver route sits outside this section and is not read, so this page does not state it · annual statutory re-check
- Small-estate affidavit — Miss. Code Ann. §91-7-322 www.sos.ms.govVerified 5 Aug 2026 · raised to $75,000.00 by Laws 2020 ch. 343 §7, effective 1 July 2020 · the section opens with an exception list that is not read · annual statutory re-check
Researched and verified by John Terra · Methodology
This page is information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws and fee schedules change; every figure here was verified on the date stamped beside it. For advice about your own situation, consult an attorney licensed in Mississippi. Full terms: /disclaimer/ · Privacy
Every state, one standard: How much does probate cost? →
Nearby and often compared: Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas
When a figure changes, know first
Statutes get amended and fee schedules get updated. Once a month, we send a short note listing every figure that changed and every page we re-verified. Reference, not marketing.