How much does probate cost in Nebraska?
8 Aug 2026
Nebraska sets no percentage for either fee — the personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation, and the attorney is paid as a necessary expense. What Nebraska fixes is the court, and it charges on how the probate runs rather than on what the estate is worth.
An informal probate is $22.00 flat. A formal one runs a twenty-band scale from $22.00 to $1,500.00 — and the base excludes joint tenancy property and everything outside Nebraska, which changes the answer for most married readers. Two statewide add-ons of $8.00 and $10.00 sit on top; the second is brand new, operative 1 July 2026. Nebraska also has the shortest creditors’ window in the country at two months, the notice is placed by the clerk of the court, and the newspaper’s rate is capped in cents by statute.
Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-2480 and §33-125 — Nebraska Revised Statutes, published by the Nebraska Legislature · Verified 6 Aug 2026
Informational only, not legal advice. Figures verified on the date stamped. Details: /disclaimer/
Work it out on your own number
Neither professional fee computes in Nebraska. The court fee does — but you have to answer a question first that no other state asks: is this probate informal or formal?
| Informal — commenced and closed informally, flat | $22.00 |
| Formal — value not exceeding $1,000 | $22.00 |
| Formal — over $10,000 to $25,000 | $80.00 |
| Formal — over $75,000 to $100,000 | $160.00 |
| Formal — over $200,000 to $300,000 | $350.00 |
| Formal — over $400,000 to $500,000 | $500.00 |
| Formal — over $750,000 to $1,000,000 | $700.00 |
| Formal — over $5,000,000 | $1,500.00 |
| Court automation fee + case management systems software fee, on top of either | $18.00 |
Worked through: with both add-ons, an informal probate costs $40.00 whatever the estate is worth. A formal probate costs $178.00 at $100,000.00, $368.00 at $250,000.00, $518.00 at $500,000.00, $718.00 at $1,000,000.00 and $1,518.00 above $5,000,000.00. Where a petition is filed, nobody is appointed and the cause is dismissed, the fee is $10.00.
The formal scale runs on the gross value of real and personal property in Nebraska at the date of death, less liens and less joint tenancy property. Property held in joint tenancy is outside the base entirely, and so is anything owned outside the state. A reader feeding in their total net worth will overstate the fee, often by a lot.
What each part costs
Every row is one figure, one source, one date. Where Nebraska fixes no price, the row says so instead of guessing.
| Fee | Amount or formula | Set by | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attorney feeOrdinary services | No statutory rateNebraska sets no attorney fee for probate — no percentage, band, cap or floor. The rule the statute does give is about good faith rather than a rate: if a personal representative, or a person nominated as one, defends or prosecutes any proceeding in good faith, whether successful or not, they are entitled to receive from the estate their necessary expenses and disbursements including reasonable attorney fees incurred. Nebraska’s courts have been clear that the fees cannot be refused merely because the representative’s legal position turned out to be weak — what matters is whether they acted in good faith. | Agreement, allowed as a necessary expense | Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-2481 Laws 1974 LB 354 §159 — the Uniform Probate Code provision, verbatim | 6 Aug 2026 |
| Personal representativeExecutor or administrator | No statutory rateA personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for services, with no percentage anywhere. The will does not settle it: where the will provides for compensation and there is no contract with the person who died about it, the representative may renounce that provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead. That timing condition is the operative detail — once qualified, the will’s figure stands. A representative may also renounce the right to all or any part of the compensation, and a written renunciation of fee may be filed with the court, which is what most family representatives do. | Reasonable compensation, settled by the court | Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-2480 Laws 1974 LB 354 §158 — the Uniform Probate Code provision, verbatim | 6 Aug 2026 |
| Court filing feeCounty court — informal or formal | $22.00 flat, or a twenty-band scaleTwo regimes, and which applies turns on how the probate runs. Informal proceedings commenced and closed informally are $22.00, with a further $22.00 for each subsequent petition or application filed within the proceeding, and $22.00 for any other proceeding under the Probate Code for which no fee is set — and the informal fees may never exceed what the formal scale would have charged. Formal proceedings run twenty bands from $22.00 up to $1,500.00 on estates over $5 million, printed in full in the calculator above. Three things work in the estate’s favour: the formal fee is charged in full for all services performed by the court, with no additional fee for petitions, hearings or orders; one certified copy of the letters of appointment is provided without charge; and where a petition is filed but nobody is appointed and the cause is dismissed, the fee is $10.00. Two statewide add-ons apply on top of either regime: a $8.00 court automation fee and a $10.00 case management systems software fee. | Statute — proceeding type first, then value | Neb. Rev. Stat. §33-125, with §33-107.03 and §33-107.04 The $10.00 software fee is Laws 2026 LB935 §36, operative 1 July 2026 | 6 Aug 2026 |
| Newspaper publicationThe clerk publishes — and the rate is capped in cents | $0.50 per line, then $0.394The clerk of the court places the notice, not the executor. On the appointment of a personal representative the clerk publishes a notice once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, announcing the appointment and the representative’s address, with the first publication within thirty days of the appointment. Creditors then have two months from the date of first publication — the shortest window of any state on this site. The party instituting the proceeding, or their attorney, must still mail the published notice and give proof of it. The rate is a statutory maximum, not the newspaper’s choice. From 1 October 2023 the legal rate for publication of legal notices is fifty cents per line, single column, at standard newspaper measurements of eight-point type and a pica width of eleven, for the first insertion, and thirty-nine and four-tenths cents per line for each subsequent insertion. Any type size may be used, and the section prints an official conversion table running from five-and-a-half-point to ten-point type across pica widths nine to sixteen. A newspaper may charge less by agreement; it may not charge more. A purchaser who wants larger type, more prominent placement, or a statewide paper may negotiate a separate contract rate, capped at that newspaper’s lowest scheduled classified rate. | Statutory maximum rate, per line | Neb. Rev. Stat. §33-141, with §33-142 and §30-2483 §33-141 amended by Laws 2026 LB596 §10, effective 18 July 2026 | 8 Aug 2026 |
| BondRequired by default — with six ways out | Not less than the representative’s sworn estimate
|
Statutory floor, on the representative’s sworn estimate | Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-2446, with §§30-2447 to 30-2449 §30-2446 amended by Laws 2024 LB1195 §3 — the exception list is recent | 6 Aug 2026 |
The $10.00 case management systems software fee is new. It is Laws 2026 LB935 §36, operative 1 July 2026, and taxed as costs in every civil cause of action filed in the district and county courts. Any Nebraska probate-cost figure published before July 2026 is now ten dollars short.
How the Nebraska sources are linked. The Nebraska Legislature publishes one clean page per section, so every source above points at the exact section we read. Section numbers containing a comma, such as §30-24,125, resolve in the address unchanged.
What can change the bill — allowances, waivers and one-off charges
- An inheritance tax determination costs a further $22.00. Nebraska is one of the few states that still levies inheritance tax, and in all matters for its determination the county court receives twenty-two dollars — paid by the person petitioning for the determination, except where the county attorney institutes the matter. It is not charged where a fee has already been imposed under the formal probate scale.
- Depositing a will for safekeeping and indexing — $2.00.
- Photocopies — $0.25 per page. Executing a certificate and affixing the seal — $1.00.
- The legal fees for printing notices are allowed in addition to the court’s own fees. The statute says so expressly, so the newspaper bill never comes out of the filing fee.
- Formal fees cover everything the court does. No additional fee may be charged for petitions, hearings or orders in the course of the administration, and one certified copy of the letters of appointment is free.
- The retirement-fund allocation is not an extra charge. Twelve dollars of the $22.00 informal fee is remitted to the State Treasurer for the judges’ retirement fund from 1 July 2025. That is internal allocation of money already paid, not an addition to it.
Neb. Rev. Stat. §33-126.03; §33-126.05; §33-125(1)(a) and (2) — Nebraska Revised Statutes · Verified 8 Aug 2026
What changes YOUR number in Nebraska
- Informal or formal decides the court fee, not the size of the estate
- Nebraska is the only state on this site whose court fee turns first on the type of proceeding. An uncontested informal probate is twenty-two dollars whatever the estate is worth; a formal one is charged on twenty value bands. The informal fee is also capped at what the formal scale would have produced, so it can never be the more expensive route.
- Joint tenancy property is outside the fee base
- The formal scale runs on the gross value of real and personal property in Nebraska at the date of death, less liens and less joint tenancy property. For a married couple who hold the house and the accounts jointly, that can remove most of the estate from the calculation. No other court fee in this database carves out joint tenancy.
- The creditors’ window is two months
- From the date of first publication, and the first publication must be within thirty days of the appointment. That is the shortest claim bar of any state on this site — against four months in most Uniform Probate Code states and eight in South Carolina. It cuts both ways: a fast bar for the estate, and very little time for a creditor who is watching for the notice.
- If the person was 55 or older, a further notice is mandatory — and getting it wrong voids it
- Where the person who died was fifty-five or older, or resided in a medical institution, the notice must also be provided to the Department of Health and Human Services, with the social security number and, where there was a predeceased spouse, that spouse’s name and number. It must go in the delivery manner and to the address the department designates, which may include email, and the statute says plainly that a notice failing to conform is void.
- A bond waiver can be given by one person and taken back by that person
- Two Nebraska features have no equivalent elsewhere. Waiver is per person — an adult may waive on their own behalf alone, so the requirement can be partly waived. And a waiver is retractable: an heir or devisee who waived at the start may later petition for a bond on reasonable proof that their interest is in danger of being lost through the administration.
- The bond and the small-estate route are coupled
- No bond is required where the petition alleges that the probable value of the estate will permit the summary procedure — and if the inventory and appraisal later show it will not, the representative must promptly file one. The two questions are answered together in Nebraska, which is unusual.
- The publication rate is genuinely knowable in advance
- Fifty cents a line for the first insertion, thirty-nine and four-tenths cents for each after, at eight-point type and pica width eleven, with a conversion table for other type sizes printed in the statute itself. A newspaper may charge less; it may not charge more. Nebraska prints the whole grid, which very few states do.
Nebraska’s affidavit route is $100,000 — personal property only
Thirty days after the death, where the value of all of the personal property in the estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000.00, anyone holding that property must pay or deliver it to a claiming successor on presentation of an affidavit.
- Real property is outside the base entirely. The figure counts personal property only, so a house does not close the route — but the route does not move it either.
- A certified or authenticated copy of the death certificate must be attached, or an abstract of death where a certified certificate is delayed.
- The affidavit states the successor’s relationship to the person who died, or the basis of the claim where there is none, and is sworn under perjury penalties.
- No application or petition to appoint a personal representative may be pending or granted in any jurisdiction.
- Cheques can be paid in. The claiming successor may endorse or negotiate any check, draft or other negotiable instrument payable to the person who died or to the estate, and a financial institution accepting it for deposit is discharged from all claims for the amount accepted.
- Vehicles have their own route. For a certificate of title to a motor vehicle, motorboat, all-terrain vehicle, utility-type vehicle or minibike, an affidavit goes to the Department of Motor Vehicles — and after ten years have elapsed since the estate closed, the department waives the no-personal-representative condition on evidence of closure plus a certified death certificate.
- A second route carries no figure at all. Where the inventory and appraisal show that the value of the entire estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the homestead allowance, exempt property, family allowance, costs and expenses of administration, reasonable funeral expenses and the reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness, the representative may — without giving notice to creditors — immediately disburse and distribute the estate and file a closing statement. That removes the publication cost entirely.
The $100,000 figure is fresh, and it moves. The section’s source line runs through 1996, 1999 twice, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2022, 2023, Laws 2024 LB1200 §2 and Laws 2025 LB85 §1 — two amendments in two years, making this the most frequently amended small-estate provision in this database. Check the current session before relying on it.
Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-24,125, with §30-24,127 — Nebraska Revised Statutes · Verified 8 Aug 2026
Check your own estate against the Nebraska route →
Three tools, in the order most people need them
Nebraska probate cost questions
How much does an executor get paid in Nebraska?
Nebraska sets no percentage and no commission. A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for their services, and the court decides what that comes to if anyone questions it. If the will names a figure the representative is not bound by it: they may renounce that provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead, unless there was a contract with the person who died. They may also give up the fee entirely, in whole or in part, by a written renunciation filed with the court.
Does Nebraska set probate attorney fees by statute?
No — no percentage, band, cap or floor. What the statute gives is a good-faith entitlement: a personal representative, or someone nominated as one, who defends or prosecutes any proceeding in good faith is entitled to receive from the estate their necessary expenses and disbursements including reasonable attorney fees, whether successful or not. Nebraska courts have held that the fees cannot be refused simply because the legal position turned out to be weak.
What does it cost to file for probate in Nebraska?
It depends on whether the probate is informal or formal, not just on the size of the estate. An informal probate commenced and closed informally is twenty-two dollars, with another twenty-two for each further application. A formal probate runs a twenty-band scale from twenty-two dollars up to fifteen hundred on estates over five million — five hundred dollars at half a million, seven hundred at a million. Two statewide add-ons of eight and ten dollars apply either way. The base excludes joint tenancy property and anything outside Nebraska.
Does an executor need a bond in Nebraska?
Nebraska starts from bond required, unless one of six things applies: the will waives it, all the heirs or devisees file a written waiver, a guardian waives for someone they represent, an adult beneficiary waives on their own behalf, the representative is a bank or trust company, or the petition says the estate is small enough for the summary procedure. Where a bond is needed and no amount is named, the representative swears their own best estimate of the personal estate plus a year’s expected income and files a bond for at least that. Anyone with more than a thousand dollars at stake can demand one, and a waiver can be retracted by the person who gave it.
Does Nebraska have a small estate affidavit?
Yes, at one hundred thousand dollars — but the figure counts personal property only, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances. Real property is outside the base. Thirty days after the death, with a certified death certificate attached and nobody appointed personal representative anywhere, the holder must pay or deliver to the claiming successor. Vehicles go through a separate affidavit to the Department of Motor Vehicles. There is also a second route with no dollar figure at all, where the estate is worth no more than the allowances, administration costs, funeral and last-illness expenses — and that one skips notice to creditors entirely.
Sources & verification
Every figure on this page was checked against the official source on the date shown. The Nebraska Legislature publishes one clean page per section, so each link below opens the exact section we read.
- Attorney fee — Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-2481 nebraskalegislature.govVerified 6 Aug 2026 · Laws 1974 LB 354 §159 · annual statutory re-check
- Personal representative’s compensation — Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-2480 nebraskalegislature.govVerified 6 Aug 2026 · Laws 1974 LB 354 §158 · §30-2482, the nearest thing Nebraska has to a factor test, is not read here · annual statutory re-check
- Court filing fee — informal and formal — Neb. Rev. Stat. §33-125 nebraskalegislature.govVerified 6 Aug 2026 · all twenty bands transcribed from the section and every total produced by running code · annual statutory re-check
- The two statewide add-ons — Neb. Rev. Stat. §33-107.03 and §33-107.04 nebraskalegislature.govVerified 6 Aug 2026 · the $10.00 software fee is Laws 2026 LB935 §36, operative 1 July 2026 · annual statutory re-check
- Inheritance tax determination fee — Neb. Rev. Stat. §33-126.03 nebraskalegislature.govVerified 8 Aug 2026 · last amended Laws 2021 LB17 §10 · annual statutory re-check
- Notice to creditors — the clerk publishes — Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-2483 nebraskalegislature.govVerified 6 Aug 2026 · amended Laws 2008 LB928, 2017 LB268 and 2019 LB593 · annual statutory re-check
- Publication rate and the conversion table — Neb. Rev. Stat. §33-141, with §33-142 nebraskalegislature.govVerified 8 Aug 2026 · read as a full-page PDF · amended by Laws 2026 LB596 §10, effective 18 July 2026 · annual re-check
- Bond — requirement, amount, demand and terms — Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-2446, with §§30-2447, 30-2448 and 30-2449 nebraskalegislature.govVerified 6 Aug 2026 · §30-2446 amended by Laws 2024 LB1195 §3 · annual statutory re-check
- Small-estate affidavit and the summary route — Neb. Rev. Stat. §30-24,125, with §30-24,127 nebraskalegislature.govVerified 8 Aug 2026 · amended by Laws 2024 LB1200 §2 and Laws 2025 LB85 §1 · closer watch than the annual 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 Nebraska. Full terms: /disclaimer/ · Privacy
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