How much does probate cost in Maine?
7 Aug 2026
Maine fixes no attorney fee and no executor fee — but it is one of the few states that publishes the court filing fee as a statutory schedule, running from $40.00 to $1,200.00 on the value of the estate.
Both compensation questions are answered the same way: the attorney fee is whatever you agree, reviewable by the court on six statutory factors, and the personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation with no percentage anywhere in the code. What Maine does print is the filing fee, band by band, and a small-estate rule that is a formula rather than a number — the printed $40,000.00 moves with inflation to the year before the year of death, so the figure that applies to you depends on when the person died.
Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 18-C §1-602(2), §3-719 and §3-721 — Maine Revised Statutes, published by the Maine Legislature · Verified 7 Aug 2026
Informational only, not legal advice. Figures verified on the date stamped. Details: /disclaimer/
Work it out on your own number
Maine is a computed-court-fee state. The compensation rows return no number, so the schedule below is the filing fee itself — the one probate cost Maine sets to the dollar.
| $10,000.00 and under | $40.00 |
| $10,001.00 to $20,000.00 | $60.00 |
| $20,001.00 to $30,000.00 | $75.00 |
| $30,001.00 to $40,000.00 | $95.00 |
| $40,001.00 to $50,000.00 | $125.00 |
| $50,001.00 to $75,000.00 | $190.00 |
| $75,001.00 to $100,000.00 | $250.00 |
| $100,001.00 to $150,000.00 | $325.00 |
| $150,001.00 to $200,000.00 | $375.00 |
| $200,001.00 to $250,000.00 | $450.00 |
| $250,001.00 to $300,000.00 | $500.00 |
| $300,001.00 to $400,000.00 | $575.00 |
| $400,001.00 to $500,000.00 | $625.00 |
| $500,001.00 to $750,000.00 | $700.00 |
| $750,001.00 to $1,000,000.00 | $750.00 |
| $1,000,001.00 to $1,500,000.00 | $875.00 |
| $1,500,001.00 to $2,000,000.00 | $950.00 |
| More than $2,000,000.00 | $1,200.00 |
| Filing a will for no probate | $15.00 |
| Filing a will to be probated, without an appointment | $20.00 |
Worked through: an estate of $40,000.00 pays $95.00 to file; $250,000.00 pays $450.00; $500,000.00 pays $625.00; $1,000,000.00 pays $750.00. Above $2,000,000.00 the schedule starts at $1,200.00 and, as printed, continues in steps of $250.00 for every increase of $500,000.00 or part of it above $2,500,000.00.
The fee is charged on the value of the estate as §1-602(2) states it — the section does not say gross or net, so feed the calculator the figure the register asks you for and expect the register to work from the same value. It is charged for receiving and entering each petition or application, not once per estate.
What each part costs
Every row is one figure, one source, one date. Where Maine fixes no price, the row says so instead of guessing.
| Fee | Amount or formula | Set by | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attorney feeOrdinary services | No statutory rateMaine sets no rate for probate attorney fees. Part 7 of article 3 runs §3-701 to §3-721 and contains no attorney compensation section at all. What the code does give is a review power: on the petition of an interested person, or on the court own motion in a supervised administration, the court may examine whether employing the attorney was proper and whether the compensation was reasonable, and may order anyone who has received excessive compensation to refund it. Six factors govern — the time and labour required, the novelty and difficulty of the work and the skill it needed, whether the work shut out other employment, the fee customarily charged locally for similar services, the amount involved and the result obtained, the time limits imposed, and the experience, reputation and ability of the person doing the work. | Agreement, reviewable by the court on six factors | 18-C M.R.S. §3-721(1) and (2) Article 3 part 7 contents list read end to end; no attorney-rate section exists | 7 Aug 2026 |
| Personal representativeExecutor or administrator | Reasonable compensation — no percentageThe personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for services. There is no schedule, no band and no percentage anywhere in the section. Two renunciation rights sit inside it and both are real money: where the will provides for compensation and there was no separate contract with the person who died, the representative may renounce that provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead; and the representative may renounce the right to all or any part of the compensation, in writing, filed with the court. | Statute — reasonable compensation, no schedule | 18-C M.R.S. §3-719 Same shape as the Uniform Probate Code section, including the renounce-before-qualifying right | 7 Aug 2026 |
| Court filing feeReceiving and entering the petition | $40.00 to $1,200.00, by estate valueA statutory banded schedule, statewide, paid to the register of probate. It applies to each petition or application for all estates, testate and intestate, including foreign estates and the filing of a notice by a domiciliary foreign personal representative, except a successor personal representative. Two flat charges sit alongside it: $15.00 to file a will for no probate, and $20.00 to file a will to be probated without an appointment. Anything the section does not cover is not a gap — §1-608 cross-refers the Probate Court to the District Court or Superior Court fee for a similar procedure unless a statute or the Rules of Probate Procedure say otherwise. The side charges you will meet as the estate runs are listed in the block below. | Statute — an exact banded schedule | 18-C M.R.S. §1-602(2), read with §1-608 Amended PL 2021 c.250 §1 · band R is drafted oddly and is printed here exactly as it reads | 7 Aug 2026 |
| Newspaper publicationNotice to creditors | Not fixed by statuteNot fixed by statute — the newspaper sets its own rate. The statute sets how often the notice runs and for how long; your state page shows that schedule. In Maine the personal representative publishes on appointment, once a week for two successive weeks, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the person was domiciled at death. Creditors have four months from the date of first publication or are forever barred, and a creditor given mailed notice under subsection 2 gets the later of that four months or sixty days from the mailing. | The newspaper | 18-C M.R.S. §3-801(1) and (2) A Maine legal-notice rate statute outside Title 18-C has not been read; recorded as an open job | 7 Aug 2026 |
| BondPersonal representative bond | Not required unless the will or the court requires it
|
No bond unless the will or the court requires it; amount is a statutory floor | 18-C M.R.S. §3-603, §3-604 and §3-605 §3-619(7), public administrators, is named in the section and has not been read | 7 Aug 2026 |
The filing fee is charged per petition or application, not once per estate. The section says so in terms — the fee is for receiving and entering each petition or application — and a further formal proceeding carries its own $50.00 charge on top.
How the Maine sources are linked. The Maine Legislature publishes the Revised Statutes with a stable address for each section, so every source above points at the exact section we read.
What can change the bill — allowances, waivers and one-off charges
- Certificate of appointment — $10.00 for each certificate under seal of the court, and $20.00 for each double certificate. This is the document banks and registries ask for, so most estates buy several.
- Certifying a document to the registry of deeds — $20.00, plus the recording fee under Title 33 §751, for copies of devises of real estate, abstracts of petitions for appointment or for an elective share, and any other document that has to be certified.
- Copies of court records — $1.00 for each page.
- Any further formal proceeding — $50.00, charged for filing it.
- A subsequent informal appointment — $50.00.
- Petition for an elective share — $120.00.
- You may not have to pay at all. Where the estate is worth no more than 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 personal representative may distribute immediately without giving notice to creditors — which removes the publication cost and the four-month wait entirely.
18-C M.R.S. §1-602(1), (3), (4), (9), (10) and (11); §3-1203 — Maine Revised Statutes · Verified 7 Aug 2026
What changes YOUR number in Maine
- The filing fee is the figure Maine actually publishes
- Most states leave compensation to the market and print the filing fee in a court schedule. Maine does the opposite of the second half: the filing fee is in the code, band by band, amended by the legislature. An estate of $500,000.00 pays $625.00 where a $50,000.00 estate pays $125.00.
- Band R does not read cleanly, and we have not tidied it
- The top band says the fee is $1,200.00 where the value is more than $2,000,000.00, and then expresses the $250.00 step as running for every increase of $500,000.00 or part of it above $2,500,000.00. Those two figures do not meet. We print the section as it reads rather than choosing which of them the drafter meant.
- Renouncing a fee clause in the will has to happen first
- Where the will names the representative fee and there was no separate contract with the person who died, the right to renounce that clause and take reasonable compensation instead exists only before qualifying. Accept the appointment and the will clause holds. The separate right to give up the fee, in whole or in part, stays open and is filed in writing with the court.
- The bond demand freezes the job, not just the wallet
- Maine is the first state in this database where the demand for a bond carries a dollar gate and a power freeze. An interested person with more than $5,000.00 at stake, or a creditor owed more than that, files a written demand — and from the moment you have notice you must stop exercising the powers of the office except to preserve the estate. Thirty days without a suitable bond is cause for removal.
- The small-estate limit is not a number, and the year of death decides it
- The section prints $40,000.00, but that figure is adjusted for inflation and the adjustment is keyed to the calendar year immediately before the year of death — not the year you file. A death in 2017 or 2018 takes the base unchanged. After that the base moves by the change in the consumer price index from calendar year 2017, and the result is rounded to a multiple of $100.00, down where it is an increase and up where it is a decrease.
- The second shortcut has a one-year tail
- The summary route closes on a sworn statement, but the appointment itself does not end until one year after that statement is filed, and only if no action or proceeding involving the representative is pending. The cost is time and continued accountability rather than money.
Maine publishes the formula, not the number
Maine publishes the formula, not the number. The base is $40,000.00 of the entire estate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, adjusted for inflation to the year before the year of death and rounded down to the next $100.00 — the court applies the current result. No state table of adjusted figures exists, because the statute runs itself off a federal index.
- The affidavit route also needs 30 days to have passed since the death, no application or petition for a personal representative pending or granted anywhere, and a claiming successor entitled to the property.
- The adjustment is keyed to the year of death, not the year of filing. No adjustment applies for a death in 2017 or 2018.
- Rounding runs one way on an increase and the other on a decrease: down to the next multiple of $100.00 where the figure rises, up where it falls.
- Since PL 2025 c.76 each county probate court has to publish the current value on its own website, so the county court page is where a Maine reader gets today number.
- A payor who pays out on the affidavit is protected, and the person who receives the property answers to a later personal representative or to anyone with a superior right.
- A second route carries no dollar limit at all. Where the inventory and appraisal show the estate is worth no more than the allowances plus administration costs, funeral expenses and last-illness medical and hospital expenses, the representative may distribute at once without notice to creditors and close by sworn statement.
- That second route is not free of duty: it needs an appointed personal representative and an inventory, and the appointment does not terminate until one year after the closing statement is filed.
Any Maine guide that prints $40,000.00 as the small-estate limit is printing the base, not the limit. The operative ceiling is that base moved by inflation to the year before the year of death. We do not compute it here — a figure we produced ourselves would be ours, not the State.
18-C M.R.S. §3-1201(1) and (3), §1-108, §3-1202, §3-1203 and §3-1204 — Maine Revised Statutes · Verified 8 Aug 2026
Check your own estate against the Maine route →
Three tools, in the order most people need them
Maine probate cost questions
How much does an executor get paid in Maine?
There is no schedule. The personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for services, and the code prints no percentage and no band. Two renunciation rights sit in the same section: where the will names a fee and there was no contract with the person who died, the representative can renounce that clause before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead, and the representative can give up the fee in whole or in part by a written renunciation filed with the court.
Does Maine set probate attorney fees by statute?
No. Part 7 of article 3 runs from section 3-701 to section 3-721 and contains no attorney compensation section. What exists is a review power: on the petition of an interested person, or on the court own motion where the administration is supervised, the court may review whether employing the attorney was proper and whether the compensation was reasonable, and may order a refund of excessive compensation. Six factors govern that review.
What does it cost to file for probate in Maine?
Maine publishes the filing fee as a statutory schedule on the value of the estate, running from 40 dollars at or under 10,000 dollars to 1,200 dollars above 2 million. A 40,000 dollar estate pays 95 dollars, a 500,000 dollar estate pays 625 dollars. Filing a will with no probate is 15 dollars and filing a will to be probated without an appointment is 20 dollars. The fee is charged for receiving and entering each petition or application.
Does an executor need a bond in Maine?
Usually not. No bond is required in an informal proceeding unless a special administrator is appointed, the will expressly requires one, or a bond is demanded under section 3-605. Where a bond is required and no amount is named, you file a sworn estimate of the personal estate plus the income the estate expects over the next year, and the bond must be for not less than that estimate. Anyone with more than 5,000 dollars at stake can demand a bond, and until it is filed you must stop exercising the powers of the office.
What is the small estate limit in Maine?
Maine publishes the formula rather than the number. The base is 40,000 dollars of the entire estate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, adjusted for inflation to the calendar year immediately before the year of death and rounded to a multiple of 100 dollars, down where the figure rises. The limit therefore depends on when the person died, not on when you file, and each county probate court now publishes the current value on its own website.
Sources & verification
Every figure on this page was checked against the official source on the date shown. Maine statutes are published by the Maine Legislature with a stable address for each section.
- Attorney fee — 18-C M.R.S. §3-721 legislature.maine.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · the negative rests on the article 3 part 7 contents list read alongside the section · annual statutory re-check
- Personal representative compensation — 18-C M.R.S. §3-719 legislature.maine.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · annual statutory re-check
- Court filing fee and the side charges — 18-C M.R.S. §1-602, read with §1-608 legislature.maine.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · amended PL 2021 c.250 §1 · annual statutory re-check
- Publication — 18-C M.R.S. §3-801 legislature.maine.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · a Maine legal-notice rate statute outside Title 18-C has not been read and is carried as an open job
- Bond — 18-C M.R.S. §3-603, with §3-604 and §3-605 legislature.maine.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · §3-619(7) named in the section and not read
- Small estate, affidavit route and the inflation mechanic — 18-C M.R.S. §3-1201, read with §1-108 and §3-1202 legislature.maine.govVerified 8 Aug 2026 · PL 2025 c.76 raised the base and added the county publication duty · re-check annually, the figure moves with the index
- Small estate, summary route and closing — 18-C M.R.S. §3-1203, read with §3-1204 legislature.maine.govVerified 8 Aug 2026 · no dollar figure in either section · 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 Maine. Full terms: /disclaimer/ · Privacy
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