How much does probate cost in Rhode Island?
7 Aug 2026
Rhode Island fixes neither fee — the executor gets what the probate court considers just — but it is the one state that charges a percentage as its court fee: 1.0% of the personal property, never less than $30.00 and never more than $1,500.00.
The base is the personal property the court has jurisdiction over, not the gross estate and not real estate, so the ceiling binds from $150,000.00 of personal property upwards and the floor binds below $3,000.00. You pay it before the petition is filed, on your own estimate, and the court revises it up or down when the true figure appears. That one payment covers all later filing and recording in the same case.
R.I. Gen. Laws §33-22-21(a) and §33-14-8 — Rhode Island General Laws, published by the Rhode Island General Assembly · Verified 7 Aug 2026
Informational only, not legal advice. Figures verified on the date stamped. Details: /disclaimer/
Work it out on your own number
Rhode Island is a computed-court-fee state, and the computation is a percentage rather than a band. The compensation rows return no number; the court fee does.
| Petition for appointment, or for probate of a will — of the personal property | 1.0% |
| Never less than | $30.00 |
| Never more than | $1,500.00 |
| Foreign administrator, executor or guardian petitioning to transfer or sell — of the personal property located in Rhode Island | 1.0% |
| Certificate of appointment | $5.00 |
| Copies, per page | $1.50 |
| Certifying a probate document on file | $3.00 |
| Petition to file a claim out of time, removal of a fiduciary, filing a will with no probate, affidavit of complete administration — each | $30.00 |
Worked through: the floor binds at or below $3,000.00 of personal property and the ceiling binds at or above $150,000.00. So $1,000.00 of personal property is charged $30.00; $15,000.00 is charged $150.00; $50,000.00 is charged $500.00; $150,000.00 is charged $1,500.00; and $250,000.00, $1,000,000.00 or anything above is charged the same $1,500.00.
The base is the personal property the court has jurisdiction over — not the gross estate. Real estate is outside it. Feeding the calculator a total estate value that includes a house will overstate the Rhode Island court fee, and above $150,000.00 it will make no difference at all because the ceiling has already bound.
What each part costs
Every row is one figure, one source, one date. Where Rhode Island fixes no price, the row says so instead of guessing.
| Fee | Amount or formula | Set by | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attorney feeOrdinary services | No statutory rateRhode Island sets no rate. The Title 33 chapter list runs 33-1 to 33-28 with no attorney compensation chapter, and chapter 33-14 runs §33-14-1 to §33-14-13 with no attorney fee section. The standard comes from §33-14-6: executors and administrators are allowed in their accounts all reasonable and proper charges and disbursements made for the funeral and in the execution of their trust — the attorney fee is a disbursement in the execution of the trust, allowed if reasonable and proper. There is no figure, no cap and no factor list. Note that §33-14-7 is not a general fee rule: it covers one situation only, an appeal from an order admitting or refusing a will, and it reimburses the executor own counsel costs out of the estate. | Agreement, allowed on the account as reasonable and proper | R.I. Gen. Laws §33-14-6, read with §33-14-7 Negative anchored on the Title 33 chapter list and the chapter 33-14 section list | 8 Aug 2026 |
| Executor or administratorCompensation for services | What the probate court considers justOne sentence, and it is the shortest compensation section in this database: executors and administrators shall also be allowed in their accounts such compensation for their services as the probate court shall consider just. No percentage, no band, no cap, no factors. You claim it in the account you file and the local judge allows what he or she considers just — and in Rhode Island the probate courts are the city and town courts, so that judge is a local one. There is one route where the answer flips to zero: a voluntary administrator on the small-estate route serves without any fee at all. | The probate court, on the account | R.I. Gen. Laws §33-14-8 Unamended since the 1956 general revision | 9 Aug 2026 |
| Court filing feePetition for appointment or probate of a will | 1.0% of the personal property, $30.00 to $1,500.00A statutory percentage rather than a flat charge, and the only one in this database. One per cent of the personal property of the decedent over which the court has jurisdiction — not the gross estate and not real estate — with a $30.00 floor and a $1,500.00 ceiling. The ceiling binds from $150,000.00 of personal property upwards; the floor binds below $3,000.00. It is paid before the petition is filed, on estimates you submit, and it is revised whenever those estimates turn out to be wrong, with a further payment or a rebate made promptly. The court may cite in and examine any fiduciary to determine the full fee due. That single payment stands in lieu of all subsequent filing and recording fees in the same proceeding. Where a custodian is appointed pending an administrator, the fee paid on that petition is credited against the later one. | Statute — a percentage with a floor and a ceiling | R.I. Gen. Laws §33-22-21(a) and (c) Amended P.L. 2014 ch. 351 and ch. 398 · county variance flagged, see §33-22-25 | 7 Aug 2026 |
| Newspaper publicationNotice by advertisement | 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. The court places the notice and designates the paper by general rule or special order — and Rhode Island adds something no other state does: where a newspaper has furnished the court with a definite schedule of prices for this advertising, the court requires the cost to be paid to the clerk in advance and pays the newspaper each month on proof that the notice ran as ordered. So the price is knowable from the court, even though it appears nowhere in the code. The notice runs once a week for at least two weeks, the first at least fourteen days before the first hearing date in it, in a newspaper printed in English and circulating in the city or town, or of general circulation in the county. | The newspaper, on a price list filed with the court | R.I. Gen. Laws §33-22-11 Amended four times in P.L. 2014 · New Shoreham has its own newspaper rule | 7 Aug 2026 |
| BondExecutor, administrator or guardian bond | Required of everyone, in any sum the court requires
|
Court discretion, with a statutory surety exemption | R.I. Gen. Laws §33-17-1, with §33-17-1.2, §33-17-3, §33-17-4, §33-17-5 and §33-17-10 Chapter 33-8 read and contains no bond section · most of chapter 33-17 unamended since 1956 | 9 Aug 2026 |
A Rhode Island will that says the executor serves without bond does not remove the bond. §33-17-4 says it exempts the executor from giving surety only. You still file the bond; what you avoid is buying a bonding company guarantee — which is the part that costs money — and the court can order surety at any time regardless.
How the Rhode Island sources are linked. The General Assembly serves a clean page for each section at a stable address, 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 — $5.00 for every certificate. Copies are $1.50 a page and certifying a probate document on file is $3.00.
- Later petitions — $30.00 each for filing a claim out of time, removing a fiduciary, filing a will with no probate, an affidavit of complete administration, filling a trustee vacancy or terminating a will trust, and a petition for tax minimisation or estate planning.
- The small-estate route — $30.00 to file the sworn statement and $5.00 for the certification of appointment: $35.00 in all.
- You may not have to pay at all — for the executor fee, at least. A voluntary administrator on either small-estate route serves without fee for his or her services, by statute.
- These aren’t costs — they’re amounts the law protects for the family before creditors, and they change what an estate actually pays out. Where there is no will, the surplus personal estate is divided with $50,000.00 plus half the remainder going to a surviving spouse where the person died without issue, and half the surplus where there was issue.
- Administration costs are paid before other claims — the fees on this page come out first. §33-12-11 deducts the charges of administration, and any property set off to the widow and family, before the preference order begins, so they rank ahead of funeral charges, the last sickness, taxes and every creditor class.
R.I. Gen. Laws §33-22-21(a) and (c); §33-24-1(b) and (e); §33-12-11; §33-1-10 — Rhode Island General Laws · Verified 9 Aug 2026
What changes YOUR number in Rhode Island
- The court fee is a percentage, and the base is narrower than you think
- One per cent sounds small until you notice there is no flat alternative. What keeps it small is the base: the personal property the court has jurisdiction over. A house is outside it. An estate of $600,000.00 whose main asset is a home may carry very little personal property and pay close to the $30.00 floor.
- The ceiling binds earlier than most people expect
- One per cent of $150,000.00 is $1,500.00, which is the statutory maximum. Every estate with more personal property than that pays exactly the same court fee — $1,500.00 — whether the personal property is $250,000.00 or $1,000,000.00.
- You pay on your own estimate, and the court trues it up
- The fee is due before the petition is filed and is calculated from estimates you submit. It is then subject to revision whenever it appears the estimates were incorrect, with a further payment or a rebate made promptly, and the court may cite in any fiduciary to determine the full fee due. Under-estimating does not save money; it defers it.
- One payment covers the rest of the case
- The section says the fee is in lieu of all subsequent filing and recording fees in the same proceedings, except as the section itself provides. That is why the later charges on this page are $30.00 items for genuinely separate petitions rather than a running series of filing fees.
- Bond and surety are two different things here
- Rhode Island separates them, and the distinction decides what you spend. Everyone files a bond. Only some people buy a surety. A will excuses the surety, not the bond; intestacy excuses the surety automatically for a surviving spouse or sole heir; any other heir-at-law can ask, and the court weighs the number of heirs, their relationship, whether there is conflict between them, and the size of the estate.
- Two deadlines in the bond chapter carry removal with them
- Thirty days from appointment without an approved bond on file and the court may adjudge that you have declined the trust. Later, if the bond is insufficient in amount or in security, the court shall require further bond and shall remove you without further notice if you do not give it. Both are mandatory on the court, not discretionary.
- The $50,000.00 figure in Rhode Island law is not a small-estate limit
- It is an intestate share — the sum a surviving spouse takes from the surplus personal estate where the person died without issue, plus half the remainder. It is the figure a Rhode Island reader is most likely to mistake for a threshold. The small-estate ceiling is $15,000.00.
Rhode Island runs one $15,000.00 threshold across two routes
Estates under $15,000.00 may qualify for the voluntary administrator route. The value base is unusual and it matters: personal property only, exclusive of tangible personal property, measured as it would be listed on a probate inventory. Household goods and vehicles come out of the count entirely, and any real estate disqualifies the estate outright.
- Route one, §33-24-1 — no will. A surviving spouse, child, grandchild, parent, brother, sister, niece, nephew, aunt or uncle, or any interested party, if of full age and legal capacity and resident in Rhode Island, may act 30 days after the death provided no petition for letters has been filed.
- Route two, §33-24-2 — with a will. Same $15,000.00, same base, same 30 days. The person named executor acts, or the named alternate, or failing them the same list of relatives. The original will must be filed with the sworn statement, and an executor living outside the state must appoint a resident agent.
- Both routes cost $30.00 to file and $5.00 for the certification of appointment — $35.00 in all. A judge reviews the statement; no hearing is required, though the judge may call one.
- The order of payment is fixed: the necessary expenses of the funeral, the last sickness and the administration come first, then the debts in the §33-12-11 order, then the balance is distributed — under the will on route two, and under §33-1-10 on route one.
- You serve without fee. Both sections say so in terms.
- You are liable as an executor in your own wrong to everyone aggrieved, and you remain answerable to any executor or administrator later appointed. This is a duty, not just a shortcut.
- A payor who pays out on the statement is discharged, unless a duly appointed executor has already made written demand first.
The $50,000.00 figure that appears in Rhode Island probate law is not a small-estate limit. §33-1-10 gives a surviving spouse $50,000.00 from the surplus personal estate plus half the remainder where the person died without issue. That is an intestate share. The small-estate ceiling is $15,000.00.
R.I. Gen. Laws §33-24-1 and §33-24-2, read with §33-9-1, §33-12-11 and §33-1-10 — Rhode Island General Laws · Verified 9 Aug 2026
Check your own estate against the Rhode Island route →
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Rhode Island probate cost questions
How much does an executor get paid in Rhode Island?
Whatever the probate court considers just. Section 33-14-8 is a single sentence with no percentage, no band, no cap and no list of factors — the shortest compensation section we have met. You claim the compensation in the account you file and the judge allows what he or she considers just. Rhode Island probate courts are the city and town courts, so that judge is a local one. On the small-estate route the answer is different: a voluntary administrator serves without any fee.
Does Rhode Island set probate attorney fees by statute?
No. The Title 33 chapter list contains no attorney compensation chapter and chapter 33-14 contains no attorney fee section. The attorney fee is a disbursement made in the execution of the trust, allowed on the account under section 33-14-6 if it is reasonable and proper. Section 33-14-7 is not a general rule — it covers only an appeal from an order admitting or refusing a will.
What does it cost to file for probate in Rhode Island?
One per cent of the personal property the court has jurisdiction over, never less than 30 dollars and never more than 1,500 dollars. The ceiling binds from 150,000 dollars of personal property upwards and the floor binds below 3,000 dollars. Real estate is not in the base. You pay it before the petition is filed, on your own estimate, and the court revises it if the estimate was wrong. That single payment covers all later filing and recording in the same proceeding.
Does a will that waives bond work in Rhode Island?
Only partly, and this is the point most guides miss. Section 33-17-4 says an order or request in a will that the executor be exempt from giving bond or surety exempts the executor from giving surety only. The bond itself still has to be filed. What the will removes is the paid-for part, the bonding company guarantee, and even that the court may require at any time.
What is the small estate limit in Rhode Island?
15,000 dollars, and it runs across two routes split by whether there is a will. The base is personal property only, excluding tangible personal property, so household goods and vehicles are not counted — but any real estate disqualifies the estate. You wait 30 days, file a sworn statement, pay 30 dollars to file and 5 dollars for the certificate, serve without a fee, and remain personally answerable to anyone your handling of the estate harms.
Sources & verification
Every figure on this page was checked against the official source on the date shown. The Rhode Island General Assembly serves a clean page for each section at a stable address.
- Attorney fee — R.I. Gen. Laws §33-14-6 and §33-14-7 webserver.rilegislature.govVerified 8 Aug 2026 · negative anchored on the Title 33 chapter list and the chapter 33-14 section list · annual statutory re-check
- Executor compensation — R.I. Gen. Laws §33-14-8 webserver.rilegislature.govVerified 9 Aug 2026 · unamended since the 1956 general revision · low re-check priority
- Court filing fee — R.I. Gen. Laws §33-22-21 webserver.rilegislature.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · amended P.L. 2014 ch. 351 and ch. 398 · §33-22-25 lets a city or town take probate fees into its own treasury, so practice varies locally · annual statutory re-check
- Publication — R.I. Gen. Laws §33-22-11 webserver.rilegislature.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · amended four times in P.L. 2014 · annual statutory re-check
- Bond — R.I. Gen. Laws §33-17-1, with §33-17-1.2, §33-17-3, §33-17-4, §33-17-5 and §33-17-10 webserver.rilegislature.govVerified 9 Aug 2026 · chapter 33-8 read and contains no bond section · most recent amendment P.L. 1999 ch. 484 §2 · low re-check priority
- Small estate, both routes — R.I. Gen. Laws §33-24-1 and §33-24-2 webserver.rilegislature.govVerified 9 Aug 2026 · the 30 dollar filing charge and the 5 dollar certificate ride inside these sections · annual statutory re-check
- Order of payment of debts, and the intestate share — R.I. Gen. Laws §33-12-11 and §33-1-10, with §33-9-1 webserver.rilegislature.govVerified 9 Aug 2026 · the 50,000 dollar figure in §33-1-10 is an intestate share, not a small-estate ceiling
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 Rhode Island. Full terms: /disclaimer/ · Privacy
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