Probate has a strange reputation. Ask what it costs and you’ll get horror stories, sales pitches, and the phrase “it depends” — usually from someone hoping you’ll call them before you find out.
Here is the part nobody leads with: in every state, most probate costs are either set by law or published by the court. Filing fees sit on official fee schedules. A handful of states set attorney and executor fees by statutory formula, down to the dollar. Even where fees aren’t fixed, the rules that govern them are public.
ProbateTerra exists to put those public numbers in one place, in plain English, with the source one click away.
How this site works
Every figure you see here was checked by a person against the official source — the statute on the legislature’s own site, or the court’s published fee schedule. Next to every figure you’ll find the citation and the date it was verified. If a figure isn’t verified, it isn’t published. There is no exception to this.
Research on this site is AI-assisted. Verification is not. A person clicks every source link and confirms every published figure against the official page before it goes live. You can read the full standard on our methodology page.
What we will never do
We will never sell you the answer. Every figure on this site is free, on the page, before any sign-up form.
We will never guess. Where a state sets a fee by formula, we show the formula. Where it doesn’t, we say so plainly and show you what is actually fixed by law. A range only appears here if an official source supports it.
We will never give you legal advice. We tell you what things cost and what changes the number. Whether to open probate, contest a will, or take an executor fee — those are questions for a licensed attorney in your state, and this site will always say so.
Who runs it
ProbateTerra is researched and verified by its editor, who writes under the pen name John Terra. No law degree is claimed here, because none is needed to read a fee schedule and link to it. What matters is the process, not the name: one person clicks every source and stamps every date, and the methodology page explains every step.
Spotted a figure that’s gone stale? Email contact@probateterra.com. Confirmed corrections are fixed within 72 hours and logged.