Do you need a lawyer for probate?
19 Jul 2026
Seven states publish what a probate attorney may be paid. The other forty-three leave it to “reasonable compensation” a judge can review — which means the price is set in your engagement letter, not in the statute.
That difference is the whole of the cost question. Where a schedule exists the number can be worked before you hire anyone: on a $500,000 estate it runs from $10,120.00 in Iowa to $15,000.00 in Florida. Where none exists there is no published figure at all, and anyone quoting a national average is guessing. Whether you need counsel is a separate question, and it turns on the estate rather than on the price — the size, the route, whether the will is contested, and whether the estate is small enough to skip full probate entirely.
Figures are carried from the fifty state pages, each of which cites its own statute. The stamp shows the oldest verification date behind any figure quoted here.
Informational only, not legal advice. Figures verified on the date stamped. Details: /disclaimer/
Work the fee before you take the meeting
If your state publishes a schedule, you can walk into the first conversation already knowing the statutory number. Put your own estate value in and the calculator works the bands, names what the statute calls the figure, and cites the section underneath.
Where your state publishes no attorney schedule, the calculator says so plainly and shows what is fixed instead — the court’s filing fee, the bond, the creditor notice and the small-estate shortcut. It does not fill the gap with an estimate.
The seven states that print the attorney’s number
On an estate of $500,000, worked band by band from each state’s own statute. Read the middle column before the right one — it changes what the number means.
| State | What the statute calls it | Attorney fee |
|---|---|---|
| Florida presumed reasonable, not mandatory | presumed | $15,000.00 |
| Arkansas applies unless contracted otherwise | default, adjustable | $14,050.00 |
| Missouri a floor the court must exceed where reasonable | minimum | $14,050.00 |
| California fixed by law | exact | $13,000.00 |
| Nevada only on a written fee agreement the court approves | elective | $13,000.00 |
| Wyoming a floor, and no ceiling | minimum | $10,350.00 |
| Iowa a ceiling the court allows up to | maximum | $10,120.00 |
Wyoming is the one to look at twice: the same schedule runs again for the executor under a second section, so the true statutory cost of the two roles together is $20,700.00 rather than $10,350.00. California does the same thing at $13,000.00 each. Reading one line alone underestimates it by half.
What actually decides it
- Whether the estate clears the small-estate line
- Forty-eight states publish a limit under which an affidavit or a lighter administration replaces full probate. Below the line there is often no court case to run and no attorney fee to argue about. The line is not small in every state: it reaches $400,000 in Wyoming, $208,850 in California and $200,000 in Arizona and Iowa. It is $15,000 in Rhode Island. Check yours before you assume anything.
- Whether the route is an affidavit or a court administration
- These are not the same thing. Iowa’s simplified route is still a court administration with an appointed representative and issued letters. South Carolina’s affidavit needs the probate judge’s approval and countersignature. Arizona runs three routes with two different waiting periods. The paperwork burden is the real variable, and it is what people are usually buying help with.
- Whether the base the fee is charged on is the one you assumed
- California computes on the gross value of the estate accounted for, with debts and mortgages not deducted, so a mortgaged house counts at its full value. Nevada charges the executor on the estate less liens and encumbrances but the attorney on a different base. Where you are paying a percentage, the base moves the bill more than the rate does.
- Whether the will names a fee, or the state charges twice
- In California and Wyoming the attorney and the representative are paid on the same schedule, so the statutory cost of the two roles is double the headline. Elsewhere the will may fix the representative’s pay and bind whoever accepts without renouncing. These are the places where an hour of advice is cheap relative to the mistake.
In the other forty-three states, here is what is fixed
No published attorney formula does not mean no published costs. These are set by statute or by the court’s own schedule, and every one is on your state page with its source:
- the court’s filing feeTwenty states charge one flat amount whatever the estate is worth, from $45.00 in Alabama to $435.00 in California. Others scale it with the estate, and seven publish no single statewide figure because the price is set county by county.
- the executor’s feeTwenty-three states publish a rule for it even where they publish nothing for the attorney. Twenty-one of those can be worked to the dollar — the figures are in the executor fees guide.
- the creditor noticeThe statute usually fixes how often the notice runs and for how long; in most states the newspaper sets the price within that. Some states cap the rate, some hand the notice to the court, which places it and bills you what it was charged.
- the bondWhere the court requires one. It is commonly waived by the will, and where it is not, the premium is set on the amount of the bond rather than on the estate.
- the small-estate thresholdThe single most useful number on the page, because clearing it removes most of the rest. All fifty are in the small estate limits guide.
Start by finding out whether you need probate at all
The cheapest probate is the one that does not happen. Forty-eight states publish a threshold under which a shorter process applies, and three of them carry a second route with no dollar limit at all. Thirty seconds will tell you which side of the line you are on.
Three tools, in the order most people need them
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.
Probate lawyer questions
Do you legally need a lawyer for probate?
In most states an executor may act without one, and no state page on this site records a statute that forces you to hire counsel. What the law does say is what a lawyer may be paid if you use one: seven states publish that figure in the statute, and forty-three leave it to reasonable compensation the court can review. Whether you should use one is a different question from whether you must, and it is one for an attorney licensed in your state.
How much does a probate lawyer cost?
In the seven schedule states you can work it to the dollar. On a $500,000 estate the statutory attorney fee is $15,000.00 in Florida, $14,050.00 in Arkansas and Missouri, $13,000.00 in California and Nevada, $10,350.00 in Wyoming and up to $10,120.00 in Iowa. Everywhere else there is no published formula, so the answer comes from the engagement letter rather than from the statute.
Is the statutory fee what I will actually pay?
Not necessarily, and the word beside the figure tells you which way it can move. The schedule is what the law presumes reasonable, not what every estate pays — many settle below it, and the court can allow less. Missouri’s and Wyoming’s are floors the court must exceed where reasonable compensation is higher. Iowa’s is a ceiling. Nevada’s applies only where the representative signs a written fee agreement and the court approves it, and hourly is equally available.
Can I do probate myself?
Many people do, particularly where the estate is small enough for a simplified route. Forty-eight states publish a limit under which an affidavit or a lighter administration replaces the full process, and below that line there is usually no attorney fee to argue about. Above it, the work is real: inventories, creditor notice, accounts and distribution, on statutory deadlines.
What does a lawyer charge if my state has no schedule?
There is no published number to quote, and we do not invent one. Twenty-seven of the reasonable-compensation states publish no executor percentage either, so on those pages the fixed costs are what we can show: the court’s filing fee, the bond, the creditor notice and the small-estate threshold. Your state page lists each with its source.
Does the estate pay the lawyer, or do I?
The estate pays. Administration costs are paid before other claims, so the attorney fee comes out of the estate before the beneficiaries are paid, and the executor does not pay it personally. It does reduce what the beneficiaries receive.
How these figures are verified
Every figure on this page is carried from a state page, and every figure on a state page was checked against the official source — the statute, the court rule, or the court’s own published fee schedule — on the date stamped beside it. No figure appears anywhere on this site that has not been opened and read at its source first. Where a source publishes no figure, we print that absence rather than filling the gap with an estimate.
The sources for each figure are listed on that state’s own page, with a direct link and a date. Our re-check cadence, and what we do when a statute changes, are set out at /methodology/.
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 your state. Full terms: /disclaimer/
Next: executor fees by state and small estate limits by state, or the full picture at how much does probate cost — start with California, Florida or Missouri.