How much does probate cost in North Dakota?
7 Aug 2026
North Dakota fixes neither professional fee — both the attorney and the personal representative are paid what is reasonable — and the court’s own charge is flat at $160.00 whatever the estate is worth. What the state does publish is the price of the newspaper notice: $0.92 a line as the standard rate.
The filing fee sits in the clerk-of-court title rather than the probate code, and the section never says the word probate: a probate petition is charged under the catch-all for filing a case for decision. Publication itself is optional here, and the choice is priced in time rather than money — publishing cuts the creditor window to three months from first publication, and not publishing leaves claims open for three years from the death.
N.D. Cent. Code §30.1-18-19 and §27-05.2-03 — North Dakota Century Code, published by the North Dakota Legislative Branch · Verified 7 Aug 2026
Informational only, not legal advice. Figures verified on the date stamped. Details: /disclaimer/
Work it out on your own number
Nothing on this page computes from the estate value. The two figures North Dakota publishes are flat: the court fee and the standard legal-notice rate.
| Filing a case for decision — the probate petition, §27-05.2-03(1)(a) | $160.00 |
| Any later matter filed with the clerk, §27-05.2-03(1)(f) | $20.00 |
| Preparing, certifying, issuing or transmitting a document, (1)(g) | $20.00 |
| Legal notice — standard base line rate, to 30 June 2027 | $0.92 |
| Legal notice — column inch, large daily, to 30 June 2027 | $15.18 |
| Legal notice — column inch, small daily, to 30 June 2027 | $10.30 |
| Legal notice — column inch, weekly, to 30 June 2027 | $7.44 |
Worked through: the court fee is $160.00 on an estate of $10,000.00 and $160.00 on an estate of $1,000,000.00 — the value never enters it. The published notice rates rose from $0.89 to $0.92 a line, from $14.70 to $15.18 a column inch in a large daily, from $9.98 to $10.30 in a small daily and from $7.21 to $7.44 in a weekly on 1 July 2026, an increase of 3.25 per cent a year across the biennium.
The notice rates above are the state’s standard figures and they expire on 30 June 2027. Each newspaper holds its own certificate, calculated by the Office of Management and Budget from that paper’s column width, font size and font style, and the certificate is the rate it must bill you at — so the paper’s figure can sit either side of the standard. The state’s own guidance is to check the invoice against the certificate.
What each part costs
Every row is one figure, one source, one date. Where North Dakota fixes no price, the row says so instead of guessing.
| Fee | Amount or formula | Set by | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attorney feeOrdinary services | No statutory rateNorth Dakota sets no rate. The fee is agreed and tested for reasonableness on review under §30.1-18-21, which reaches the propriety of employing any attorney, auditor, investment adviser or other specialised agent and the reasonableness of what they were paid. One duty is unusual and it is a real protection: if the amount of the attorney’s fee is based on the value of the estate, the fee agreement must be in writing and mailed to all parties who are heirs under the will, and where the decedent died intestate, notice must go to all heirs under chapter 30.1-03. Anyone who has received excessive compensation may be ordered to make appropriate refunds. Separately, §30.1-18-20 lets a representative who prosecutes or defends a proceeding in good faith, successfully or not, recover necessary expenses including reasonable attorney fees from the estate. | Agreement, with a written-agreement duty where the fee runs on estate value | N.D. Cent. Code §30.1-18-21, with §30.1-18-20 Chapter PDF with a per-section named destination | 7 Aug 2026 |
| Executor or personal representativeCompensation for services | Reasonable compensationA personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for services. The section publishes no percentage, no bands and no factor list — shorter drafting than most Uniform Probate Code states, which carry a seven-factor test in the same place. Reasonableness is tested on review under §30.1-18-21. Where a will provides compensation and there is no contract with the decedent, the representative may renounce that provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead, and may renounce the right to all or any part of the compensation, filing the written renunciation with the court. | Agreement with the estate, reviewable by the court | N.D. Cent. Code §30.1-18-19 Uniform Probate Code §3-719 as enacted in North Dakota | 7 Aug 2026 |
| Court filing feePetition for probate or appointment | $160.00 flatCharged under §27-05.2-03(1)(a), for filing a case for decision that is not a dissolution petition or a small claim — the section never uses the word probate, and the probate code sends the reader to it for the petition fee. Of the $160.00, $30.00 goes to the civil legal services fund and $130.00 to the state general fund. Flat at every estate value. Later per-item charges: $20.00 for any other matter filed with the clerk, and $20.00 for preparing, certifying, issuing or transmitting a document. No fee is charged to the state, an agency, a political subdivision or its agency. The North Dakota Supreme Court doubled this fee from $80.00 with effect from 1 July 2025; the increase is in the text read at source. | Statute — flat, under the general civil catch-all | N.D. Cent. Code §27-05.2-03 Fees sit in title 27, the clerk of district court title, not the probate code | 7 Aug 2026 |
| Newspaper publicationNotice to creditors | $0.92 a line, standard rate through 30 June 2027Publication is optional here. The representative may publish notice to creditors but the law does not require it; if you publish, the newspaper sets the rate — within a state cap. Standard rate $0.92 a line, set for the state’s two-year budget cycle (through 30 June 2027). Each newspaper’s certified rate can differ — the paper quotes its own. By the column inch the standard rates are $15.18 in a large daily, $10.30 in a small daily and $7.44 in a weekly. The Office of Management and Budget issues each qualified paper a certificate computed from its column width, font size and font style, and the paper must bill at the rate, type size and column width on it; charging outside the rules brings a fine of between $25.00 and $200.00 and forfeiture of all pay for the printing. Choosing to publish runs the notice once a week for three successive weeks and cuts the creditor window to three months; not publishing leaves claims arising before death open for three years. The paper must also post the notice on the statewide legal-notices website at no additional cost — and that posting is a valid substitute if the newspaper fails to publish. | The newspaper, on a rate certified by the Office of Management and Budget | N.D. OMB, 2025-2027 Legal Notice Standard Rates, issued under N.D. Cent. Code §46-05-03, with §46-05-04, §46-05-06, §46-05-09 and §30.1-19-01 Standard rates expire 30 June 2027 · §46-05-04 applies the cap to legal notices of any kind, which reaches a probate notice to creditors | 8 Aug 2026 |
| BondPersonal representative bond | No bond in informal proceedings, with three exceptions
|
No bond unless the will, the court or a demand requires it; amount is a statutory floor | N.D. Cent. Code §30.1-17-04, with §30.1-17-03 and §30.1-17-05 All three render on the same chapter PDF | 7 Aug 2026 |
A demand for bond stops the estate, not just the paperwork. $1,000.00 of interest or claim is the lowest demand gate on this site, and once the demand lands the personal representative must stop exercising the powers of the office — everything except preserving the estate — until the bond is on file. No cure period is stated in the section.
How the North Dakota sources are linked. The Legislative Branch publishes each chapter as a single PDF with a named destination for every section, so the links above open the chapter and land on the section read.
What can change the bill — allowances, waivers and one-off charges
- Later filings — $20.00 for any matter filed with the clerk other than the opening case, and $20.00 for preparing, certifying, issuing or transmitting any document.
- The statewide legal-notices website — $0.00. The newspaper must post your notice there and on its own site at no additional cost, and a posting there stands as valid publication where the paper fails to run it.
- Newspaper overcharging — a paper that bills outside its certificate faces a fine of $25.00 to $200.00 and forfeits all pay for the printing. Check the invoice against the certificate.
- Additional publication ordered by county commissioners where a county has two or more qualified newspapers falls outside the standard-rate section entirely.
- No fee at all is charged to the state, an agency, a political subdivision or its agency.
- These aren’t costs — they’re amounts the law protects for the family before creditors, and they change what an estate actually pays out. North Dakota’s homestead allowance, exempt property and family allowance are the basis of the second small-estate route below; we print no figure for any of them because none has a verified row.
N.D. Cent. Code §27-05.2-03, §46-05-06, §46-05-07, §46-05-09, §30.1-23-03 — North Dakota Century Code · Verified 8 Aug 2026
What changes YOUR number in North Dakota
- A percentage fee agreement has to be put in writing and posted to the heirs
- This is the only state on this site with that duty. Where the attorney’s fee is based on the value of the estate, §30.1-18-21 requires the agreement to be in writing and mailed to all parties who are heirs under the will; on an intestacy, notice goes to all heirs under chapter 30.1-03. The heirs therefore see the basis of the charge before it is taken, and the same section lets any of them ask the court to review it.
- Publishing is optional, and the price of not publishing is time
- Section 30.1-19-01 says may. Publish and creditors whose identities are not reasonably ascertainable have three months from first publication; skip it and claims arising before the death stay open for three years from the date of death. Publishing also triggers a second duty — you must mail the notice to creditors who are known or reasonably ascertainable and have not already claimed.
- The notice rate is capped, dated, and specific to your newspaper
- The figures on this page are the state’s standard rates for the year to 30 June 2027. The operative rate for any given paper is its own certificate, computed from that paper’s column width, font size and font style, which is why two papers running the same notice can charge different amounts and both be within the law. On 1 July 2027 the next biennium’s rates take effect and these figures are stale.
- The website posting can carry the notice on its own
- Section 46-05-09 requires the paper to place your notice on the statewide legal-notices website at no additional cost, and goes further than most states: a notice published on that website, or on a website maintained by the proper governmental unit, fulfils the publication requirement if the newspaper fails to publish it. An insubstantial error caused by the website placement and the paper’s fault does not affect validity.
- $1,000.00 is all it takes to force a bond, and the powers stop immediately
- Anyone apparently having an interest in the estate worth more than $1,000.00, or a creditor with a claim above it, can file a written demand with the court. From receipt of notice until the bond is filed the representative must refrain from exercising any powers of the office except as necessary to preserve the estate. The section states no cure period. The requirement lifts if the demanding person ceases to be interested, or if bond is excused under §30.1-17-03 or §30.1-17-04.
- The court fee is not a probate fee
- Section 27-05.2-03 lists dissolutions, answers, motions to modify support and small claims by name. Probate is charged under (1)(a), the catch-all for filing a case for decision, at $160.00. That is a builder call recorded rather than smoothed over: the number is right, but the state has not written a probate-specific figure.
- The widely reprinted small-estate figure is wrong
- Secondary sources put North Dakota’s affidavit limit at $50,000.00. Section 30.1-23-01, read at source, says one hundred thousand dollars. We publish what the statute says.
North Dakota’s affidavit limit is $100,000.00
Estates under $100,000.00 may qualify for the small-estate affidavit — and a second route with no dollar limit exists where the inventory and appraisal show the estate does not exceed the allowances, administration costs, funeral expenses and last-illness medical bills added together.
- Route one, §30.1-23-01 — the affidavit. Thirty days after the death, anyone indebted to the decedent or holding tangible personal property, or an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock or chose in action, must pay or deliver to a person claiming to be the successor on being presented the affidavit.
- The value test is the entire estate subject to distribution or succession under chapters 30.1-01 through 30.1-23, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, at $100,000.00 or under. No application or petition for appointment of a personal representative may be pending or granted in any jurisdiction.
- A transfer agent of any security must change the registered ownership on the books of a corporation or limited liability company on presentation of the affidavit.
- Route two, §30.1-23-03 — summary administration, no figure at all. It applies where the inventory and appraisal show the entire estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the homestead as defined in §47-18-01 plus exempt property under §30.1-07-01, family allowance, costs and expenses of administration, reasonable funeral expenses and the reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness.
- On route two the personal representative may disburse and distribute immediately without giving notice to creditors and file a closing statement under §30.1-23-04.
The figure you will find repeated elsewhere is $50,000.00, and it is not the law. Section 30.1-23-01, read at source, sets one hundred thousand dollars. If a form or a guide tells you otherwise, check the section itself.
N.D. Cent. Code §30.1-23-01, with §30.1-23-03 and §30.1-23-04 — North Dakota Century Code · Verified 7 Aug 2026
Check your own estate against the North Dakota routes →
Three tools, in the order most people need them
North Dakota probate cost questions
How much does an executor get paid in North Dakota?
Reasonable compensation for the work done, and the statute stops there. Section 30.1-18-19 publishes no percentage, no bands and no list of factors — it is shorter than the equivalent section in most Uniform Probate Code states, which drop in a seven-factor test. Reasonableness is tested on review under section 30.1-18-21 if an interested person asks. If the will names a fee and there is no contract with the decedent, the personal representative may renounce that provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead, and a written renunciation of all or part of the fee may be filed with the court.
Does North Dakota set probate attorney fees by statute?
No, but it does regulate one thing no other state on this site regulates. There is no schedule; the fee is what is reasonable and the court can review it. What North Dakota adds is a disclosure duty: if the amount of the attorney’s fee is based on the value of the estate, the fee agreement must be in writing and mailed to all parties who are heirs under the will, and where there is no will, notice must be given to all heirs under chapter 30.1-03. Anyone who has received excessive compensation can be ordered to make refunds.
What does it cost to file for probate in North Dakota?
160 dollars, whatever the estate is worth. The fee section does not use the word probate: section 27-05.2-03(1)(a) charges 160 dollars for filing a case for decision that is not a divorce or a small claim, and the probate code sends you to that section for the petition fee. Later filings that are not the opening case are 20 dollars each, and preparing, certifying, issuing or transmitting a document is 20 dollars. The North Dakota Supreme Court lifted the filing fee from 80 dollars to 160 dollars with effect from 1 July 2025, and the figure here is the one in force.
What does it cost to publish a notice to creditors in North Dakota?
Publication is optional in North Dakota, and where you choose to publish the price is regulated. The Office of Management and Budget sets standard rates for legal notices: for the year running to 30 June 2027 they are 92 cents a line, or by the column inch 15.18 dollars in a large daily, 10.30 dollars in a small daily and 7.44 dollars in a weekly. Each newspaper also holds its own certificate worked out from its column width and type, and that certificate is what it must bill you at, so your paper’s figure can differ from the standard. A paper that charges outside the rules faces a fine and forfeits its pay for the printing.
What is the small estate limit in North Dakota?
100,000 dollars for the entire estate wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, on a sworn affidavit thirty days after the death, with no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative pending or granted anywhere. Widely reprinted guides put North Dakota at 50,000 dollars; the statute read at source says one hundred thousand. There is also a second route with no dollar limit at all, where the inventory and appraisal show the estate does not exceed the homestead allowance, exempt property, family allowance, costs of administration, reasonable funeral expenses and the medical and hospital expenses of the last illness added together.
Sources & verification
Every figure on this page was checked against the official source on the date shown. North Dakota publishes each Century Code chapter as a single PDF with a named destination for every section.
- Attorney fee — N.D. Cent. Code §30.1-18-21, with §30.1-18-20 ndlegis.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · carries the written-agreement and mailing duty where the fee is based on estate value · annual statutory re-check
- Executor compensation — N.D. Cent. Code §30.1-18-19 ndlegis.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · no percentage and no factor list in the section · annual statutory re-check
- Court filing fee — N.D. Cent. Code §27-05.2-03 ndlegis.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · probate is charged under the (1)(a) catch-all; the section never says probate · the 1 July 2025 increase from $80.00 to $160.00 is in the text read · annual re-check
- Publication rate — N.D. Office of Management and Budget, 2025-2027 Legal Notice Standard Rates omb.nd.govVerified 8 Aug 2026 · issued under §46-05-03, the section that names OMB as the rate-setting authority · hard re-check 30 June 2027, when the 2027-2029 biennium takes effect and these figures are stale
- Publication rule and requirement — N.D. Cent. Code §46-05-01, §46-05-03, §46-05-04, §46-05-06, §46-05-07 and §46-05-09, with §30.1-19-01 ndlegis.govVerified 8 Aug 2026 · §46-05-04 applies the rate rules to legal notices of any kind, which reaches a probate notice to creditors · biennial re-check, 1 July
- Bond — N.D. Cent. Code §30.1-17-04, with §30.1-17-03 and §30.1-17-05 ndlegis.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · the $1,000.00 demand gate and the power freeze are both in §30.1-17-05 · annual statutory re-check
- Small estate — N.D. Cent. Code §30.1-23-01, with §30.1-23-03 ndlegis.govVerified 7 Aug 2026 · the statute says one hundred thousand dollars; the $50,000.00 figure in circulation is not the law · 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 North Dakota. Full terms: /disclaimer/ · Privacy
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