How Much Does Probate Cost in California? The Statutory Fee Schedule
California is one of a handful of states that sets probate fees by statute rather than by the hour. The result is predictable, which is good, and expensive, which is not. This article lays out the schedule, works an example, lists the other costs, and explains why so much California estate planning is aimed at avoiding the process altogether.
The statutory fee schedule
The Probate Code fixes the compensation of the attorney for the personal representative, and separately the compensation of the personal representative (the executor or administrator), for ordinary services. Both use the same percentages, applied to the value of the estate:
- 4% of the first $100,000;
- 3% of the next $100,000;
- 2% of the next $800,000;
- 1% of the next $9,000,000;
- ½% of the next $15,000,000; and
- a reasonable amount set by the court for everything above $25,000,000.
Because the attorney and the personal representative are each entitled to the schedule, the combined statutory fees for an estate are typically twice the figure the schedule produces. A family member serving as executor may waive the fee, and often does when they are also the main beneficiary, since the fee is taxable income to them while an inheritance is not.
The part people miss: gross value, not equity
The percentages are applied to the gross value of the estate as shown in the inventory and appraisal, plus gains on sales and income received during administration. Debts are not deducted. A house appraised at $900,000 with a $600,000 mortgage is a $900,000 asset for fee purposes, not a $300,000 one. In a state where a modest home routinely appraises at seven figures, this is the reason a probate with very little actual equity can still generate a large fee.
A worked example
Suppose an estate consists of a home appraised at $1,000,000 (with a $500,000 mortgage), $150,000 in bank and brokerage accounts, and a $30,000 car, for a gross estate of $1,180,000. The schedule yields:
- 4% of $100,000 = $4,000
- 3% of $100,000 = $3,000
- 2% of $800,000 = $16,000
- 1% of $180,000 = $1,800
That is $24,800 for the attorney and another $24,800 for the personal representative if the fee is taken, or $49,600 in statutory fees on an estate whose net value, after the mortgage, is $680,000.
Extraordinary fees
The statutory fee covers ordinary services. The court may award additional compensation for extraordinary services — selling real property, handling litigation or a will contest, preparing tax returns, dealing with a business, or managing a particularly complicated asset. Extraordinary fees are requested by petition, must be justified with time records, and are awarded in the court’s discretion. In a contested or complex estate they can exceed the statutory fee.
The other costs
- Court filing fees for the petition to open the estate and again for the petition for final distribution, each currently several hundred dollars, plus fees for certain other filings.
- Probate referee. California requires a court-appointed referee to appraise non-cash assets, for a fee set by statute at a small fraction of a percent of the appraised value, plus expenses.
- Publication of the notice of petition to administer the estate in a newspaper of general circulation, typically a few hundred dollars.
- Bond premium, if the will does not waive bond and the heirs do not agree to waive it.
- Certified copies, recording fees, and the costs of maintaining the property (insurance, utilities, mortgage payments) during a process that commonly takes a year or more.
When and how the fees get paid
Statutory fees are paid from the estate, not by the family personally, and only with court approval — generally at the end, as part of the order for final distribution. An attorney is not permitted to take the statutory fee early or to require a retainer for ordinary probate services from the personal representative’s own pocket. The schedule is a ceiling for ordinary services rather than a floor; an attorney may agree to accept less, and any such agreement should be in writing.
Estates that can skip probate
The fee schedule only applies to estates that actually go through a formal probate, and many do not have to. The main alternatives:
- Small estate affidavit. Estates whose probate assets fall under a statutory threshold (currently $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, adjusted every three years) can often be collected by affidavit, with no court proceeding at all.
- Primary residence petition. For deaths on or after April 1, 2025, a simplified court petition can transfer a decedent’s primary residence valued at up to $750,000 without a full probate.
- Spousal or domestic partner property petition, a streamlined proceeding for property passing to a surviving spouse.
- Non-probate transfers. Assets held in a living trust, in joint tenancy, in accounts with pay-on-death or beneficiary designations, and real property with a recorded transfer-on-death deed pass outside probate and outside the fee schedule.
We discuss the process and its alternatives in more detail in Does Every Estate Have to Go Through Probate in California? and Do You Need a Living Trust in California?
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