Why do California estates pay so much more in probate?

Because California sets both the executor's fee and the attorney's fee by the same statutory percentage schedule, and computes them on the estate's gross appraised value without subtracting debts. A $700,000 house with a $500,000 mortgage generates fees on $700,000. Most other states either let attorneys bill hourly, use presumptive schedules courts can trim, or — like Texas — pay on cash moved rather than value held.

Does everything a person owned go through probate?

No — and this is the biggest lever on cost. Joint accounts with survivorship, retirement accounts and life insurance with named beneficiaries, transfer-on-death designations, and living-trust assets all pass outside probate, so they generate no probate fees at all. The probate estate is often much smaller than everything the person owned, and every figure on this page is computed on the probate estate only.

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Probate's price is mostly set by state law, and the states disagree wildly. A $500,000 probate estate runs about $27,600 in statutory fees and standard costs in California — $13,000 to the executor, $13,000 to the attorney, plus filings, appraisal and publication — while the same estate in New York pays a $1,250 filing fee plus whatever the executor and attorney arrangements come to. This page itemizes the bill for CA, NY, FL, TX, and PA from your estate's value.

The estate

State Where the estate is being probated — the decedent's home state, usually.

Probate estate value Only what actually goes through probate — joint accounts, beneficiary-designation assets, and living-trust property pass outside and cost nothing here.

Of that, non-cash assets (CA only) House, vehicles, brokerage — everything but bank accounts and cash. California's probate referee appraises these at 0.1% of their value. Leave as-is for a quick estimate.

Your result

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Press Calculate. Your receipt prints here — the statutory fees and standard costs your state charges, itemized.

How this works

Probate’s bill has four usual parts: the attorney, the executor’s fee, the court’s filing fees, and the small standard costs — publishing the creditor notice in a newspaper, appraising assets, certified copies. What each part costs depends almost entirely on the state:

California is the expensive one, because both the attorney’s and executor’s ordinary fees follow the same statutory percentage schedule (§10800/§10810) on the estate’s gross appraised value, debts not subtracted. Add two $435 filing fees (opening the case and closing it), the probate referee’s appraisal at 0.1% of non-cash assets, and a few hundred dollars of publication. Florida uses presumptive schedules — 3% bands for the personal representative and a separate attorney schedule (§733.6171) whose fee the statute itself says is negotiable. New York sets the court’s filing fee by estate-size tiers (topping out at $1,250) and the executor’s commission by statute, but attorneys bill by agreement — hourly or flat. Texas and Pennsylvania leave the most to local practice: county-set filing fees, attorneys by agreement, and executor pay by cash-moved commission or court-recognized guideline respectively.

A worked example

A $500,000 California probate estate, $400,000 of it non-cash: the executor’s statutory fee is $13,000, the attorney’s the same $13,000, filings run $870, the referee’s appraisal $400, publication around $350 — about $27,620, or 5.5% of the estate, for a straightforward administration. The same estate in New York: a $1,250 filing fee, a statutory executor commission of $19,000 if it’s taken, and an attorney bill that is whatever was agreed — no statute sets it. The spread between states is the real story, and it is why “how much does probate cost” has no one-number answer.

Common questions

Why is California so much more expensive? Both professional fees ride the same statutory percentage schedule, computed on gross value — debts not subtracted. A $700,000 house with a $500,000 mortgage generates fees on $700,000. Other states trim the same bill with negotiable, presumptive, or cash-based arrangements.

Does everything the person owned go through probate? No — and this is the biggest lever on the bill. Joint accounts, beneficiary designations, TOD/POD registrations, and living-trust assets pass outside probate and generate no probate fees. The probate estate is often far smaller than everything owned; every figure here is computed on the probate estate only.

Are these figures exact? The statutory percentages are exact as of September 2026; the court costs are close but local. Filing fees vary by county in Texas and Pennsylvania, publication depends on the newspaper, and courts can allow extraordinary fees on top of any schedule. Read the receipt as the floor a straightforward estate pays, not a quote.

Statutory components verified against the codes on Sep 2, 2026 (Cal. Prob. Code §§10800/10810, Gov. Code §70650; NY SCPA §2402; Fla. Stat. §§733.617/733.6171). County-variable items are labeled as such. Mechanics, not legal advice — courts and counties differ, and your estate’s facts decide.