Publication
Newspaper pricing is commercial rather than a statewide fee.
Arkansas court costs
Arkansas probate filing cost: $25
The small-estate affidavit filing charge is a flat $25.00; certified copies are $5.00 each per copy requested and are not part of the base filing (Ark. Code Ann. § 28-41-101(b)(1)(B), as set by Act 289/2011). The general decedent-estate opening filing fee for a full administration is the circuit-clerk fee under Ark. Code Ann. § 21-6-403, which was only cross-referenced - never restated - by any harvestable enacted Act and is therefore recorded as UNKNOWN below.
$25 is the amount the statute states. Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
What the statute charges
Every line below is computed from the statutory schedule quoted at the end of this page. These are court charges only. They are not an estimate of the total cost of settling an estate.
Small-estate affidavit (§ 28-41-101)
| Charge | $25,000 estate | $100,000 estate | $400,000 estate | $1,000,000 estate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Affidavit filing fee | $25 | $25 | $25 | $25 |
| Total from this schedule | $25 | $25 | $25 | $25 |
Not included in this total
- Each certified copy of the affidavit, charged $5.00 per copy REQUESTED (not part of the base filing; Ark. Code Ann. § 28-41-101(b)(1)(B), Act 289/2011)
- General § 21-6-403 circuit-clerk administration filing fee
- Publication
This is the $25.00 small-estate affidavit filing charge, not the fee to open a full probate administration. Certified copies are $5.00 each and are charged only per copy the filer requests, so they are not included in the base total.
Source: Act 289, § 1, 2011 Ark. Acts (Reg. Sess.) (amending Ark. Code Ann. § 28-41-101(b)(1)(B)), Arkansas General Assembly / Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research. Edition/currentness: APPROVED: 03/15/2011. Verified September 15, 2026.
What the $25 is made of
Arkansas’s $25 figure is a single statutory charge, not a total assembled from parts. It is shown here with its own provision named, and with the neighbouring charges the Arkansas schedule prices separately — the ones a filer is most likely to add to it by mistake, or to be quoted alongside it.
- $25Small-estate affidavit filing charge
Added together, these come to $25 — the figure this page headlines. If any component changed in the source, the sum would no longer match, and the build withholds the total rather than publishing a number whose parts no longer add up.
Charges the $25 figure leaves out
These amounts appear in or beside the same Arkansas schedule, so a reader can easily mistake one for part of the fee. Each is held out of the figure above for the specific reason given, which is the difference between an honest total and an inflated one.
A per-copy or per-page charge
- Certified-copy charge (enacted $5.00 and stricken prior $3.00)
- both figures price a certified copy, charged per copy requested, not part of the base affidavit filing.
Costs no statute prices
These are the costs executors most often meet after the filing fee. None of them has a statewide statutory amount, so this site does not estimate them.
Bond
Premiums depend on the bond amount, the estate, and the applicant.
Copies and local charges
Certified copies, recording, inventory, accounting, and county surcharges are billed separately.
Professional fees
Attorney, accountant, and appraiser fees are negotiated or court-reviewed.
State-specific limits
- Small-estate value ceiling and 45-day waiting period (§ 28-41-101(a)) are UNKNOWN — Lexis-locked, never restated by a harvestable Act.
- General administration filing fee (§ 21-6-403) is UNKNOWN — only cross-referenced, never restated.
- Executor compensation percentage schedule (§ 28-48-108) is UNKNOWN — zero Act hits, Lexis-locked.
Use this as a starting point.
This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Probate law varies by state and county and changes over time. Verify the current rule with the court or a licensed attorney in the relevant state.
How to verify the amount for this case
Name the proceeding before asking for a total. A small-estate affidavit, an application for letters, formal administration, a later inventory or account, and a certified copy can each carry a different charge. Asking only “what does probate cost?” invites an answer for the wrong filing.
- Identify the county where the proceeding will be filed.
- Identify the exact route or petition you expect to use.
- State the value basis the schedule uses; it is not always the gross estate value.
- Ask the clerk to separate the opening fee, mandatory surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
- Record the schedule date or rule cited.
- Record whether payment is due at filing.
Keep that clerk quote with the estate record and compare it with the itemised statutory lines above. For the broader budget, use the probate cost-line guide; court filing is only one category.
Arkansas filing-cost map
Separate the Arkansas filing charge from the estate budget
The Arkansas filing record prices a proceeding, not every cost of settling an estate. This map connects the published amount or schedule to its value basis and identifies the local items that still need a clerk or court schedule.
| Question | Recorded Arkansas answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Affidavit for collection of small estate (Ark. Code Ann. § 28-41-101) | Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route. |
| What property and basis count? | probate property within the rule's stated scope; gross value with statutory exemptions not classified by this worksheet. | Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately. |
| What is the amount screen? | No numeric ceiling verified | Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | No waiting-period number verified; Arkansas runs separate, trigger-specific creditor deadlines. For a full administration, claims are barred unless filed within six (6) months of the first publication of notice (Ark. Code Ann. § 28-40-111(a)(1)(A), Act 217/2009), and the statute of nonclaim independently bars claims not presented within six (6) months of first publication (§ 28-50-101(c), Act 217/2009). A small-estate affidavit proceeding uses a shorter three (3)-month bar from first publication (§ 28-41-101, Act 526/2015). | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | $25 is the recorded statewide amount. | Ask the Circuit Court (Probate Division) about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | No compensation amount is recorded here: Ark. Code Ann. § 28-48-108 fixes personal-representative compensation as a statutory percentage schedule on personal property. No Arkansas Act in the text-extractable era (2001–2025) amended or restated § 28-48-108 (zero hits in the full-text Act search at www.arkleg.state.ar.us), and the codified section is served only through the LexisNexis contract. The percentage schedule is therefore recorded as UNKNOWN rather than reproduced from memory. | Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate. |
Filing record
What the Arkansas cost record can answer
Small-estate affidavit (§ 28-41-101)
Basis: estate-value. Status: operative. This is the $25.00 small-estate affidavit filing charge, not the fee to open a full probate administration. Certified copies are $5.00 each and are charged only per copy the filer requests, so they are not included in the base total.
- Affidavit filing fee $25
Case-file context
Keep the Arkansas answer with its neighboring conditions
A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed Arkansas descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.
Route context
Arkansas offers a small-estate affidavit under Ark. Code Ann. § 28-41-101, filed in the Circuit Court, Probate Division of the county of the decedent's residence. The affidavit filing fee is $25.00 ($5.00 per certified copy). Creditors of a full administration are barred six months after first publication of notice; a small-estate proceeding uses a three-month bar. The statutory value ceiling, the 45-day waiting period, the general § 21-6-403 administration filing fee, and the § 28-48-108 compensation schedule remain honest UNKNOWNs because they live only in the LexisNexis-contracted Arkansas Code and were never restated by a text-extractable enacted Act.
Arkansas provides a small-estate affidavit under Ark. Code Ann. § 28-41-101. The affidavit filing fee ($25.00, plus $5.00 per certified copy) and the three-month small-estate creditor bar are substantiated from enacted Acts (289/2011 and 526/2015). The dollar value ceiling and the statutory 45-day waiting period live in subsection (a), which was not reachable via any enacted Act and is otherwise only in the LexisNexis-contracted code; both are recorded as honest UNKNOWNs rather than guessed.
Compensation context
Ark. Code Ann. § 28-48-108 fixes personal-representative compensation as a statutory percentage schedule on personal property. No Arkansas Act in the text-extractable era (2001–2025) amended or restated § 28-48-108 (zero hits in the full-text Act search at www.arkleg.state.ar.us), and the codified section is served only through the LexisNexis contract. The percentage schedule is therefore recorded as UNKNOWN rather than reproduced from memory.
No compensation amount is recorded here: Ark. Code Ann. § 28-48-108 fixes personal-representative compensation as a statutory percentage schedule on personal property. No Arkansas Act in the text-extractable era (2001–2025) amended or restated § 28-48-108 (zero hits in the full-text Act search at www.arkleg.state.ar.us), and the codified section is served only through the LexisNexis contract. The percentage schedule is therefore recorded as UNKNOWN rather than reproduced from memory.
Deadline context
Arkansas runs separate, trigger-specific creditor deadlines. For a full administration, claims are barred unless filed within six (6) months of the first publication of notice (Ark. Code Ann. § 28-40-111(a)(1)(A), Act 217/2009), and the statute of nonclaim independently bars claims not presented within six (6) months of first publication (§ 28-50-101(c), Act 217/2009). A small-estate affidavit proceeding uses a shorter three (3)-month bar from first publication (§ 28-41-101, Act 526/2015).
- Small-estate value ceiling and 45-day waiting period (§ 28-41-101(a)) are UNKNOWN — Lexis-locked, never restated by a harvestable Act.
- General administration filing fee (§ 21-6-403) is UNKNOWN — only cross-referenced, never restated.
- Executor compensation percentage schedule (§ 28-48-108) is UNKNOWN — zero Act hits, Lexis-locked.
Court-material note: Arkansas probate is heard in the Circuit Court, Probate Division (confirmed from the statutory small-estate notice caption in Act 526/2015). There is no single statewide small-estate form or statewide filing-fee dollar schedule reproduced here; the affidavit is filed with the county circuit clerk, whose administration filing fee is set by Ark. Code Ann. § 21-6-403.
No numeric shortcut is available for Arkansas
This registry does not establish a numeric Arkansas ceiling from an accepted primary source. The safe next step is to follow the reason and source lane on this page, then ask the Circuit Court (Probate Division) for the current rule rather than importing a neighboring state\'s amount.
Next evidence to collect
Name the proceeding and ask for mandatory surcharges, copies, publication, and later filings separately.
- Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
- Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
- Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
- Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.
Official material
- Arkansas Judiciary — Forms and PublicationsArkansas Administrative Office of the Courts
- Arkansas Circuit Courts (probate jurisdiction)Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts
Arkansas probate is heard in the Circuit Court, Probate Division (confirmed from the statutory small-estate notice caption in Act 526/2015). There is no single statewide small-estate form or statewide filing-fee dollar schedule reproduced here; the affidavit is filed with the county circuit clerk, whose administration filing fee is set by Ark. Code Ann. § 21-6-403.
Source trail
Records used by this Arkansas map
- Act 289, § 1, 2011 Ark. Acts (Reg. Sess.) (amending Ark. Code Ann. § 28-41-101(b)(1)(B))Arkansas Act 289 of 2011 (88th General Assembly, Regular Session) — amending Ark. Code § 28-41-101; reviewed August 9, 2026
- Act 526, § 1, 2015 Ark. Acts (Reg. Sess.) (amending Ark. Code Ann. § 28-41-101(b)(2)(B))Arkansas Act 526 of 2015 (90th General Assembly, Regular Session) — amending Ark. Code § 28-41-101(b)(2)(B) (small-estate affidavit / notice); reviewed August 9, 2026
- Act 217, §§ 1–2, 2009 Ark. Acts (Reg. Sess.) (amending Ark. Code Ann. § 28-40-111(a)(1)(A) and § 28-50-101(c))Arkansas Act 217 of 2009 (87th General Assembly, Regular Session) — amending Ark. Code § 28-40-111 and § 28-50-101; reviewed August 9, 2026
- Act 217, § 2, 2009 Ark. Acts (Reg. Sess.) (amending Ark. Code Ann. § 28-50-101(c))Arkansas Act 217 of 2009 — Section 2 amending Ark. Code § 28-50-101(c) (statute of nonclaim); reviewed August 9, 2026
Filing-cost source
Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.
Act 289, § 1, 2011 Ark. Acts (Reg. Sess.) (amending Ark. Code Ann. § 28-41-101(b)(1)(B))
Reviewed source note: He or she shall make a charge of twenty-five dollars28 ($25.00) for filing the affidavit and three dollars ($3.00) five dollars29 ($5.00) for each certified copy.
What this means: Enacted session law (strikethrough convention: struck old text, then new text). The affidavit filing fee is $25.00 and the certified-copy fee is raised from $3.00 to $5.00. Substantiates the small-estate affidavit filing charge under § 28-41-101(b)(1)(B).