Massachusetts court costs
The statutory filing fee is $100 for a statement of voluntary administration and $375 for formal or informal probate/appointment.
$375 is the statutory total at a $100,000 estate. Not counted: Statement of voluntary administration, open only within the $25,000 small-estate limit. Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Sources rechecked October 3, 2026. This page last revised .
| Court filing | $375 |
|---|---|
| Commission | reasonable, not a rate |
Statute text checked October 3, 2026: G.L. c. 262, § 40 and G.L. c. 190B, § 3-719.
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.
| Charge | $25,000 estate | $100,000 estate | $400,000 estate | $1,000,000 estate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statutory filing fee | $100 | not available | not available | not available |
| Total from this schedule | $100 | Not available above $25,000 | Not available above $25,000 | Not available above $25,000 |
Open only within the $25,000 small-estate limit. The limit counts personal property other than one motor vehicle, in an estate made up entirely of personal property (G.L. c. 190B, § 3-1201). Above it, this route is not available, so no fee is shown.
This is the filing fee named in G.L. c. 262, § 40; requested copies and service are separate.
Source: G.L. c. 262, § 40, Massachusetts Legislature. Edition: not stated by the publisher. Verified October 3, 2026.
| Charge | $25,000 estate | $100,000 estate | $400,000 estate | $1,000,000 estate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Statutory filing fee | $375 | $375 | $375 | $375 |
| Total from this schedule | $375 | $375 | $375 | $375 |
The same statutory amount covers the listed formal and informal probate/appointment filings.
Source: G.L. c. 262, § 40, Massachusetts Legislature. Edition: not stated by the publisher. Verified October 3, 2026.
The Massachusetts caveats are listed once, on the Massachusetts overview.
Other costs: probate cost lines.
G.L. c. 262, § 40 enumerates the fees of the registers of the probate and family court, and it flattens the opening step. A single $375 fee covers a petition for formal probate of a will, an adjudication of intestacy and appointment of a personal representative, a formal appointment of a successor personal representative, supervised administration, an informal probate of a will and/or appointment of a personal representative, and an informal appointment of a successor. Choosing the informal route does not save a filing fee in Massachusetts — it saves time and notice work.
What is not flat is the accounting. The fee for filing an account turns on the gross value shown in Schedule A and, above a point, is charged for each year or fraction of a year the account covers. There is no fee where the gross value accounted for is $1,000 or less. Between $1,000 and $10,000 the fee is $75, and the statute caps the total at $170 "regardless of the time covered by the account."
Above $10,000 the cap disappears and the per-year charge begins: $100 a year from $10,000 to $100,000; $150 a year above $100,000 to $500,000; $200 a year above $500,000 to $1,000,000; $400 a year above $1,000,000 to $2,000,000; $750 a year above $2,000,000 to $5,000,000; $1,500 a year above $5,000,000 to $7,500,000; $2,500 a year above $7,500,000 to $10,000,000; and $3,500 a year above $10,000,000. A slow estate is a more expensive estate here in a way the opening fee never signals — a five-year administration of a $600,000 estate carries five $200 charges, not one.
Selling property is priced on the same sliding logic: a petition or application for sale of real or personal estate by a fiduciary costs $100 where the gross value accounted for is $100,000 or less, $250 up to $250,000, $500 up to $500,000, $750 up to $1,000,000, and $1,000 above that. Petitions for leave to lease or to mortgage real estate are $75 each, removal of a fiduciary is $100, a subsequent bond or a petition for a new bond, discharge, modification or reduction of surety is $75, and a contempt summons is $5. The section also lists the filings that carry no fee at all, including the appointment of a guardian and the resignation of any fiduciary.
Source: G.L. c. 262, § 40, read from the enacting state’s own official publication on 2026-09-17. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.
Massachusetts General Laws, Probate and Family Court Fees
for the filing of a petition for public administration, for formal removal of personal representative, for statement of voluntary administration, $100;
Sources rechecked October 3, 2026: Massachusetts source list · how sources are checked · report a correction