Publication
Newspaper pricing is commercial rather than a statewide fee.
Oregon court costs
Oregon probate filing cost: $591
For a petition for appointment of a personal representative (full probate) the statewide circuit-court filing fee is banded by estate value: $278 if the estate is under $50,000; $591 if $50,000 to under $1 million; $882 if $1 million to under $10 million; $1,176 if $10 million or more (ORS 21.170). A simple (small) estate affidavit costs a flat $124 (ORS 21.145).
$591 is the statutory total at a $100,000 estate. 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.
Petition for appointment of personal representative
Published value bands
These are the fee bands stated in the source. The worked examples below apply them to sample values; they do not replace the published thresholds.
Oregon statutory probate fee
| Value band | Published fee |
|---|---|
| Up to $49,999.99 | $278 |
| More than $49,999.99 to $999,999.99 | $591 |
| More than $999,999.99 to $9,999,999.99 | $882 |
| More than $9,999,999.99 | $1,176 |
| Charge | $25,000 estate | $100,000 estate | $400,000 estate | $1,000,000 estate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon statutory probate fee | $278 | $591 | $591 | $882 |
| Total from this schedule | $278 | $591 | $591 | $882 |
Not included in this total
- Certified copies and recording charges
- Publication and service costs
- Fees for later accounts, motions or contested proceedings
The schedule prices the opening filing on the statutory basis. A specific case can carry further charges the statute does not set out here.
Source: ORS 21.170, Oregon Legislature. Edition/currentness: 2025 EDITION. Verified September 15, 2026.
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
- ORS 116.173 has a separate 1% component on non-jurisdiction reportable property, so the four-tier schedule must not be applied to one accounting figure (no schedulingBase set).
- Creditor correction applied: the prior 'outer limit measured from date of death' was unsupported by ORS 115.005; the bar is the LATER of four months from publication (ORS 115.005(2)(a)) or 45 days from actual notice (ORS 115.005(2)(b)), each subject to the claim's own statute of limitations. There is no independent nonclaim period running from death.
- Court-resource URLs corrected: /forms/Pages/probate.aspx and /courts/Pages/probate.aspx return the OJD 404 page; replaced with /forms/Pages/estate.aspx and /courts/Pages/default.aspx.
- County-court exception added: ORS 111.075 vests probate in the county courts of Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman and Wheeler Counties rather than the circuit court.
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.
Oregon sets its probate filing fee by estate value, and charges a second fee every time an accounting is filed
ORS 21.170 fixes both fees by statute rather than by county. On the petition for appointment of a personal representative, a probate court collects $278 if the value of the estate is less than $50,000; $591 if it is $50,000 or more but less than $1 million; $882 if it is $1 million or more but less than $10 million; and $1,176 if it is $10 million or more.
The second schedule is the one that is easy to miss when budgeting, because it recurs. For an annual or final accounting filed in a probate proceeding the court collects $35 below $50,000, $298 from $50,000 to under $1 million, $591 from $1 million to under $10 million, and $1,176 at $10 million or more. An estate that stays open across two annual accountings and a final one pays that fee three times, so the total court cost of an Oregon probate is a function of how long it runs, not only of what it holds.
Two carve-outs change the arithmetic. Subsection (1) opens “Except as provided in ORS 114.515” — the small estate affidavit route described on this site’s Oregon simple-estate page is fee-governed separately, so the schedule above is the cost of the full proceeding, not of the alternative to it. And subsection (3) provides that in determining the value of the estate, “the amount of a settlement in a wrongful death action brought for the benefit of the decedent’s surviving spouse or dependents is not part of the estate” — so a wrongful-death recovery does not push an otherwise modest estate into a higher fee band.
Anyone appearing in the proceeding without petitioning pays separately: subsection (4) directs that a person filing an appearance in a probate proceeding pays the fee established under ORS 21.135. Subsection (5) extends the whole section to county courts exercising probate jurisdiction, so the figures do not change in the counties that have not transferred probate to the circuit court.
These are filing fees only. They are not the personal representative’s compensation, the attorney’s fee, the cost of a bond, publication, appraisal, or recording, and Oregon does not set those by this statute.
Source: ORS 21.170 (probate filing fees and accounting fees), read from the enacting state’s own published code 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.
Oregon filing-cost map
Separate the Oregon filing charge from the estate budget
The Oregon 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 Oregon answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Simple estate affidavit | 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 for this route. | Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately. |
| What is the amount screen? | $75,000 | Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | 30 days after death; Oregon bars a claim under ORS 115.005(2) if it is not presented within the statute of limitations applicable to the claim and before the LATER of (a) four months after the date of publication of notice to interested persons, or (b) 45 days after actual notice is delivered or mailed to a known claimant under ORS 115.003. There is no independent nonclaim period measured from death: the underlying limitations period on each claim continues to apply, so the four-month/45-day bars are the estate-specific clocks and cannot be collapsed into one figure. | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | 1 published schedule; the proceeding and value basis control the total. | Ask the Circuit Court (county court in Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman and Wheeler Counties) about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | ORS 116.173 sets a percentage commission on the property subject to the jurisdiction of the court (property owned at death subject to administration, plus income received, gains, and certain other amounts): 7% of the first $1,000; 4% of the next amount up to $10,000; 3% of the next up to $50,000; and 2% of all above $50,000. A SEPARATE 1% applies to property not subject to the jurisdiction of the court but reportable for Oregon or federal estate-tax purposes, so the tiered schedule does NOT apply to a single accounting figure. Additional compensation is allowed for extraordinary/unusual services, and a will provision on compensation controls. The relevant base is the estate accounting. | Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate. |
Filing record
What the Oregon cost record can answer
Petition for appointment of personal representative
Basis: estate-value. Status: operative. The schedule prices the opening filing on the statutory basis. A specific case can carry further charges the statute does not set out here.
- Oregon statutory probate fee 4 value bands
Case-file context
Keep the Oregon 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 Oregon 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
Oregon settles decedents' estates in the Circuit Court, except in six counties — Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman and Wheeler — where probate jurisdiction is vested in the county court (ORS 111.075). Small estates use a simple estate affidavit with two separate value caps ($75,000 personal / $200,000 real + manufactured homes). Personal-representative compensation follows a statutory percentage schedule under ORS 116.173.
Oregon's simple (small) estate affidavit has TWO distinct fair-market-value caps that must both be satisfied: not more than $75,000 attributable to personal property (other than manufactured homes) AND not more than $200,000 attributable to the combined value of real property and manufactured homes. Value is fair market value of the entire interest without reduction for liens or debts (gross), measured as of the date of death. The affidavit may not be filed until 30 days after death. Filing fee is $124 (ORS 21.145).
Compensation context
ORS 116.173 sets a percentage commission on the property subject to the jurisdiction of the court (property owned at death subject to administration, plus income received, gains, and certain other amounts): 7% of the first $1,000; 4% of the next amount up to $10,000; 3% of the next up to $50,000; and 2% of all above $50,000. A SEPARATE 1% applies to property not subject to the jurisdiction of the court but reportable for Oregon or federal estate-tax purposes, so the tiered schedule does NOT apply to a single accounting figure. Additional compensation is allowed for extraordinary/unusual services, and a will provision on compensation controls.
ORS 116.173 sets a percentage commission on the property subject to the jurisdiction of the court (property owned at death subject to administration, plus income received, gains, and certain other amounts): 7% of the first $1,000; 4% of the next amount up to $10,000; 3% of the next up to $50,000; and 2% of all above $50,000. A SEPARATE 1% applies to property not subject to the jurisdiction of the court but reportable for Oregon or federal estate-tax purposes, so the tiered schedule does NOT apply to a single accounting figure. Additional compensation is allowed for extraordinary/unusual services, and a will provision on compensation controls. The relevant base is the estate accounting.
Deadline context
Oregon bars a claim under ORS 115.005(2) if it is not presented within the statute of limitations applicable to the claim and before the LATER of (a) four months after the date of publication of notice to interested persons, or (b) 45 days after actual notice is delivered or mailed to a known claimant under ORS 115.003. There is no independent nonclaim period measured from death: the underlying limitations period on each claim continues to apply, so the four-month/45-day bars are the estate-specific clocks and cannot be collapsed into one figure.
- ORS 116.173 has a separate 1% component on non-jurisdiction reportable property, so the four-tier schedule must not be applied to one accounting figure (no schedulingBase set).
- Creditor correction applied: the prior 'outer limit measured from date of death' was unsupported by ORS 115.005; the bar is the LATER of four months from publication (ORS 115.005(2)(a)) or 45 days from actual notice (ORS 115.005(2)(b)), each subject to the claim's own statute of limitations. There is no independent nonclaim period running from death.
- Court-resource URLs corrected: /forms/Pages/probate.aspx and /courts/Pages/probate.aspx return the OJD 404 page; replaced with /forms/Pages/estate.aspx and /courts/Pages/default.aspx.
- County-court exception added: ORS 111.075 vests probate in the county courts of Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman and Wheeler Counties rather than the circuit court.
Court-material note: Oregon probate is generally handled by the Circuit Court in each county, EXCEPT that under ORS 111.075 jurisdiction of all probate matters is vested in the COUNTY COURTS of Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman and Wheeler Counties; ORS 111.115 lets an estate proceeding be transferred from a county court to the circuit court. The Oregon Judicial Department publishes a statewide estate/small-estate affidavit form set. (The previously listed /forms/Pages/probate.aspx and /courts/Pages/probate.aspx URLs return the OJD 404 page and were replaced with the working estate-forms and courts-directory pages.)
Arithmetic illustration
See the Oregon amount screen without mistaking it for a result
The recorded Oregon ceiling is $75,000, and it is tested against probate property within the rule's stated scope, on a basis this site records as gross value for this route. Counted that way, $56,300 sits below the Oregon figure and $93,800 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Oregon counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the Oregon ceiling | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|
| $56,300 | Below $75,000 | Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties |
| $93,800 | Above $75,000 | Whether another statutory route or court process applies |
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
- Oregon Judicial Department estate (probate) formsOregon Judicial Department
- Oregon Judicial Department courts directoryOregon Judicial Department
Oregon probate is generally handled by the Circuit Court in each county, EXCEPT that under ORS 111.075 jurisdiction of all probate matters is vested in the COUNTY COURTS of Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman and Wheeler Counties; ORS 111.115 lets an estate proceeding be transferred from a county court to the circuit court. The Oregon Judicial Department publishes a statewide estate/small-estate affidavit form set. (The previously listed /forms/Pages/probate.aspx and /courts/Pages/probate.aspx URLs return the OJD 404 page and were replaced with the working estate-forms and courts-directory pages.)
Source trail
Records used by this Oregon map
- ORS 114.505 to 114.560ORS Chapter 114, Small Estates (Simple Estate Affidavit); reviewed August 9, 2026
- ORS 116.173ORS 116.173 Compensation of personal representative; reviewed August 9, 2026
- ORS 21.170ORS 21.170 Probate filing fees and accounting fees; reviewed August 9, 2026
- ORS 21.145ORS 21.145 Simple proceeding filing fee; reviewed August 9, 2026
- ORS 115.005ORS 115.005 Presentation of claims; time limitations; reviewed August 9, 2026
- ORS 111.075ORS 111.075 Probate jurisdiction vested; 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.
ORS 21.170
Reviewed source note: If the value of the estate is less than $50,000, $278. (b) If the value of the estate is $50,000 or more, but less than $1 million, $591.