What California Probate Costs
California sets probate fees by statute, not by negotiation. The personal representative and the estate attorney each receive four percent of the first $100,000, three percent of the next $100,000, two percent of the next $800,000, and one percent of the next $9 million.
The schedule, and what it is measured against
California does not leave ordinary probate compensation to the market. Probate Code section 10800 fixes what the personal representative receives and section 10810 fixes what the estate’s attorney receives, on an identical sliding scale: four percent of the first one hundred thousand dollars, three percent of the next hundred thousand, two percent of the next eight hundred thousand, one percent of the next nine million, and one-half of one percent of the next fifteen million. Above twenty-five million the court determines a reasonable amount. The base is where families are caught out. Both sections measure the fee on the value of the estate accounted for — the appraisal value of inventory property, plus gains over appraisal on sales, plus receipts, less losses on sales — expressly without reference to encumbrances or other obligations on estate property. A house appraised at nine hundred thousand with a seven hundred thousand dollar mortgage enters the calculation at nine hundred thousand, not the two hundred thousand of equity anyone receives.
Sources: Probate Code s.10800 - Statutory compensation of the personal representative · Probate Code s.10810 - Statutory compensation of the estate attorney · Verified 2026-08-20.
Calculate the exact fee for a specific estate — including what it costs as a share of the equity actually inherited, once a mortgage is taken into account.
What the schedule produces
| Gross estate accounted for | Representative | Attorney | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500,000 | $13,000 | $13,000 | $26,000 |
| $750,000 | $18,000 | $18,000 | $36,000 |
| $1,000,000 | $23,000 | $23,000 | $46,000 |
| $1,500,000 | $28,000 | $28,000 | $56,000 |
| $2,000,000 | $33,000 | $33,000 | $66,000 |
Ordinary services only. Extraordinary fees, filing fees, publication, appraiser fees and bond are additional.
What are extraordinary fees in California probate?
The statutory schedule pays for ordinary administration and nothing more. Probate Code section 10811 lets the court allow the estate’s attorney additional compensation for extraordinary services, in an amount the court determines is just and reasonable, on top of the section 10810 figure. Paralegal work counts where it is performed under the direction and supervision of an attorney, and the petition seeking payment must set out the hours spent and the services performed rather than asserting a round number. An attorney may agree to perform extraordinary services on a contingent fee, but only on strict conditions: the agreement must be in writing and comply with Business and Professions Code section 6147, it must be approved by the court after a noticed hearing, and the court must find the compensation just and reasonable, to the advantage of the estate, and in the best interests of the persons interested in it. Allowance of any of this is one of the acts reserved to the court even under full independent authority.
Sources: Probate Code s.10811 - Extraordinary compensation for the estate attorney · Probate Code s.10810 - Statutory compensation of the estate attorney · Probate Code s.10501 - Acts still requiring court supervision under the IAEA · Verified 2026-08-21.
What typically counts as extraordinary
- Selling real property, including the confirmation hearing
- Litigation brought by or against the estate
- Contested creditor claims
- Tax work beyond routine filings
- Running a business the decedent owned
- Handling difficult or contested distributions
How to test whether a request is reasonable
The petition has to show the work. Where it does not — where hours are vague, or the same task appears in both the ordinary and extraordinary column — that is the ground a beneficiary objects on. A request that would leave the attorney earning several times the statutory fee on a straightforward estate invites scrutiny, and the court decides, not the parties.
When are probate fees actually paid?
At the end, not the start. Compensation is allowed by the court on petition, ordinarily at final distribution, which is why an estate that runs eighteen months pays nothing for eighteen months and then pays everything at once. Section 10501 reserves allowance of both the representative’s and the attorney’s compensation to the court even where full independent authority was granted, so neither can simply pay themselves along the way. A representative who does is exposed to surcharge.
What else does probate cost?
The statutory fee is the largest line but not the only one, and the others arrive earlier.
| Cost | When it arises |
|---|---|
| Court filing fee for the petition | At filing |
| Newspaper publication of notice | Before the first hearing — §8120 |
| Probate referee appraisal | With the inventory, within four months of letters |
| Bond premium | Before letters issue, unless waived |
| Certified copies, recording fees | Throughout |
| Statutory fees × 2 | At final distribution |
Can a beneficiary object to the fees?
Yes, and this is the practical reason the allowance is a court decision rather than an invoice. Because compensation is sought by petition on notice, a beneficiary can object to extraordinary fees, to the valuation the statutory fee was calculated on, or to both. Objecting to the ordinary fee itself rarely succeeds — it is fixed by statute — but objecting to the base sometimes does, because an inflated appraisal raises the fee on both sides. That is one reason the inventory and appraisal deserves attention when it is filed rather than a year later.
How can these fees be reduced or avoided?
Almost entirely by keeping assets out of administration in the first place, since only what passes through probate is counted.
- A funded living trust — assets titled in the trust never enter the calculation
- A spousal property petition — no value limit at all
- The section 13151 petition — a primary residence up to $750,000
- The section 13100 affidavit — up to $208,850 for deaths on or after 1 April 2025
- Joint tenancy and transfer on death deeds — pass outside the estate
- A Heggstad petition — where a trust exists but an asset was never retitled into it
A representative who is also a beneficiary sometimes waives their own statutory fee, which halves the combined cost. It is a real saving and worth raising early, though it is a decision with tax consequences worth taking advice on.
Why this drives so many decisions
The statutory fee is the main reason California families work so hard to keep estates out of probate, and the reason a living trust is usually recommended. It is also why the gross-value rule matters: a heavily mortgaged property can generate a fee out of all proportion to what anyone inherits. The fee calculator shows that gap for a specific estate.
Related: the administration process, what the representative must do to earn it, when each cost falls, and what contested matters cost, which is a different question. This schedule governs probate only — a trustee has no statutory percentage, and trustee compensation is decided a different way entirely.