California Probate Fee Calculator: Statutory Attorney and Executor Fees

California probate fees are statutory, not negotiable, and not based on what the estate owes: Probate Code § 10810 sets the attorney’s fee, and Probate Code § 10800 sets an identical fee for the personal representative (the executor or administrator), each calculated as a percentage of the estate’s gross value, and on most probate estates both fees get paid, not just one.

Enter an estimated estate value in the calculator below for an instant estimate, then read on for the full statutory fee schedule, worked dollar examples, the add-on court costs, and how families in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles Counties avoid probate fees altogether.

What This Calculator Does

Enter the gross estate value and this tool applies California's statutory probate fee schedule to show what executor fees, attorney fees, court costs, and the probate referee fee will likely run, plus a total cost range. It takes about ten seconds.

What Probate Costs in California

California does not let attorneys and executors charge whatever they want for a probate. Cal. Prob. Code § 10800 sets the executor's compensation on a statutory schedule, and § 10810 sets the attorney's fee on the identical schedule. Both are paid out of the estate, and both are calculated the same way, so a probate typically incurs two statutory fees of the same size, one for the executor and one for the attorney.

On top of the statutory fees, expect a court filing fee (roughly $435 to $570, depending on the county), a required newspaper publication cost (roughly $200 to $400), and a probate referee fee (0.1% of the appraised value of the estate's assets, with a $75 minimum). None of these are negotiable. They are set by statute or by the court process itself.

How the Fee Schedule Works

The statutory fee is graduated. Each fee (executor and attorney, calculated separately but identically) is based on the estate's gross value, applied in tiers:

• 4% of the first $100,000
• 3% of the next $100,000 (from $100,000 to $200,000)
• 2% of the next $800,000 (from $200,000 to $1,000,000)
• 1% of the next $9,000,000 (from $1,000,000 to $10,000,000)
• 0.5% of the next $15,000,000 (from $10,000,000 to $25,000,000)

For example, a $1,000,000 estate generates a statutory fee of $23,000, and because the executor and attorney are each entitled to that amount, the estate pays $46,000 in statutory fees alone before court costs, publication, and the referee fee. For estates above $25,000,000, the court sets a reasonable fee for the amount above that threshold rather than applying a fixed percentage.

What "Gross Estate" Means for Probate Fee Purposes

This is the part that surprises people. The statutory fee is calculated on the gross fair market value of the assets subject to probate, not the net value after debts and mortgages are subtracted. A house worth $900,000 with an $700,000 mortgage still counts as $900,000 for fee purposes, even though the family only nets $200,000 in equity. Cal. Prob. Code § 10810 confirms the attorney's fee, like the executor's, is calculated on the value of the estate accounted for by the personal representative, without any deduction for debts secured by the property.

This is why the statutory fee percentage can feel disproportionate on an estate that is mostly a mortgaged house. The fee schedule doesn't care what's owed. It cares what the assets are worth.

Common Misconception: "My Estate Is Small Enough to Avoid Probate"

Many people assume their estate is "too small" for probate without ever checking the actual threshold. As of April 2025, California's small estate procedures apply when personal property is under $208,850, or when a primary residence is worth less than $750,000 and other conditions are met (AB 2016; Cal. Prob. Code §§ 13100, 13150). A single-family home in most parts of California blows past the personal property threshold immediately, and even the higher residence threshold is easy to exceed once you count a house, retirement accounts, and a bank balance together.

If the estate is genuinely under these thresholds, formal probate usually isn't required at all, and the fee schedule above doesn't apply. If you're not sure which side of the line an estate falls on, check it directly rather than guessing.

When Probate Is Avoidable

Probate isn't mandatory. It happens when assets are titled in an individual's name alone at death, with no other mechanism to transfer them. Several tools sidestep it entirely:

• A living trust. Assets titled in the name of a properly funded trust pass to beneficiaries without court involvement, at any estate size.
• The small estate affidavit. For estates under the statutory thresholds, heirs can collect assets using a sworn affidavit instead of opening a probate case.
• Joint tenancy. Property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship passes automatically to the surviving owner.
• Beneficiary designations. Retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable-on-death or transfer-on-death accounts pass directly to the named beneficiary, bypassing probate regardless of estate size.

The most common reason probate happens is simply that none of these were set up, or a trust was signed but never funded with the actual assets.

Related Resources

• Probate Screener, to check whether an estate qualifies for California's simplified small estate procedures
• Probate services at Ridley Law
• Guide to California probate costs

Want a straight read on what this estate will actually cost?

Talk to Eric. A free 30-minute call, no pitch. He'll tell you whether probate is avoidable, what it will cost if it isn't, and what a trust would cost to set up instead.

Talk to Eric

I handle probate administration and estate planning in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles Counties, and the fee question is the first one every family asks when a loved one dies owning real property in their own name. Here is the rule of thumb I give clients: California probate fees are charged on what the estate owns, not on what it owes. A $900,000 house carrying an $850,000 mortgage still counts as a $900,000 asset for fee purposes. That single fact surprises more people than anything else about probate, and it is the reason probate on a mortgaged house can cost far more than most families expect.

The California Probate Statutory Fee Schedule

Probate Code § 10810 sets the attorney’s statutory fee on a sliding scale tied to the gross value of the estate. Probate Code § 10800 sets the identical schedule for the personal representative. Both statutes use the same tiers.

Source: Probate Code § 10810 (attorney) and Probate Code § 10800 (personal representative). These tiers are set by statute and are not adjusted for inflation, so the schedule above holds regardless of when the estate opens, current as of July 2026.

The critical point families miss: § 10810 and § 10800 are two separate fee entitlements. The attorney handling the estate is entitled to the § 10810 fee. The executor or administrator (the personal representative) is separately entitled to the identical § 10800 fee, whether or not they are a professional fiduciary, and whether or not they do the legwork themselves or lean on the attorney’s office to handle most of it. Unless the personal representative waives their fee, which happens most often when the executor is also the sole beneficiary, the estate pays both.

The schedule is also marginal, not a flat percentage applied to the whole estate. Each tier applies only to the portion of the estate value that falls within that tier, the same way income tax brackets work. A $1,000,000 estate is not simply “1% of $1,000,000.” It is 4% of the first $100,000, plus 3% of the next $100,000, plus 2% of the remaining $800,000, added together. That distinction matters because it is easy to misread the 1% and 0.5% tiers as applying to the entire estate once it crosses $1,000,000 or $10,000,000, when in fact only the value above those thresholds is taxed at the lower rate.

Worked Examples: What Probate Actually Costs

Applying the schedule above to round estate values shows how quickly statutory fees add up, and how the combined attorney-plus-executor total roughly doubles the number most people have in their head. Working through the $1,000,000 example by tier: 4% of the first $100,000 is $4,000; 3% of the next $100,000 is $3,000; 2% of the remaining $800,000 is $16,000. That totals $23,000 for the attorney under § 10810, and an identical $23,000 for the personal representative under § 10800, for a combined $46,000 before any court costs or extraordinary fees are added.

Notice that a $1,000,000 estate is not an unusual outcome in Ventura, Santa Barbara, or Los Angeles County. A single house, even a modest one, can push an estate well past that figure once you add a bank account and a car. The $46,000 combined fee on that estate is not a worst-case number; it is the statutory default, and it comes off the top before any beneficiary receives a distribution.

What Counts as the Estate’s Value for Fee Purposes?

Both § 10810(b) and § 10800(b) define the fee basis the same way: the total amount of the inventory appraisal, plus gains during administration on sale, and receipts, minus any losses on sale, with no reference to encumbrances or debt against the property.

That last phrase, no reference to encumbrances, is the whole ballgame. The statutory fee is charged on the appraised gross value of what the estate owns, before subtracting any mortgage, home equity line, or other lien against it. A $1,000,000 house with a $700,000 mortgage still counts as a $1,000,000 asset when the attorney and personal representative fees are calculated. The estate’s actual equity, what a family would think of as what they are inheriting, is irrelevant to the fee calculation.

This is exactly why the rule of thumb holds: California probate fees are charged on what the estate owns, not on what it owes. Families who plan around net worth, the amount left after debts, are often blindsided when the statutory fee lands on the gross appraised figure instead.

The appraisal itself is not something the attorney or personal representative estimates informally. Real property and other non-cash assets are appraised by the probate referee named above, using Judicial Council forms DE-160 (Inventory and Appraisal) and DE-161 (attachment), and it is that referee’s appraised figure, not a Zillow estimate or the county assessor’s number, that becomes the basis for both the § 10810 and § 10800 fee calculations.

What Other Court Costs Are Added to Probate?

The § 10810 and § 10800 statutory fees are the largest cost in most probate estates, but they are not the only cost. Filing fees, referee fees, and administrative costs are billed on top of the attorney and personal representative fees.

The probate referee fee is itself a percentage, 0.1% of the appraised value of non-cash assets, so it scales with the size of the estate the same way the attorney and personal representative fees do, subject to the $75 floor and $10,000 ceiling. On the $1,000,000 estate from the worked example above, the referee fee alone could run close to $1,000, on top of the $46,000 combined statutory fee and the $435 filing fee.

Can the Attorney or Executor Be Paid More Than the Statutory Fee?

Yes, in some cases. Probate Code § 10811 allows the court to award extraordinary fees, above and beyond the statutory § 10810 and § 10800 amounts, for services beyond the ordinary duties of administering an estate. Selling estate real property, defending or prosecuting litigation on the estate’s behalf, handling estate tax returns, or managing an ongoing business are the kinds of services that can qualify. Extraordinary fees are not automatic. The attorney or personal representative must petition the court, itemize the extraordinary services, and the court decides the amount. There is no statutory percentage or fixed figure for extraordinary fees; the amount is left entirely to the court’s discretion based on the value of the services actually performed.

How Do Families Avoid California Probate Fees Entirely?

The only way to avoid the § 10810 and § 10800 statutory fees is to avoid probate itself. A properly funded revocable living trust holds title to the home and other major assets during life, so nothing passes through the probate court at death, and neither the § 10810 attorney fee nor the § 10800 personal representative fee is ever triggered. An unfunded trust, one that was signed but never actually retitled the house and accounts into it, provides none of this protection; the trust document alone does not keep an estate out of probate.

Smaller estates have a separate statutory shortcut. If the decedent’s personal property comes in under the current threshold, families can use a small estate affidavit instead of a full probate, which sidesteps the § 10810 and § 10800 fee schedule entirely. Whether an estate is small enough, or already structured to avoid probate through a funded trust, joint tenancy, or beneficiary designations, is exactly what our probate screener is built to help you check before you assume a full probate is required.

Beyond the dollar cost, a full California probate in Ventura, Santa Barbara, or Los Angeles County typically runs twelve to eighteen months in my experience, and the statutory fees above are paid from the estate regardless of how smoothly or roughly the case goes. For most families, a funded trust is dramatically cheaper than the statutory fees a comparable estate would generate in probate, which is why trust funding is the single highest-value step in most estate plans I put together. Our flat fees for a full estate plan are published and fixed; probate fees, by contrast, are set by statute and scale with the size of the estate.

Probate lawyer fees in California: what they are and who pays them

California is one of the few states that sets probate attorney compensation by statute rather than leaving it to negotiation. The attorney’s ordinary fee is fixed by Prob. Code § 10810 and the personal representative’s compensation is fixed on the identical scale by § 10800. Both are paid from the estate, not out of the executor’s pocket.

The scale is four percent of the first $100,000, three percent of the next $100,000, two percent of the next $800,000, one percent of the next $9,000,000, and one half of one percent of the next $15,000,000, with anything above $25,000,000 set by the court as a reasonable amount.

The mistake that changes the number by six figures

The fee is calculated on the gross value of the estate accounted for. The mortgage is not deducted.

This is the single most common error in online discussion of California probate cost, and it runs in the direction that makes probate look affordable when it is not. A house appraised at $900,000 with a $600,000 loan against it produces a fee base of $900,000, not $300,000. On a heavily mortgaged California property the statutory fee can approach or exceed the family’s actual equity. Every calculator or forum answer that nets out the debt is wrong.

Who actually pays

Fees come out of the estate before distribution, which means they are paid by the beneficiaries in substance even though no beneficiary writes a check. An executor who is also a beneficiary is therefore paying a share of both the attorney fee and, if they waive it, forgoing their own statutory compensation. Waiving executor compensation is common where the executor is the main beneficiary, because the compensation is taxable income while an inheritance generally is not.

What the statutory fee does not cover

The statutory fee covers ordinary services. Extraordinary services, including litigation, sales of real property in some circumstances, and tax work, are compensated separately and require court approval. A quote that mentions only the statutory number is describing the floor.

Comparison figures people cite that do not apply here

Percentages of three percent, four and a half percent, and five percent circulate constantly in national discussion. Those come from other states’ rules or from unregulated markets where fees are negotiated. They are not California law and applying them here produces the wrong answer in both directions.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does probate cost in California?

Probate costs are largely statutory. The attorney is entitled to a fee under Probate Code § 10810, and the personal representative is entitled to an identical fee under Probate Code § 10800, both calculated on the gross value of the estate: 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, 2% of the next $800,000, 1% of the next $9,000,000, and 0.5% of the next $15,000,000, with amounts above $25,000,000 set by the court. On a $1,000,000 estate, that is $23,000 for the attorney and $23,000 for the personal representative, $46,000 combined, before adding the $435 first-paper filing fee, the probate referee fee, and other court costs.

Are probate fees based on equity or gross value?

Gross value, not equity. Under §§ 10810(b) and 10800(b), the fee basis is the inventory appraisal total plus gains and receipts, minus losses, with no reduction for mortgages or other encumbrances. California probate fees are charged on what the estate owns, not on what it owes: a $900,000 house with an $850,000 mortgage still counts as a $900,000 asset for fee purposes.

Who pays the probate attorney?

The estate pays the probate attorney, not the personal representative personally and not any individual beneficiary out of pocket. The § 10810 fee comes out of estate assets during administration, and the personal representative’s separate § 10800 fee is also paid from the estate. Both amounts reduce what is ultimately left to distribute to the beneficiaries.

If you are trying to figure out whether an estate you are handling will actually require probate, or whether a funded trust would keep your own family out of the process entirely, I would be glad to walk through the numbers with you.

Talk to Eric