What Drives Probate Cost in Kansas
Court filing fees are the visible starting point, but many estates also pay for certified copies, notice or publication, property recordings, appraisals, and legal help.
Kansas probate filing fees are statewide, and the statute says so in its own words rather than leaving it to inference: K.S.A. 59-104(a)(2) provides that the docket fee "shall be the only fee collected or moneys in the nature of a fee collected for the docket fee" and that it "shall only be established by an act of the legislature and no other authority is established by law or otherwise to collect a fee." So there is no county schedule to shop, and all 105 county fee records carry the same figures. Subsection (a)(1) charges by what the filing IS rather than by what the estate is worth: $109.50 to probate an estate or a will, $49.50 to determine descent of property, $48.50 to petition for refusal of letters of administration or to file a will with the K.S.A. 59-618a affidavit, $48.50 each to terminate a joint tenancy or a life estate, $69.50 each for a guardianship, a conservatorship, a trusteeship or a combined guardianship and conservatorship, $23.50 for certified probate proceedings under K.S.A. 59-213, and $173.00 for decrees in probate from another state. Kansas takes no probate tax, so a $60,000 estate and a $60,000,000 estate pay the same to open. One charge on top is genuinely uncertain and is shown as a range rather than folded into a total: K.S.A. 59-104(a)(2) lets the supreme court add up to $22 per docket fee for the costs of non-judicial personnel, 2026 Session Laws ch. 35 set that authority to run July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2030, and it is permissive rather than automatic, so a clerk may quote $109.50 or $131.50 to open an estate. Note that the statute text published by the Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes has not caught up and still prints the previous window, which ended June 30, 2025. Four things surprise people. Simplified administration is not a discount: K.S.A. 59-3202 has the court decide at the hearing whether the estate runs as a simplified estate or a supervised one, and both are the same $109.50 filing. The free small estates affidavit under K.S.A. 59-1507b measures "the total assets of the estate of the decedent subject to probate" against $75,000, which counts a house, but transfers only "any personal property of whatever nature", which cannot move one, so the house counts toward the ceiling and still needs a court route. Kansas has a $49.50 route with no dollar limit at all, the K.S.A. 59-2250 petition to determine descent, open once a person has been dead more than six months where no will was filed, no probate petition was filed and no administration determined descent. And the six-month mark cuts twice: K.S.A. 59-617 gives a will six months to be offered for probate before it stops passing property, while K.S.A. 59-2239(1) bars creditors from the property after the same six months where nothing was filed. Three costs are genuinely local and are in no total here. The clerk’s certified-copy charge is not a statewide figure at all, because K.S.A. 28-170(a)(3) prices it at "such fee as shall be prescribed by the district court". Newspaper publication of the notice to creditors is required by K.S.A. 59-709(a) and priced by the newspaper, capped by K.S.A. 28-137 at its lowest regular classified rate and at a 15% annual increase, with no statutory amount. And recording a deed goes to the county REGISTER OF DEEDS under K.S.A. 28-115 at $21 for a one-page instrument ($17 under (a)(5), plus $3 per page under (b), plus $1 per page under (i)) rather than to the court. Kansas sets no statutory percentage for either the personal representative or the attorney: K.S.A. 59-1717 allows what is just and reasonable, so no dollar figure is estimated for either role. Confirm the current total with the clerk of the district court for the county where the decedent lived.
Cost componentsFiling fees, add-on charges, and attorney work compared
Court Filing Fees
The court procedure chosen is often the biggest first driver of cost. Simplified procedures usually cost less than full administration.
Additional Charges
Certified copies, publication or notice costs, appraisals, and document recordings can materially change the final number.
Attorney Work
Legal fees depend on the estate's issues. A modest estate with title or creditor problems can cost more than a larger estate with clean paperwork.
How to Use the EstimateWhat the number means and which check to run next
Use the result to set expectations, not to lock in a final fee quote. If the number looks high, the next question is whether all of the property really needs probate or whether some assets already transfer outside court.
From here, compare the estate structure with the estate value calculator, review transfer structure with the beneficiary checker, and use the Kansas courts page if you need the next local filing contact.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Kansas probate costs and filing fees?
Do I need an attorney for Kansas probate?
How long does Kansas probate take?
Official Sources and Further ReadingOfficial references used for this page
- K.S.A. 59-104 ("Docket fee; authorized only by legislative enactment; poverty affidavit; additional court costs"), the whole cost of opening a Kansas probate and the source of every court figure on this page. Subsection (a)(1) prints one statewide table of docket fees for filings under chapter 59: Probate of an estate or of a will $109.50; Determination of descent of property $49.50; Refusal to grant letters of administration $48.50; Filing a will and affidavit under K.S.A. 59-618a $48.50; Termination of joint tenancy $48.50; Termination of life estate $48.50; Guardianship, Conservatorship, Trusteeship and Combined guardianship and conservatorship $69.50 each; Certified probate proceedings under K.S.A. 59-213 $23.50; and Decrees in probate from another state $173.00. None of it is priced off the value of the estate, and Kansas levies no probate tax, so a $60,000 estate and a $60,000,000 estate pay the same to open. Subsection (a)(2) is what makes the table statewide rather than a floor: "the docket fee established in this section shall be the only fee collected or moneys in the nature of a fee collected for the docket fee. Such fee shall only be established by an act of the legislature and no other authority is established by law or otherwise to collect a fee." It then allows one exception, an additional charge of up to $22 per docket fee for the costs of non-judicial personnel, which the supreme court MAY impose. READ THAT SUBSECTION WITH THE SESSION LAW BESIDE IT: the version published here still reads "On and after July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2025", a window that expired, and this page uses the 2026 amendment linked below instead. Subsection (b) applies the civil poverty-affidavit provisions of K.S.A. 60-2001(b) and 60-2005 to probate docket fees. Subsection (d) is the one that explains what is NOT in the table: other fees and expenses are assessed as additional court costs approved by the court unless specifically fixed by statute, and it names appraiser fees, publication of legal notice, executor or administrator fees and attorney fees among them
- 2026 Kansas Session Laws ch. 35 (House Bill 2393), approved April 3, 2026, at the Secretary of State, and the reason this page does not rely on the statute page alone. Section 16 reprints K.S.A. 59-104 in full: the fee table is unchanged to the cent, and the only edit is inside subsection (a)(2), where the supreme court’s authority to add up to $22 per docket fee moves from "On and after July 1, 2019, through June 30, 2025" to "On and after July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2030." The Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes has not yet published that change: its text of 59-104 still shows the expired window and its History line still ends at L. 2019, ch. 58, § 18. A page built from the statute site alone would therefore describe a surcharge authority that had lapsed. The act is headed "(Amended by Chapters 155 and 157)", and both of those were read: ch. 155 (House Bill 2029, approved April 27, 2026) is a reconciliation act settling multiple amendments to the same statutes across elections, child welfare, insurance, nursing, driving, income tax and education, and ch. 157 (Senate Bill 430, approved April 27, 2026) amends theft, expungement and controlled-substance sections. Neither contains the string 59-104, so section 16 is the final 2026 text of the probate docket-fee section. Because the charge is permissive and its imposition is a matter for each court, no total on this page folds it in; it is shown as the top of a range instead
- K.S.A. 59-1507b ("Transfer of certain personal property to successor; discharge and release; affidavit"), the free route, and the Kansas section most worth reading twice because its MEASURE and its MECHANISM are different scopes. Subsection (a) applies "When a resident of the state dies, whether testate or intestate, if the total assets of the estate of the decedent subject to probate do not exceed $75,000 in value", which counts a house that is subject to probate, and then transfers "any personal property of whatever nature transferable to the decedent’s estate by any entity or person", which cannot reach real estate at all. So Kansas neither excludes real property from the measure nor disqualifies the route for owning it: the house counts toward the ceiling and still needs a court proceeding to move. There is no filing fee because there is no filing: the successor furnishes the affidavit to whoever holds the property, and subsection (b) makes the transfer count as a transfer to the personal representative and "a full discharge and release from any further claim for such transfer to the same extent as if the transfer had been made to an executor or administrator". Subsection (c) defines a successor as a person entitled to the property by will or by intestate succession, or nominated as personal representative under the will, so a will does not close this route. Subsection (b) also makes the affidavit sufficient if in substantial compliance with the form set forth by the judicial council. The $75,000 was $40,000 until 2023 Session Laws ch. 77, § 7, effective July 1, 2023
- 2023 Kansas Session Laws ch. 77 (House Bill 2130), approved April 24, 2023, the act behind every dollar figure on this page that depends on the date of death, and the reason a death near July 1, 2023 gets a caveat rather than an answer. Reading it in both directions (dropping the struck text for current law, dropping the inserted text for prior law) shows five amounts moving at once: § 7 raised the K.S.A. 59-1507b small estates affidavit ceiling from $40,000 to $75,000; § 11 raised the K.S.A. 59-2287(a)(2) refusal-of-letters figure from $50,000 to $75,000; § 1 raised the K.S.A. 59-403(b) allowance to a surviving spouse and minor children from $50,000 to $75,000; § 9 raised the K.S.A. 59-2215 court-cost remission ceiling from $5,000 to $10,000; and § 6 raised the K.S.A. 59-1507a benefit-payment ceiling from $5,000 to $10,000. What the act does NOT contain is a transition clause for any of them. Section 17 reads in full "This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the statute book", and its only applicability clause, § 15, is about transfer-on-death deeds filed of record on or after July 1, 2023. Which figure governs a death shortly before that date is therefore a reading of each operative sentence rather than a stated rule, which is why this calculator says so instead of choosing. None of these figures is indexed: Kansas applies no CPI or COLA adjustment to any of them
- K.S.A. 59-2287 ("Refusal to grant letters of administration; order; notice; termination of administration"), the cheapest COURT route in Kansas at a $48.50 docket fee, and the one whose summaries most often drop the condition that matters. It is discretionary on its face: "The district court, in its discretion, may refuse to grant letters in the following cases". There are two independent grounds with different petitioners. Under (a)(1) the ground is that the value of the decedent’s real or personal property is no greater than the exempt property plus the K.S.A. 59-403 allowance to the surviving spouse or minor children, and (b) has the proof made by or on behalf of the spouse or minor children, with notice under K.S.A. 59-2222 required by (c). Under (a)(2) the ground is that the real and personal estate does not exceed $75,000 AND the estate is not subject to the K.S.A. 59-403 allowances or those allowances are waived. On that ground any heir, devisee, legatee, creditor or other interested person may petition only "by giving bond in the sum of not less than the value of the estate", approved by the court and conditioned on assuming the obligation to pay the decedent’s debts in the order of their preference so far as the assets permit and to distribute the balance to those entitled. Unlike the affidavit, this route reaches land: the same paragraph provides that "real estate sold in accordance with this section shall be deemed to have marketable title as ordered by the court", and that no creditor, heir or other person is deemed to have an interest after six months from the date of death. Subsection (d) has the court terminate the administration where further proceedings are unnecessary, and (e) allows a will filed under the section within six months of the death to be admitted to probate after that period
- K.S.A. 59-2250 ("Proceedings to determine descent"), the $49.50 route with no dollar limit of any kind, and the usual Kansas answer for a house or a quarter section that nobody ever transferred. It opens "Whenever any person has been dead for more than six months and has left property or any interest in property", and lets any person interested in the estate or claiming an interest in the property petition the district court of the county of the decedent’s residence, or of any county where the property or an interest in it is situated, to determine its descent under the laws of intestate succession or under the terms of a valid settlement agreement. Its three gates are all about the absence of another proceeding rather than about money: (a) no will has been filed under K.S.A. 59-618a within six months after the death; (b) no petition has been filed for the probate of a will in Kansas; and (c) no petition for administration has been filed in Kansas, or administration has been had without a determination of the descent of the property. What it produces is a decree of descent, not an administration: nobody is appointed, no letters issue and no creditor process runs, which is why it is the cheap route only where no fiduciary is needed
- K.S.A. 59-1717 ("Compensation and expenses"), and why this calculator refuses to print a dollar figure for either professional. Kansas is a reasonable-compensation state on BOTH sides of the estate: "Every fiduciary shall be allowed his or her necessary expenses incurred in the execution of his or her trust, and shall have such compensation for services and those of his or her attorneys as shall be just and reasonable. At any time during administration the fiduciary may apply to the court for an allowance upon his or her compensation and upon attorneys’ fees." There is no percentage anywhere in the Kansas probate code for an executor, an administrator or an estate attorney, so any site quoting one for Kansas is quoting a different state. K.S.A. 59-104(d) then taxes executor or administrator fees and attorney fees as additional court costs approved by the court. The companion section K.S.A. 59-1504 covers the case where the will itself fixes the executor’s compensation: that is taken as full compensation unless the executor files a written instrument renouncing all claim to it. The two sections share a catchline and are frequently confused; 59-1717 is the general rule, 59-1504 is the will-provision rule
- K.S.A. 59-2239 ("Claims against estate; time for filing; when barred"), the Kansas creditor clock, which runs FOUR months and not a year, and the section that also explains why the six-month mark matters so much here. Subsection (1) bars all demands against a decedent’s estate "unless the demand is presented within the later of: (a) four months from the date of first publication of notice under K.S.A. 59-2236 ...; or (b) if the identity of the creditor is known or reasonably ascertainable, 30 days after actual notice was given". It then adds a separate and stronger bar that operates whether or not an estate is ever opened: "No creditor shall have any claim against or lien upon the property of a decedent other than liens existing at the date of the decedent’s death, unless a petition is filed for the probate of the decedent’s will ... or for the administration of the decedent’s estate ... within six months after the death of the decedent". Read it beside K.S.A. 59-617, which gives a will six months from the death to be offered for probate before it stops passing property: the two clocks run together, so waiting out the creditors also runs out the will. Subsection (2) preserves tort claims against the personal representative within the ordinary statute of limitations, and allows an estate to be opened or reopened and a special administrator appointed for that purpose
- K.S.A. 59-709 ("Filing of certain petitions; notice to creditors") and K.S.A. 28-137 (newspaper legal-notice rates), the two halves of a cost this page deliberately leaves at zero. Section 59-709(a) requires every petitioner for administration or probate of a will to give notice to creditors within 30 days after filing, published in a newspaper of the county authorized by law to publish legal notices, once a week for three consecutive weeks; (b) requires actual notice to known or reasonably ascertainable creditors before the non-claim statute expires; and (c) dispenses with notice altogether where the petition is filed after the K.S.A. 59-2239 period has already run. What none of that does is state a price. K.S.A. 28-137(a) caps a newspaper at "a rate not exceeding the lowest regular classified advertising rate charged by the newspaper to its commercial customers", (b) requires each publisher to file a rate card with the county clerk on or before July 1 each year, (c) makes commercial contract rates and volume discounts available for legal advertisements on the same terms, and (d) caps any annual increase at 15%. Subsection (e) taxes the publication charges as costs in the proceeding. So publication is a real and mandatory cost with a statutory ceiling and no statutory amount, which is why no figure for it appears in any total here
- K.S.A. 28-170 ("Court fees, civil actions; authorized only by legislative enactment; prosecuting attorneys’ training fund"), the answer to the question this calculator cannot compute: what a certified copy costs. Kansas does not set that figure statewide. Subsection (a) lists the clerk’s charges in matters where no other fee is prescribed by statute, and its third item reads, in full, "For a certificate, or for copying or certifying any paper or writ, such fee as shall be prescribed by the district court." So the amount is fixed district by district rather than by the legislature, which is why no certified-copy price appears anywhere on this page and why a zero there is not a claim that copies are free. Ask the clerk of the district court what a certified copy of the letters costs, and count how many the banks, the brokerage, the title company and the transfer agents will each want. The same section also shows the pattern K.S.A. 59-104(a)(2) follows on the probate side: its subsection (d) carries the identical up-to-$22 non-judicial-personnel charge and, in the text published here, the same expired 2019-to-2025 window
- K.S.A. 28-115 ("Fees of register of deeds"), the second counter, a different office from the court in all 105 counties, and a section where reading one row understates the bill twice over. Recording a deed out of an estate is THREE additive charges on the same instrument: subsection (a)(5) sets $17 for the first page and $13 for each additional page for documents filed on and after January 1, 2018; subsection (b) adds $3 per page for the register of deeds, county clerk and county treasurer technology funds; and subsection (i) adds $1 per page for the state heritage trust fund. A one-page deed is therefore $21 and each further page is $17. The first trap is quoting only (a)(5) and publishing $17. The second is worse: subsections (a)(1) through (a)(4) are SUPERSEDED historical tiers that the revisor still prints in ascending date order in the same section, running $6, $8, $11 and $14 for a first page, so a reader who takes the first dollar figure in the section publishes the pre-2015 schedule. Also here: a release or assignment of a real estate mortgage is $16 under (a)(5)(D) plus the same $4, certifying an instrument on record is $13 under (a)(5)(E) with no per-page add-on, (d) adds $1 to the instrument if the signers’ or notary’s names are not plainly typed or printed under the signatures, and (j) caps the fee at $125 for a single-family mortgage on a principal residence securing $75,000 or less. None of this is a court fee and none of it appears on any court fee schedule
- K.S.A. 20-301 ("District court in each county; jurisdiction"), the one-sentence reason there is no Kansas county fee schedule to shop and no probate court to find: "There shall be in each county a district court, which shall be a court of record, and shall have general original jurisdiction of all matters, both civil and criminal, unless otherwise provided by law, and also shall have such appellate jurisdiction as prescribed by law." Kansas has no separate probate court and no probate division; chapter 59 is heard on the district court’s ordinary docket in all 105 counties, and the office a family hands paper to is the clerk of that court. Which county is a separate question, answered by K.S.A. 59-2203: proceedings are had in the county where the decedent lived at death if the decedent owned an interest in real property there, and otherwise either in the county of residence or in any county where the decedent did own an interest in real property, with a nonresident’s estate administered in any county where an estate was left. Whichever proceeding is legally commenced first extends to all of the decedent’s Kansas property, and a case filed in the wrong county is stayed and the file transmitted to the right one
- Kansas Judicial Council, "Small Estates Affidavit - K.S.A. 59-1507b", the judicial-branch half of this page and the only place the free route becomes a piece of paper. The Council is not a general form publisher here, it is the form-setter the statute names: K.S.A. 59-1507b(b) makes the affidavit sufficient if it is "in substantial compliance with the form set forth by the judicial council", so the bank or transfer agent holding the money is measuring your paperwork against this page. The form is published as "Small Estates Affidavit (02-2024)" and is free; the Council states the forms are for non-commercial use and that anyone who paid a company for them should contact the Attorney General’s consumer complaint hotline. Its own probate forms index at kjc.ks.gov/legal-forms/probate carries the K.S.A. 59-2210 probate hearing notice and the petition for allowance of demand. Two figures a Kansas family needs are published by the Kansas Judicial Branch rather than by the Council or the legislature, and neither is quoted anywhere on this page for that reason: what a district court charges for a certified copy under K.S.A. 28-170(a)(3), and whether this district collects the permissive K.S.A. 59-104(a)(2) charge of up to $22. Ask the clerk of the district court for both
- IRS Publication 559 for survivors, executors, and administrators
- CFPB guide to managing someone else’s money
Information current as of May 31, 2026
Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Kansas can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.