Hitchcock County Court Guide

Note: NEBRASKA PROBATE FILING FEES ARE SET BY STATUTE, STATEWIDE, AND NO NEBRASKA COUNTY SETS ITS OWN. There are two paths. A probate commenced and closed INFORMALLY pays a flat twenty-two dollar fee under Neb. Rev. Stat. Sec. 33-125(1)(a)(i). A probate commenced or closed FORMALLY pays a twenty-bracket schedule under Sec. 33-125(1)(b), from $22.00 on an estate of $1,000 or less to $1,500.00 on an estate over $5,000,000. Sec. 33-125(2) defines the measure as the gross value of the estate, meaning real and personal property in Nebraska at the time of death, less liens and joint tenancy property. PUBLISHING $22 AS THE NEBRASKA PROBATE FILING FEE UNDERSTATES THE BILL BY HALF, because two other statutes load onto every county court probate case: Sec. 24-703(3)(a) charges an additional ten percent of the Sec. 33-125 fee, and six per-case cost statutes (Secs. 33-107.01, 33-107.03, 33-154, 33-155, 33-156 and 47-633) total exactly $20.00. So an informal probate collects $44.00, or $45.00 in a testate estate that takes the Sec. 33-126.05 certificate of probate of will, and a formal probate collects $44.00 to $1,670.00. THE TWENTY FORMAL BRACKETS, by gross value of the estate, as printed on the Nebraska Judicial Branch schedule effective 2026-07-01 and cross-checked against the statute (statutory fee plus ten percent plus $20.00 equals the printed total on every row): $1,000 or less, $44; $2,000 or less, $53; $5,000 or less, $75; $10,000 or less, $97; $25,000 or less, $108; $50,000 or less, $130; $75,000 or less, $152; $100,000 or less, $196; $125,000 or less, $262; $150,000 or less, $295; $175,000 or less, $317; $200,000 or less, $350; $300,000 or less, $405; $400,000 or less, $460; $500,000 or less, $570; $750,000 or less, $680; $1,000,000 or less, $790; $2,500,000 or less, $900; $5,000,000 or less, $1,120; over $5,000,000, $1,670. A dismissed petition with no appointment and no order collects $11.00, which is the $10.00 of Sec. 33-125 plus $1.00 under Sec. 24-703(3)(a); publishing the $10.00 alone repeats the same statute-versus-bill mistake in miniature. There is NO Nebraska probate tax and no estate tax, but Nebraska does levy an INHERITANCE tax that the county collects and the county court determines, and Sec. 33-126.03 charges a further $22.00 statutory fee for that determination unless a Sec. 33-125(1)(b) formal fee was already imposed. One decoy to avoid: Sec. 33-125(1)(a) nests a REMITTANCE schedule inside the $22 fee, ending with twelve dollars beginning July 1, 2025, which is the slice sent to the Nebraska Retirement Fund for Judges and not a fee anyone pays. Confirm the current amount with the clerk of the county court before filing.