Nebraska Probate Cost: A Flat Informal Fee and a Twenty-Step Formal Ladder
Settled Estate lists court filing fees and timelines for 8 Nebraska probate procedures. The cheapest published route starts at $44.00 for informal probate, collected. Last verified September 2026.
Nebraska prices probate by statute in all 93 counties, so no county is cheaper than another. The number that surprises people is that the $22.00 the statute names is half of what the clerk actually collects.
Opening an informal Nebraska probate costs $44.00. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-125(1)(a)(i) sets the statutory fee at $22.00, § 24-703(3)(a) adds a judges retirement charge equal to ten percent of it, and six per-case cost statutes add exactly $20.00, so the amount collected at the counter is $44.00, or $45.00 in a testate case with the § 33-126.05 certificate of probate of will and seal. Quoting the $22.00 as the Nebraska probate filing fee understates the bill by half, and it is the single most repeated error about this state.
Formal probate is priced differently. Section 33-125(1)(b) runs a twenty-step ladder keyed to the gross value of the estate, from $44.00 collected on an estate of $1,000 or less to $1,670.00 collected above $5,000,000. Section 33-125(2) defines that gross value in its own words: the actual value of both real and personal property in the State of Nebraska at the time of death, less liens and joint tenancy property. Property that passes by survivorship is outside the measure, and so is anything sitting in another state. Formal fees are also charged in full for all services performed by the court, so no further fee attaches to later petitions, hearings and orders in that administration.
Nothing in the Nebraska probate code sets a percentage for the personal representative or for the estate attorney. Section 30-2480 entitles the representative to reasonable compensation, and § 30-2482 lets the court review the reasonableness of that amount and of any agent the representative employs, and order a refund of compensation that was excessive. No dollar figure is estimated on this page for either role, because Nebraska publishes none.
Quick Summary
- Informal probate, collected
- $44.00$22.00 statutory fee plus $2.00 judges retirement and $20.00 court costs. Flat in all 93 counties
- Formal probate, collected
- $44.00 to $1,670.00Twenty brackets on the gross value of the estate (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-125(1)(b))
- Personal property affidavit
- $0Never filed with a court. Ceiling of $100,000 on personal property wherever located
- Executor and attorney fees
- No scheduleReasonable compensation, reviewable by the court under Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 30-2480 and 30-2482
There is no cheaper Nebraska county and no different kind of courthouse either. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-125 fixes probate fees for the whole state, § 24-517(1) gives the county court exclusive original jurisdiction over decedents' estates in all 93 counties, and § 33-109 sets one statewide recording fee at the register of deeds. Section 33-147 backs that up: an officer who takes greater fees than those prescribed, or who charges for a service not performed, forfeits $50.00 to the party injured, recoverable as a debt. That is a civil forfeiture payable to the person overcharged rather than a criminal penalty, even though the section catchline uses the word. Two costs genuinely are local and are in no total on this page: the newspaper that publishes the notice to creditors, and the register of deeds charge for each county where the decedent held land.
Typical Total Cost Ranges
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| Procedure | Estate Size | Court Fee | Timeline | Attorney? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Informal Probate (Commenced and Closed Informally) | Any estate. The informal fee takes no account of value | $44.00 collected: $22.00 statutory fee under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-125(1)(a)(i), $2.00 judges retirement, $20.00 statutory court costs. Add $1.00 testate for the certificate of probate of will | Commonly about 6 to 12 months, floored by the five-month wait before the closing statement | No statutory requirement. Counsel is usual once there is land to sell, a business to wind up or a claim in dispute | An uncontested estate that needs letters, with an agreed personal representative |
| Formal Probate | Priced on the gross value of the estate: the actual value of Nebraska real and personal property at death, less liens and joint tenancy property (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-125(2)) | $44.00 to $1,670.00 collected across twenty brackets. A $150,000 estate collects $295.00, a $250,000 estate $405.00, a $600,000 estate $680.00 | Longer than informal, because each contested step is heard on notice | No statutory requirement, and rare without one. A formal proceeding is adversarial | A contested will, competing applicants for appointment, or uncertain heirs |
| Each Later Petition Inside an Informal Proceeding | Any estate already open informally | $24.00 under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-125(1)(a)(ii). The $20.00 of court costs is charged once per case, so this is the fee plus judges retirement only | Same day as the filing | No | An informal administration that needs a further application or order along the way |
| Petition to Determine Inheritance Tax | Any estate with Nebraska inheritance tax to determine under chapter 77, article 20 | $44.00 as a standalone case, $24.00 inside an open informal probate, and no fee at all inside a formal probate under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-126.03 | The tax is due within twelve months of the death | No statutory requirement. Except in cases instituted by the county attorney, the petitioner pays the fee | Any Nebraska estate with beneficiaries who owe inheritance tax to a county |
| Affidavit for Transfer of Personal Property | All personal property in the estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, at $100,000 or less (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-24,125(a)(1)) | $0. It is presented to whoever holds the property and never filed with a court, so no fee attaches | Usable thirty days after the death | No | An estate held in accounts, wages, vehicles and belongings where nobody needs letters |
| Affidavit for Succession to Real Property | The decedent's interest in all Nebraska real property at $100,000 or less, taken from the assessment rolls for the year of death less taxes and interest then due (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-24,129(a)(1)) | $10.00 for the first page and $6.00 per additional page at the register of deeds under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-109(1), charged again in every county where the land sits | Usable thirty days after the death, then as long as recording takes | No statutory requirement. A title company will want it drafted carefully | A Nebraska house or acreage under the assessed-value cap where no estate has been opened |
| Petition Dismissed With No Appointment or Order | Any estate | $11.00 collected: a $10.00 fee under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-125(2) plus $1.00 judges retirement per the judiciary schedule | On dismissal | No | A petition withdrawn or dismissed before the court appoints anyone or enters an order |
| Transfer of a Will Question to District Court | Any estate where probate of the will is objected to, or an informal probate is challenged | $103.00 as the judiciary schedule prints it, of which $20.00 is the county court fee named in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2429.01(1) and the rest is the district court docket fee deposited with the county court clerk | Runs on the district court calendar once transferred | No statutory requirement, and rare without one | A will contest that a party wants decided in district court |
Additional Costs to Expect
Opening a Nebraska Estate
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-125(1)(a)(i) sets a flat $22.00 statutory fee for a probate commenced and closed informally, and § 33-125(1)(b) sets twenty value brackets for a probate commenced or closed formally. What the clerk collects adds the § 24-703(3)(a) judges retirement charge and $20.00 of per-case statutory court costs to whichever fee applies. One protection runs in the filer's favour: § 33-125(1)(a) caps informal fees so they can never exceed what a formal probate would have cost the same estate, which means a long informal administration with many applications is still bounded by the formal ladder.
The $20.00 of Court Costs Nobody Quotes
Six separate statutes each tax a small amount as costs on every county court case, and the judiciary schedule collects them once per probate: the legal services fee of $6.25 under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-107.01, the court automation fee of $8.00 under § 33-107.03, the Supreme Court training fee of $1.00 under § 33-154, the dispute resolution fee of $0.75 under § 33-155, the indigent defense fee of $3.00 under § 33-156, and the uniform data analysis fee of $1.00 under § 47-633. They add to exactly $20.00, which is what the schedule's costs column means, and they are why a later petition inside an open informal case is $24.00 rather than $44.00.
Executor Compensation, Which Nebraska Does Not Schedule
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2480 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for his services, and stops there. Where a will provides for compensation and no contract with the decedent controls, the representative may renounce that provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead, and may renounce all or part of the compensation by a written renunciation filed with the court. Section 30-2482 lets the court, on notice or on the petition of an interested person, review the reasonableness of what the representative sets for his or her own services and order a refund of anything excessive. Any Nebraska rate presented as the executor fee is local custom or a private agreement rather than the law.
Attorney Fees, Under the Same Review
Nebraska fixes no attorney-fee percentage for probate and publishes no schedule. Section 30-2482(1) subjects the propriety of employing any attorney, auditor, investment advisor or other specialized agent, and the reasonableness of that person's compensation, to court review on notice or on the petition of an interested person, using the seven factors in § 30-2482(2): the time and labor required and the difficulty of the questions involved, whether the employment precludes other work, the fee customarily charged in the locality for similar services, the amount involved and the results obtained, the time limitations imposed, the nature and length of the relationship, and the experience, reputation and ability of the person performing the services. Section 30-2481 separately gives a representative who defends or prosecutes a proceeding in good faith, successfully or not, the necessary expenses and disbursements including reasonable attorney fees out of the estate.
The Small Estate Affidavits
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-24,125 works without a court, which is why no fee attaches: the successor furnishes the affidavit to whoever holds the property and that person pays or delivers it. The land affidavit under § 30-24,129 is filed with the register of deeds rather than the court, so what it costs is the ordinary recording charge of $10.00 for the first page and $6.00 for each additional page under § 33-109(1), paid again in every Nebraska county where the decedent held real property. Neither section sets a fee of its own.
Certified Death Certificates
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, as State Registrar, charges $16.00 in advance for each certified copy or for any search made at the applicant's request, whether or not the record is found on file, under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 71-612(1). The department publishes the same $16.00 for a mailed request and for the online ordering portal, which offers no expedited shipping and asks for four to six weeks. Fee waivers exist under § 71-612(2) for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, a lawful veterans service organization and the Military Department, and under § 71-612(3) at the department's discretion for a hardship claim by a claimant of old age, survivors or disability benefits. A birth certificate is $17.00 rather than $16.00 because § 71-612(7) adds a one dollar charge on birth records only.
Recording With the Register of Deeds
A land records charge rather than a court charge, paid to the county register of deeds, which is a separate office from the county court. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-109 sets one statewide fee for recording a deed, mortgage or release, recording and indexing a will, recording and indexing a decree in a testate estate, recording proof of publication, or recording any other instrument. Of the first-page fee, $2.50 is reserved for preserving and modernizing the office's records, and $0.50 of each additional-page fee likewise, but the filer still pays the full $10.00 and $6.00.
Publishing the Notice to Creditors
Left unpriced rather than estimated, because the statute fixes the rate and not the total. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2483(a) has the clerk publish notice once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, and creditors then have two months from first publication to present claims. Section 33-141(4) sets the legal rate at fifty cents per line for the first insertion and 43.34 cents per line for each subsequent insertion, single column, eight-point type, pica width of eleven, with a conversion table for other type sizes and column widths. So the cost turns on how many lines the notice runs rather than on which paper prints it.
The Personal Representative's Bond
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2446(1) excuses bond in six situations: the will waives it, all heirs or devisees file a written waiver, a guardian or conservator waives on behalf of a ward, an adult waives on his or her own behalf, the representative is a bank or a chartered trust company, or the petition alleges the probable value of the entire estate will permit summary procedures under § 30-24,127. Where a bond is required in an informal proceeding and no amount is specified, § 30-2447(a) has the person qualifying file a sworn estimate of the personal estate plus the next year's income and post a bond of at least that amount. The premium is a real cost of Nebraska probate that no fee schedule shows.
Copies, Certificates and Witness Fees
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-126.05 gives the county court twenty-five cents per page for photocopies and one dollar for executing a certificate and affixing the seal, on top of the fees in §§ 33-123 to 33-125. The judiciary schedule adds a $3.00 authenticated certificate carrying three seals, a $1.00 certificate involving real estate, and the $1.00 certificate of probate of will with seal in a testate case. In a formal probate the court provides one certified copy of the letters of appointment without charge under § 33-125(2). Witnesses are $20.00 a day in a probate matter, $10.00 at an inheritance tax hearing, and mileage is $0.76 per mile.
Guardianship, Conservatorship and Trust Filings
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 33-126.02 charges twenty-two dollars to file a petition appointing a guardian, the same to appoint a conservator, the same for a single petition consolidating both, the same for a successor or a temporary appointment, and the same for a protective order proceeding where no guardianship or conservatorship exists. Where more than one ward is listed in a petition, only one filing fee is assessed. While the case is pending the court receives five dollars for filing and recording each report, and § 24-703(3)(a) charges no judges retirement fee on a report filing. Appointing a custodian under the Nebraska Uniform Transfers to Minors Act is twenty dollars. Registering a trust in county court totals $44.00 on the judiciary schedule, and a proceeding inside an existing trust totals $24.00.
When the Court Can Waive the Fee
Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-2301.01 lets any county or state court except the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court authorize the commencement, prosecution, defense or appeal of a civil or criminal case in forma pauperis, which § 25-2301(2) defines as permission to proceed without prepayment of fees and costs or security. The application must include an affidavit stating that the affiant is unable to pay the fees and costs or give security, the nature of the action, and the affiant's belief that he or she is entitled to redress. Note one limit: § 24-703(3)(e) says no Nebraska Retirement Fund for Judges fee that is uncollectible for any reason shall be waived by a county judge as provided in § 29-2709. Separately, § 33-120 lets the county judge, register of deeds and county clerk require payment in advance, or security, before a service is rendered.
Inheritance Tax, Which the County Collects
Nebraska charges no estate tax and no probate tax, and does charge an inheritance tax that the county court determines and the county collects. It falls on what each beneficiary receives rather than on the filing. For a decedent dying on or after January 1, 2023, the rate is one percent above a $100,000 exemption for the immediate relatives listed in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-2004, eleven percent above a $40,000 exemption for the remote relatives in § 77-2005, and fifteen percent above a $25,000 exemption in all other cases under § 77-2006. A surviving spouse pays none, and neither does any beneficiary under twenty-two years of age. Qualify every rate by the date of death: each of those three sections prints its pre-2023 figures alongside the current ones as live text, so thirteen percent, eighteen percent, $15,000 and $10,000 are all real text in the statute and all wrong for a death on or after January 1, 2023. The tax is due within twelve months of the death.
One more cost source to check: if the person who died received Medicaid long-term care benefits, the state may file a recovery claim against the estate. The Nebraska Medicaid estate recovery guide explains when that applies.