North Smithfield Probate Court Guide

Note: THE NUMBERS STORED HERE ARE THE COUNTER TOTAL: $34 at the floor and $1,504 at the ceiling, which is the statutory amount plus the $4 assessment described below. Rhode Island probate filing fees are STATUTORY and identical in all 39 municipal probate courts. R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-22-21(a) charges one per cent (1.0%) of the decedent's PERSONAL PROPERTY over which the court has jurisdiction, never less than $30 and never more than $1,500, and § 33-22-29 provides that no local administrative rule of a probate court may expand, contract or otherwise vary any specific provision of Title 33, so a city or town has no lawful power to set its own amount. Real estate is NOT in the fee base: § 33-9-1 keeps real property out of the probate inventory, so a house-rich, cash-poor estate pays the $30 minimum and any estate holding $150,000 or more of personal property pays the same $1,500 maximum. The fee is paid BEFORE the petition is filed, on the petitioner's own estimate, and is revised later with a further payment or a rebate. On top of the statutory figure R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-8.1-20(b) imposes an additional assessment of four dollars ($4.00) on every instrument filed for recording under §§ 33-22-21 and 34-13-7 for the Rhode Island Historical Records Trust, which is why municipal fee sheets across the state print $34 where the statute says $30 and $1,504 where it says $1,500. Separately the clerk collects the cost of newspaper advertising in advance under § 33-22-11; that charge is the newspaper's rate, differs from one city or town to the next, and is removed by waivers signed by all interested parties on form PC-9.1. Small estates use the chapter 33-24 voluntary informal route: $30 to file the statement plus $5 for the certification of appointment. Statutory schedule: https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/Statutes/TITLE33/33-22/33-22-21.htm. Confirm the exact amount, and the local advertising cost, with this city or town's probate clerk before filing.