What Drives Probate Cost in Utah
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.
Utah probate filing fees do not vary by county, and neither does the court. Utah Code § 78A-2-301 sets one statewide schedule, and § 78A-2-301(2) closes the gap that lets other states add local charges: "There is no fee for services or the filing of documents not listed in this section or otherwise provided by law." Opening a decedent’s estate costs $375 under § 78A-2-301(1)(a), the fee for a civil petition invoking the jurisdiction of a court of record, and it is the same figure whether the application is informal in front of the registrar or formal in front of a judge. Utah levies no probate tax and prices nothing off the value of the estate at the point of filing. Four things surprise people. The estate-value ladder in the same section is NOT the filing fee: § 78A-2-301(1)(r) opens "The fee for filing any accounting required by law is" before it gives $15, $30, $50, $90 and $175, an ordinary informal Utah estate files no accounting at all, and § 75-3-1003(3) lets one that is required be waived when all the distributees consent in writing, so a page quoting $15 as the cost of a Utah probate is quoting the wrong row. The free route is genuinely free: the § 75-3-1201 small estate affidavit is not filed with any court, so there is no fee and no court form, and its $100,000 ceiling is measured net of liens and encumbrances across the entire estate wherever located, which counts a mortgaged house at its equity. Utah has a second small-estate route with no dollar figure at all, the § 75-3-1203 summary administrative procedure, whose test is a sum of the homestead allowance, exempt property, the family allowance, administration costs, funeral expenses and last-illness medical bills, and the first two of those are reset every January by year of death under § 75-1-110. And publishing the notice to creditors is optional here rather than required: § 75-3-801(1)(a) says the personal representative may publish, § 75-3-801(3) removes liability either way, and publishing is what shortens the creditor window from the one year in § 75-3-803 to three months. What is genuinely local is not the fee. Newspaper publication is priced by the newspaper and by no statute, recording a deed goes to the county recorder at $40 per instrument under § 17-71-407 plus $5 in a county of the second through sixth class, and the courthouse itself moves: Utah, Davis, Salt Lake and Duchesne counties run more than one district courthouse, and Summit County’s sits in Park City rather than in its county seat at Coalville. Confirm the current total with 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 Utah courts page if you need the next local filing contact.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Utah probate costs and filing fees?
Do I need an attorney for Utah probate?
How long does Utah probate take?
Official Sources and Further ReadingOfficial references used for this page
- Utah Code § 78A-2-301 ("Civil fees of the courts of record"), the whole cost of a Utah probate filing and the source of every court figure on this page. Subsection (1)(a) charges $375 for "any civil complaint or petition invoking the jurisdiction of a court of record not governed by another subsection", which is what a petition or application to open a decedent’s estate is, informal or formal, in all 29 counties. Subsection (1)(m) charges $35 for filing probate documents from another state. Subsection (1)(r) is the trap: it is headed "The fee for filing any accounting required by law" and only then gives $15 for an estate valued at $50,000 or less, $30 at $75,000 or less but more than $50,000, $50 at $112,000 or less but more than $75,000, $90 at $168,000 or less but more than $112,000 and $175 above $168,000, so those bands price an ACCOUNTING and never the opening of a probate, and they run upward-inclusive rather than the usual way, which puts exactly $50,000 in the $15 band. Subsection (1)(z) prices a certified copy at $4 per document plus 50 cents a page and (1)(aa) an exemplified copy at $6 plus the same 50 cents. Subsection (1)(b)(vii) charges $35 where the petition is for guardianship and the prospective ward is the petitioner’s biological or adoptive child, (1)(d)(iii) charges $170 for a claim for relief against an existing party in a case opened under (1)(a), (1)(s) charges $250 for a jury demand and (1)(u) charges $35 for a document requiring judicial approval outside an action. Subsection (2) closes the list: "There is no fee for services or the filing of documents not listed in this section or otherwise provided by law"
- Utah State Courts, "Filing, Transcript, and Record Fees", the table headed "Filing Fees - Effective May 6, 2026". This is the second official source behind every court figure here, and it prints its own Utah Code § 78A-2-301 subsection against each row, so the two can be checked line by line. They agree digit for digit: $375 against Subsection (1)(a), $35 against (1)(m), all five Accountings rows against (1)(r)(i) to (v), $4.00 and $0.50 against (1)(z), $6.00 and $0.50 against (1)(aa). One row is worded differently from the statute and the statute is the one to follow: the courts label the (1)(b)(vii) $35 row "Guardianship of an Adult Disabled Child", while the statute states no adulthood test and no disability test. The same page carries the transcript fees and links the fee-waiver process
- Utah Code § 75-3-1201 ("Collection of personal property by affidavit -- Vehicles -- Water shares excluded"), the free route and the one figure worth reading twice. Subsection (1)(a) sets the ceiling as "the value of the entire estate subject to administration, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000", which is a NET measure of the WHOLE estate rather than a gross measure of the personal property, so a mortgaged home counts at its equity. Subsection (1)(b) requires 30 days to have elapsed since the death, (1)(c) requires that no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted in any jurisdiction, and (1)(d) requires the person signing to be a successor entitled to the property. Subsection (2) makes a transfer agent change the registered ownership of a security on presentation. Subsection (3) has the Motor Vehicle Division transfer title to not more than four boats, motor vehicles, trailers or semitrailers, and for that transfer measures the same $100,000 on the estate OTHER THAN those vehicles. Subsection (4) excludes shares of stock in a water company transferred under § 73-1-10 or Title 70A, Chapter 8 from transfer under this part altogether
- Utah State Courts self-help, "Small Estates". The official page that says the affidavit costs nothing because it is never filed: the successor fills out the form, signs it in front of a notary and gives it to the third party holding the property. It is also the page that disagrees with the statute, listing as a requirement that "there is no real property" where Utah Code § 75-3-1201(1)(a) imposes only the $100,000 net measure and disqualifies no estate for owning a home. Both readings are set out on this page rather than one being chosen quietly, because a bank or transfer agent may follow the courts’ stricter wording even though the statute does not require it
- Utah Code § 75-3-1203 ("Small estates -- Summary administrative procedure"), Utah’s second small-estate route, which carries no dollar figure at all. It applies where the inventory and appraisal show the value of the entire estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the SUM of the homestead allowance, exempt property, the family allowance, the costs and expenses of administration, reasonable funeral expenses, and the reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness. The personal representative may then disburse and distribute without notice to creditors and close by the verified statement in § 75-3-1204. Two components of that sum are fixed for a given year of death and the rest are inherently variable, which is why no threshold is published for this route and none is invented here
- Utah Code § 75-1-110 ("Cost of living adjustment of certain dollar amounts"), the section that makes the printed figures in Title 75 Chapter 2 out of date. It indexes the amounts in §§ 75-2-102, 75-2-202(2), 75-2-402, 75-2-403 and 75-2-405 to the CPI-U annual average against a 2009 reference base, using the calendar year immediately before the year of the decedent’s DEATH, rounded down to a multiple of $100 for an increase and up for a decrease, and its subsection (2) sets the periodic family-allowance instalment at the lump sum divided by 12. Subsection (3) requires the Administrative Office of the Courts to publish a cumulative list of every adjusted amount before February 1 each year. The amounts printed on the face of §§ 75-2-402 and 75-2-403 are the 2010 amounts
- Utah State Courts, "Estate Consumer Price Index": the list Utah Code § 75-1-110(3) requires, and the only place the operative allowance amounts appear. It is keyed to the decedent’s YEAR OF DEATH and gives the adjusted figure for each indexed section. For a 2026 death the homestead allowance is $33,700 and exempt property is $22,500, against the $22,500 and $15,000 printed in the statute. The page never uses the words homestead, allowance or exempt, so no on-site search for those words reaches it; the section number is the handle. A new row appears before February 1 each year, so re-read it every January
- Utah Code § 75-3-801 ("Notice to creditors"), which is permissive in Utah and mandatory in many neighbouring states. The personal representative "may publish" a notice of the appointment and of the address, notifying creditors to present claims within three months after the first publication or be forever barred, published once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county and for three weeks under § 45-1-101. Subsection (2) gives a creditor served in writing the later of 90 days from the published notice or 60 days from the mailing. Subsection (3) says the personal representative is not liable to any creditor or successor for giving or failing to give the notice, and subsection (4) allows the notice to be published in a § 75-3-1201 affidavit, so the free route can buy the same claim bar. Section 75-3-803(1) sets the outer limit at the EARLIER of one year after the death and the § 75-3-801 periods, so publishing shortens the exposure rather than extending it. No statute and no court schedule prices the newspaper, so no publication figure is estimated on this page
- Utah Code § 75-3-718 ("Compensation of personal representative and attorney"), and why this calculator estimates no executor or attorney dollar figure. Subsection (1) entitles both to reasonable compensation and adds a rule most states do not have: where a petition directly or indirectly seeks approval of that compensation and no interested person objects, "reasonable compensation shall be the compensation sought in the petition"; where someone does object the court fixes it on the quality, quantity and value of the services and the circumstances in which they were rendered, including the practice for other fiduciaries in similar circumstances. Subsection (2) requires a copy of the petition to reach all interested persons at least 10 days before the hearing, by certified, registered or first class mail or by hand delivery. Subsection (3) lets a personal representative renounce a compensation clause in the will before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead. Section 75-3-720 lets an interested person have the court review the reasonableness afterwards and order a refund of anything excessive. There is no percentage and no schedule anywhere in Utah law
- Utah Code § 75-3-1003 ("Closing estates -- By sworn statement of personal representative -- Waiver of accountings"), which sets both the earliest an ordinary Utah estate can close and the reason the accounting ladder is a conditional charge rather than a line in the total. Subsection (1) allows a verified closing statement "no earlier than four months after the date of original appointment of a general personal representative", after the claim period has expired and the estate has been fully administered, with a copy sent to all distributees and to known unpaid, unbarred creditors. Subsection (2) terminates the appointment where no proceedings are pending one year after that statement is filed. Subsection (3) reads: "Any accounting required under this section or either Section 75-3-1001 or 75-3-1002 may be waived when all of the distributees of the estate consent in writing to the waiver." Section 75-3-705 is the companion: the inventory is prepared within three months of appointment, sent to interested persons who REQUEST it, and the personal representative "may also file" it with the court, so Utah has no routine inventory filing and no fee for one
- Utah Code § 17-71-407 ("Fees -- Fees paid in advance"), the county recorder charge for moving real property out of an estate, which is a different counter from the court in all 29 counties. Recording an instrument not otherwise provided for is $40, and the section forbids charging more than one recording fee per instrument regardless of how many titles or attachments it carries. A county of the second, third, fourth, fifth or sixth class adds $5 unless it holds a balance in its restricted recording-fee account. An instrument with more than 10 descriptions costs $2 for each additional description, and recording a plat is $50 per sheet plus $2 per lot or unit. The county recorder provisions moved into Title 17 Chapter 71 in the 2025 recodification out of Title 17 Chapter 21
- Utah Code § 78A-2-302 ("Waiver of fees, costs, and security -- Indigent litigants -- Affidavit"): subsection (2)(a) lets an individual institute, prosecute, defend or appeal any cause in a Utah court without prepayment of fees and costs or security on an affidavit demonstrating that the individual is indigent, which subsection (1)(b) defines as a court finding that the petitioner is financially unable to pay. The Utah State Courts publish the process from the same page as the fee table
- Utah Code § 78A-5-102 ("Jurisdiction of district court"), read with § 75-1-302 and § 78A-5-101(2)(b): why there is one Utah probate forum and no county question. The district court has original jurisdiction in all matters civil and criminal except as the Utah Constitution or a statute otherwise provides, and a district court sits in the county seat of each county. Utah has no separate probate court, no county-level probate forum and no split between forums, so the $375 and the procedure are the same wherever the decedent lived. What differs is only where the building is: Utah, Davis, Salt Lake and Duchesne counties run more than one district courthouse, and Summit County’s district courthouse is in Park City rather than in its county seat at Coalville
- 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 Utah can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.