Arizona court costs
Opening a probate case costs $149. The personal-property affidavit route does not require a court filing.
$149 is the amount the statute states. Sources reviewed August 7, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch October 3, 2026.
Every line below is computed from the statutory schedule quoted at the end of this page. These are court charges only. They are not an estimate of the total cost of settling an estate.
| Charge | $25,000 estate | $100,000 estate | $400,000 estate | $1,000,000 estate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial case filing fee | $149 | $149 | $149 | $149 |
| Total from this schedule | $149 | $149 | $149 | $149 |
Section 12-284 states the initial case filing fee. Superior courts collect additional surcharges that this section does not enumerate, so confirm the total with the clerk.
Source: A.R.S. § 12-284, Arizona State Legislature. Edition/currentness: Publisher edition or effective date not stated. Verified October 3, 2026.
Arizona’s $149 figure is a single statutory charge, not a total assembled from parts. It is shown here with its own provision named, and with the neighbouring charges the Arizona schedule prices separately — the ones a filer is most likely to add to it by mistake, or to be quoted alongside it.
Added together, these come to $149 — the figure this page headlines. If any component changed in the source, the sum would no longer match, and the build withholds the total rather than publishing a number whose parts no longer add up.
These amounts appear in or beside the same Arizona schedule, so a reader can easily mistake one for part of the fee. Each is held out of the figure above for the specific reason given, which is the difference between an honest total and an inflated one.
The Arizona caveats are listed once, on the Arizona overview.
Other costs: probate cost lines.
Arizona puts its clerk-of-court charges in statute rather than in a court order. A.R.S. § 12-284(A) classifies the fees, and three probate entry points sit together in Class C at $149.00 each: "Petition in formal testacy or appointment proceeding," "Application for informal probate or informal appointment," and "Petition for supervised administration."
That is the price of the door, not the price of the case. Choosing the informal route over a formal testacy petition does not change what the clerk collects at filing; the saving from informal administration is in hearings, notice practice and elapsed time, not in this line.
Class B in the same section charges $100.00 for "Filing answer, notice of appearance under section 12-907 or initial appearance," and the same $100.00 for additional defendants. A contested Arizona probate therefore adds clerk fees for each appearing party, on top of the opening fee.
Because the schedule is statutory, it moves when the legislature moves it, not when a county decides to change it. The figures above are the ones printed in the section as read on the date recorded below.
Source: A.R.S. § 12-284, read from the enacting state’s own published code on 2026-09-17. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.
Reviewed source note: C Initial case filing fee Filing petition for annulment $ 149.00 Filing for dissolution/legal separation petition 149.00 Petition in formal testacy or appointment proceeding 149.00 Application for informal probate or informal appointment 149.00
Arizona record: 3/3 verified, 10 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction