California court costs
Government Code § 70650 sets a uniform statewide filing fee of $355 for the first petition for letters of administration or letters testamentary. Additional local surcharges may apply in some counties, but the base opening fee is a fixed statewide figure.
$355 is the amount the statute states. Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch October 3, 2026.
California states one statewide amount rather than a schedule of components, so there is no line-by-line breakdown to compute. The figure above is that amount. It is a court charge only, and it is not an estimate of the total cost of settling an estate.
The statute states one statewide amount rather than a schedule of parts, so there is nothing to itemise. The figure shown above is that amount, and the linked source is the text that sets it.
California’s $355 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 California 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 $355 — 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 California 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 California caveats are listed once, on the California overview.
Other costs: probate cost lines.
Reviewed source note: The uniform filing fee for the first petition for letters of administration or letters testamentary, or the first petition for special letters of administration with the powers of a general personal representative pursuant to Section 8545 of the Probate Code, is three hundred fifty-five dollars ($355).
California record: 8/8 verified, 29 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction