ORS 21.170
Reviewed source note: If the value of the estate is less than $50,000, $278. (b) If the value of the estate is $50,000 or more, but less than $1 million, $591.
Oregon court costs
Oregon probate filing cost: $591
For a petition for appointment of a personal representative (full probate) the statewide circuit-court filing fee is banded by estate value: $278 if the estate is under $50,000; $591 if $50,000 to under $1 million; $882 if $1 million to under $10 million; $1,176 if $10 million or more (ORS 21.170). A simple (small) estate affidavit costs a flat $124 (ORS 21.145).
$591 is the statutory total at a $100,000 estate. Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch October 3, 2026.
What the statute charges
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.
Petition for appointment of personal representative
Published value bands
These are the fee bands stated in the source. The worked examples below apply them to sample values; they do not replace the published thresholds.
Oregon statutory probate fee
| Value band | Published fee |
|---|---|
| Up to $49,999.99 | $278 |
| More than $49,999.99 to $999,999.99 | $591 |
| More than $999,999.99 to $9,999,999.99 | $882 |
| More than $9,999,999.99 | $1,176 |
| Charge | $25,000 estate | $100,000 estate | $400,000 estate | $1,000,000 estate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon statutory probate fee | $278 | $591 | $591 | $882 |
| Total from this schedule | $278 | $591 | $591 | $882 |
Not included in this total
- Certified copies and recording charges
- Publication and service costs
- Fees for later accounts, motions or contested proceedings
The schedule prices the opening filing on the statutory basis. A specific case can carry further charges the statute does not set out here.
Source: ORS 21.170, Oregon Legislature. Edition/currentness: 2025 EDITION. Verified October 3, 2026.
What the Oregon figure leaves out
The Oregon caveats are listed once, on the Oregon overview.
Other costs: probate cost lines.
Oregon sets its probate filing fee by estate value, and charges a second fee every time an accounting is filed
ORS 21.170 fixes both fees by statute rather than by county. On the petition for appointment of a personal representative, a probate court collects $278 if the value of the estate is less than $50,000; $591 if it is $50,000 or more but less than $1 million; $882 if it is $1 million or more but less than $10 million; and $1,176 if it is $10 million or more.
The second schedule is the one that is easy to miss when budgeting, because it recurs. For an annual or final accounting filed in a probate proceeding the court collects $35 below $50,000, $298 from $50,000 to under $1 million, $591 from $1 million to under $10 million, and $1,176 at $10 million or more. An estate that stays open across two annual accountings and a final one pays that fee three times, so the total court cost of an Oregon probate is a function of how long it runs, not only of what it holds.
Two carve-outs change the arithmetic. Subsection (1) opens “Except as provided in ORS 114.515” — the small estate affidavit route described on this site’s Oregon simple-estate page is fee-governed separately, so the schedule above is the cost of the full proceeding, not of the alternative to it. And subsection (3) provides that in determining the value of the estate, “the amount of a settlement in a wrongful death action brought for the benefit of the decedent’s surviving spouse or dependents is not part of the estate” — so a wrongful-death recovery does not push an otherwise modest estate into a higher fee band.
Anyone appearing in the proceeding without petitioning pays separately: subsection (4) directs that a person filing an appearance in a probate proceeding pays the fee established under ORS 21.135. Subsection (5) extends the whole section to county courts exercising probate jurisdiction, so the figures do not change in the counties that have not transferred probate to the circuit court.
These are filing fees only. They are not the personal representative’s compensation, the attorney’s fee, the cost of a bond, publication, appraisal, or recording, and Oregon does not set those by this statute.
Source: ORS 21.170 (probate filing fees and accounting fees), 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.
Filing-cost source
Oregon record: 6/6 verified, 26 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction