Quick answer: Rhode Island has no single statewide probate court — each of its 39 cities and towns runs its own municipal probate court, with its own filing fees, bond practices, hearing schedules, and local forms. There is no one number that applies everywhere. See the full picture in the Rhode Island probate cost calculator.
Why there's no single filing fee
39 municipal courts: Rhode Island never centralized probate at the county or state level. Each city and town clerk's office handles probate for residents domiciled there, and each sets its own fee schedule. What a Providence estate pays to file can differ from what a Cranston or Bristol estate pays for a comparable petition.
Contact your city or town's probate clerk directly for the exact current fee; there is no statewide published schedule to link to here.
Other administration costs
- Publication to creditors — newspaper notice for three consecutive weeks; creditors then have a 6-month window from first publication.
- Bond — generally required unless waived.
- Appraisal — if real estate or a business must be valued.
- Executor & attorney fees — the real variables: the executor's "just compensation" under § 33-14-8, and the attorney fee, neither fixed by statute.
Not the estate tax: the municipal filing fee, executor fee, and attorney fee are administration costs that apply to nearly every estate. Rhode Island's separate estate tax (§ 44-22-1.1) is a different matter, relevant above a $1,838,056 exemption, indexed annually for inflation — though every estate must still file Form RI-706 regardless of size.
Ways to keep court costs down
- Small estate procedure — personal property up to $15,000, a simplified municipal court filing (R.I. Gen. Laws § 33-24-1).
- Ask your municipal probate clerk for the current fee schedule before budgeting.
- Executor waives the fee if a family member and beneficiary.