Probate Help: Compare Lawyers and Services

The short answer

Start with the free probate self-help material published by the courts of the state where the person lived, and buy nothing until you know three things — the state, the county, and the one task you actually need done.

This page is for the person deciding what kind of probate help to get: an executor, someone who may become one, or a beneficiary trying to understand what is happening. It is general process information, not legal advice about your estate.

Before choosing among the options, find out how much of what the person owned will reach a court at all. Accounts with a named beneficiary, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts, property held jointly with a right of survivorship, life insurance, and anything properly placed in a trust generally pass outside probate. Most states also offer a simplified procedure for smaller estates. Finding that out costs nothing, and for some estates it makes the rest of this page unnecessary. If the estate is modest, check early whether a small-estate procedure may apply.

Which kind of help fits depends on things you may already know. The state — and usually the county — where the person lived normally sets the procedure. Whether there is a will, how each asset was titled, what the estate owns and owes, whether the family agrees, and whether a court has appointed anyone all change the answer. Being named executor in a will is a nomination, not authority: in California, for example, the court appoints a personal representative — the umbrella term for an executor or an administrator — when a probate case is opened, and that person is then responsible for representing the estate.

Which kind of probate help fits which situation.

• If you do not yet know whether a court process is needed, or which court: that state's own probate self-help material, then the probate clerk or self-help center in the county where the person lived. Both are free.
• If the estate is modest and uncontested and you will do the paperwork: the county court's self-help program and the state's forms, with a paid limited-scope review of the finished filing if you want a second set of eyes.
• If the law has to be applied to your particular facts: a probate attorney licensed in the decedent's state — a dispute, unclear authority or title, a possible shortfall, business or trust interests, property in more than one state. There is no purchasable substitute for this one.
• If you want several lawyers to see the situation and respond: a bar-run or bar-certified referral service in that state first, then a commercial matching platform if you want more responses. Verify any lawyer independently either way.
• If the estate is uncontested, in a covered state, and the real problem is workload: an administrative estate-settlement service, once you have read what the price includes and excludes.
• If authority, title, solvency, or family agreement is still unsettled: no provider yet. Get one qualified opinion before you engage anyone.

Confirm the procedure and forms with the probate court clerk in the decedent's county. Bring in a probate attorney or an estate CPA licensed in that state before you move money, sell property, or pay a creditor if the estate may not cover its debts, if a claim or objection has been made, or if property sits in more than one state.

What needs attention now, and what can wait.

Timing	What this looks like
Now	Secure the original will and core records, and check whether the state sets a period for delivering it to the court. Note the state where the person lived, where any real property sits, and how each account is titled. Open the probate pages published by that state's courts.
Soon	Find out whether a simplified procedure may apply. Write down the one task you actually need done. Only then gather written scopes or quotes.
Later	Administration, taxes, selling property, distributions, and closing — after someone has authority and the estate's facts are organized.
Only if applicable	Individualized counsel for disputes, a possible shortfall, unclear title or authority, business interests, property in more than one state, or a tax question.

On this page

• What controls the answer in your situation
• Deadlines, and what happens if you miss one
• Whether you personally owe the person's debts
• Where an executor's own money is at risk
• Find the probate court and free help in the state where the person lived
• Compare current probate-help options
• What each option can and cannot do
• How we chose and excluded the options on this page
• What to ask before you share details or sign anything
• Mail and calls you may start getting
• Choosing the right kind of help for your situation
• Common questions
• Your next step

What controls the answer in your situation

Nothing below is a conclusion about your estate. These are the facts that change which help is appropriate. Write them down before you talk to anyone.

• The state where the person lived normally sets which rules and which court apply, and the county usually sets the forms, filing steps, and local practice. Never assume it is the state where you live.
• Where property sits, how it is titled, and whether there is a will. Joint ownership, beneficiary designations, payable-on-death accounts, transfer-on-death deeds, and trusts move property outside a will and outside the court. Dying with a will (testate) or without one (intestate) changes what is in the estate and who may ask to serve.
• The date of death can affect which version of a form, threshold, or rule applies, and which tax year is in play.
• Whether authority is recognized yet. A court or an institution may require letters — the document proving someone may act for the estate — before anyone can act.
• What the estate owns and owes. If it may not cover its debts, the order of payment matters, and paying in the wrong order is one of the ways a personal representative's own money comes into it. The two sections below separate that from the different question of whether you owe anything personally.
• Whether anyone disagrees. A contested will, a disputed appointment, or a creditor objection changes both the help you need and what a packaged service will accept.

Your first action, and when to escalate. Open the probate pages published by the courts of the state where the person lived, and write down three things: the state, the county, and the single task you need done. That one page of notes turns a vague search for "probate help" into a question a clerk, a lawyer, or a service can answer, and it costs nothing to do before you pay for anything. For the sequence of the court process itself, how the probate process works covers the stages; if the death was very recent and it is the practical first steps you need, what to do when someone dies covers the first days.

Deadlines, and what happens if you miss one

Very few dates in estate work are true deadlines, and the ones that are belong to a particular state. Most estate tasks have no fixed date at all. The table below carries the ones this page can state with a source, plus the instruction that covers everywhere else.

Deadline	Layer and jurisdiction	Starts when	If it is missed	Can it be cured?
Deliver the original will to the superior court clerk, within 30 days	State statute — California, Probate Code section 8200	The custodian of the will learns of the death	The custodian is liable for damages caused to anyone injured by the failure	Yes, in the sense that a case can still be opened. The exposure attaches to the delay itself, so deliver it and say when you learned of the death
Creditors must file a claim by the later of four months after letters are first issued to a general personal representative, or 60 days after notice of administration is given to that creditor	State statute — California, Probate Code section 9100	Letters are issued, or notice is mailed or personally delivered	This is the period an executor must let run. Distributing before it closes is one of the clearest ways a personal representative becomes personally responsible	Not by you, and not by shortening it. California also lets a creditor ask the court for permission to file late in limited circumstances (Probate Code section 9103), so the close of the period is not always the end of the matter
File the will with the court within four years of the date of death, with limited exceptions	State statute — Texas, as stated by TexasLawHelp, the legal-aid self-help service for Texas	The date of death	The service states that except in extremely limited circumstances a will must be filed inside that window	Confirm with the county court or a Texas attorney before assuming an exception applies
Every other state	Varies by state, and sometimes by county	Varies	Varies	Ask the probate clerk in the decedent's county, or that state's own court material, before you assume a date exists or that one has passed

Verification status for this block: Verified with limitation — the two California sections were checked against the official statute text on August 4, 2026. The Texas item is attributed to a legal-aid self-help service rather than to the statute text and should be confirmed against the Texas Estates Code before you rely on it. Probate Code section 9103 is named for you to read rather than summarized here. No other state's deadlines are verified on this page.

Whether you personally owe the person's debts

This is what people are most often frightened about, and the general answer is reassuring. Debts are paid out of the estate, not by relatives. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau states it plainly: generally, no one else has to pay back the debts of a person who has died, the exceptions vary by state, and where the estate cannot pay, the debt generally goes unpaid.

The exceptions are specific rather than general. You may owe a debt in your own right if you co-signed or guaranteed it, if it was a joint account rather than one you were only an authorized user on, if you are a surviving spouse in a community-property state or a state with a family-expense rule, or if a state law reaches a particular category of debt. Secured debt sits apart: nobody becomes personally liable by inheriting, but the lender keeps its claim against the house or the car.

Collectors are limited too. One may contact a relative to find out who the executor or administrator is, but should not discuss the debt with that relative, and may not say or hint that a relative has to pay out of their own money. If that happens, write down the date and what was said before you pay anything.

Verification status for this block: Verified with limitation — the federal consumer guidance was checked on August 4, 2026. Which exceptions apply to you is state law and is not resolved on this page.

Where an executor's own money is at risk

Serving as executor or personal representative is a separate exposure from the question above, and the one most people have never been warned about. Someone who has been appointed can end up personally responsible for the estate's losses in a handful of recognizable ways:

• Distributing to beneficiaries before the creditor claim period closes or the estate's taxes are settled.
• Mixing estate money with personal money, or paying personal expenses out of estate funds.
• Buying estate property, paying yourself, or hiring your own business without the approval the state requires.
• Failing to keep records, file an inventory, or account to the court and beneficiaries when required.
• Missing a tax filing the estate owes.

Most executors are also beneficiaries. That is ordinary and not improper, but it means the duty runs to the other beneficiaries and to the estate's creditors as well as to you, and a decision that happens to benefit you should be documented and, where the state requires it, approved. The rules behind each item above are set by state law and by the court supervising the case. If you are unsure whether something you are about to do falls into one of these categories, ask a lawyer licensed in the decedent's state beforehand rather than afterward. Once you know which process applies, an executor document and deadline checklist covers the record-keeping that follows.

Verification status for this block: Partial — the categories are general operational guidance drawn from how fiduciary duties are commonly structured. The rule, the approval required, and the consequence in any given case are state law and must be confirmed against the decedent's state.

Who has authority over an estate, and when it begins

Most confusion about "probate help" is really confusion about authority. Being named in a document, being the closest relative, and being recognized by a court or a bank are three different things, and only the last lets you act. The categories below hold in outline nationally, but the terminology, the order of priority, and the documents an institution will accept are set by each state.

Category	What it covers	Who holds authority, and is a court involved	What it changes for you
Custodian of the original will	Whoever physically holds the will after the death, named in it or not	Nobody. This is a duty, not a power. In California the custodian must deliver the original to the superior court clerk within 30 days of learning of the death, and is liable for damages caused by not doing so (Probate Code section 8200)	Late delivery does not stop a case being opened, but where a rule like California's applies the exposure attaches to the delay itself. Some states set a period and some do not — check before you hold the will while you think
Executor named in a will	A nomination by the person who died	No one, yet. In California the court appoints the personal representative when a case is opened, and the person named in the will usually has first priority	You can gather documents and secure property, but institutions may decline to act until authority is recognized. Being named does not oblige you to serve: you may decline, and the court then appoints someone else in the state's order of priority. Declining before you begin acting is cleaner than resigning partway through
Court-appointed personal representative or administrator	The role the court creates, whether or not there was a will	The appointed person, under the court's supervision. California gives priority to a surviving spouse or domestic partner, then a child, grandchild, parent, and sibling	Authority begins at appointment; accountability to the court and the beneficiaries begins at the same moment
Successor trustee	Property already held in a trust	The successor trustee, under the trust document. Property properly placed in a trust generally passes to beneficiaries without going to probate court	Often a separate track from probate, on its own timeline, with its own advisers
Beneficiary or joint owner by designation or title	Payable-on-death accounts, transfer-on-death deeds, joint ownership, retirement and insurance beneficiaries	The institution holding the asset decides what it requires. For a California payable-on-death account, the beneficiary claims with a death certificate and proof of identity	A will does not override a beneficiary designation; these assets may never enter the court process
Agent under a power of attorney	Handling someone's finances while that person is alive	The agent, under the document, during the person's lifetime	This page's sources do not establish when that authority ends in a given state; confirm it with that state's own court material or a lawyer before acting on a power of attorney after a death
Heir under intestacy	What happens when there is no will	Set by the state's intestate succession law, applied by the court	Being an heir is not the same as being appointed, and it does not by itself let you sign for the estate

Verification status for this block: Verified with limitation — the boundaries above were checked against the California Courts Self-Help Guide on July 30, 2026, and the California will-delivery rule against Probate Code section 8200 on August 4, 2026. California is used only as an example. For any other state, treat the terminology, the order of priority, the will-delivery row, and the power-of-attorney row as Partial until confirmed against that state's own court source.

Find the probate court and free help in the state where the person lived

What this page covers, by jurisdiction. This page carries no small-estate thresholds, creditor-claim periods, filing fees, or executor compensation schedules for any state except where a figure is shown with its source and date. Those are per-state data on their own verification cycle, published state by state as each is verified. Probate court for wills and estates is a state court, not a federal one, and every state and territory publishes its own material. The directories below reach any of them.

What you need	Where to find it for any U.S. state or territory	What it will and will not tell you
The courts serving the state where the person lived	Federal, state, and territory court resources — U.S. Department of Justice, which lists every state and territory by name with its own page	Names that state's judiciary, trial courts, statutes, and bar. Carries no probate thresholds, deadlines, or fees
That state judiciary's own site and self-help program	State court websites — National Center for State Courts	Reaches the state's own probate pages, forms, and county court directory. Not a substitute for asking the county clerk about local practice
Free or reduced-cost legal help in that state	Find a lawyer and affordable legal aid — USAGov	Routes to legal aid and referral programs. Free help depends on income and case type
A bar-run or bar-certified referral service	Find Legal Help — American Bar Association	Routes to state licensing lookups and referral programs. The ABA does not itself refer anyone to an attorney

Where a probate case starts in six states

The most useful thing to know before you search or call is what the office is called where the person lived, because it is not a court everywhere and it is not called the same thing anywhere. This router covers six states as worked examples. Every other state and territory routes through the four directories above, which reach that state's own judiciary by name. Almost everywhere the case is opened at county level even when the forms are statewide, so the county office is still where you confirm local practice.

State	Where a probate case starts, and what it is called	Free official material published at state level
California	The Superior Court of the county where the person lived. The court appoints the personal representative	Wills, estates, and probate — California Courts Self-Help Guide
Florida	The Circuit Court for the county, Probate Division	Probate — Florida Courts Help
New York	The Surrogate's Court, one for each county	When someone dies — NY CourtHelp
Ohio	The Probate Division of the county Court of Common Pleas. The Supreme Court of Ohio publishes standard probate forms used across all 88 counties, though a county may add local forms	Decedent's estate forms — Supreme Court of Ohio
Pennsylvania	Not a court first: probate is opened before the county Register of Wills, a quasi-judicial office. Contested matters and estate accountings go to the Orphans' Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas	Orphans' Court forms, for the public — Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania
Texas	Depends on the county: a statutory probate court in the largest counties, otherwise a county court at law or the constitutional county court	Probate court basics — TexasLawHelp, the legal-aid self-help service for Texas

Verification status for this block: Verified with limitation — each destination was opened and confirmed to be the named judiciary's, court system's, or state legal-aid service's own page on August 4, 2026. The router carries no thresholds, fees, or deadlines. Coverage is six states; no other state is verified here, and none should be inferred from these rows. Court structure and terminology are stated at state level and do not capture county practice.

Links in this block checked August 4, 2026. Every destination is an official federal, state-court, state legal-aid, or bar source. None is a tracking link.

Compare current probate-help options

How this page is funded: Estate Made Clear is supported by advertising and, on some pages, disclosed referral links. No provider has paid for placement, ordering, or inclusion on this page, and compensation never determines what is included or how it is ranked. If a compensated link is added to this page, it will be disclosed here.

These paths are not competing products, and comparing their prices tells you little. Court staff give legal information, not legal advice — the National Center for State Courts draws the same line courts draw at the counter. A referral service run by a state or local bar is not a commercial matching platform; bar programs operate under standards, and some states certify them, as California does through the State Bar's certified lawyer referral service directory. And an administrative estate-settlement service is not a law firm, however capable its staff. If you have not decided whether you need a lawyer at all, whether you need a probate lawyer works through that question.

The two named companies appear because each occupies a distinct role and publishes enough of its own documentation to describe honestly. Their figures come from ClearEstate's U.S. estate settlement pricing page and from LegalMatch's user agreement and how it works pages, all reviewed July 30, 2026. No row is "best," and a price on one row is not comparable to a price on another: the rows are selling different things, and three of them are not selling anything.

What each option is, and who it fits. All fields as of July 30, 2026.

Option	What it is	Best for	Not ideal for, and main exclusions	Where it applies
No formal administration	No court case is opened; property passes by beneficiary designation, survivorship, transfer-on-death, or trust, or under a state's simplified small-estate procedure	An estate where little or nothing is titled in the person's sole name, or where what is falls under that state's simplified procedure	Real property in sole name in most states; creditors pressing; any matter the heirs disagree about. Does not extinguish debts	Every state has some version; thresholds, waiting periods, and forms differ by state
Court self-help, legal aid, bar referral	Official legal information, forms, eligibility screening, and a route to a lawyer	Anyone who does not yet know the procedure, the court, or whether a simple process applies	Anyone who needs someone to decide strategy or appear in court for them. Staff will not tell you what you should do	Varies by state and county, and subject coverage varies between courts within a state
Probate attorney in the decedent's state	Legal advice and representation under a written engagement	Disputes, unclear authority or title, possible insolvency, business or trust interests, property in more than one state, tax exposure	Someone who only needs the clerk's form list and can follow it. Filing, publication, certified copies, bond, appraisal, accounting, and tax costs sit outside the fee unless the engagement names them	Wherever that lawyer is licensed and admitted to appear
LegalMatch	Online venue where a consumer presents a matter and interested lawyers respond	Someone who has decided they want a lawyer and wants several responses in one place	Someone expecting representation, ongoing license monitoring, advice from the platform, or confidentiality after a lawyer's office receives the submission. The platform provides none of these	Nationwide; lawyers respond by practice area and location
ClearEstate	Administrative and clerical estate-settlement support through an online platform; states it is not a law firm and does not give legal advice	An uncontested estate in a state it covers, where the burden is paperwork and phone calls	A contested or complex estate, or anyone needing legal advice or court representation. Notarization, notice to creditors, estate administration tax, real title transfer, appraisers, and other professionals are excluded unless specified	Arizona, California, Nevada, New York, Tennessee, and Texas
No provider yet	Deliberately holding off on buying anything until the facts settle	Anyone whose authority, title, procedure, solvency, or jurisdiction is still unresolved	Anything with a real, already-applicable filing date, or property that needs securing today	Anywhere

What each option costs, how long it runs, and where your own money is exposed. Same six options, same order. All fields as of July 30, 2026.

Option	Consumer cost and fee basis	Typical time	Deadlines attached	Where your own money is at risk	How to start	Evidence status
No formal administration	No court filing fee. Certified death certificates, notarization, and recording fees still apply, and a simplified procedure may carry a filing fee of its own	Institution-dependent, after any statutory waiting period. Not otherwise verified on this page	The state's will-delivery rule still applies whether or not a case is opened. Simplified procedures commonly impose a waiting period before use	Simplified-procedure forms commonly carry a personal undertaking about what you will do with what you collect. Read it before signing	List what is titled in the person's sole name and what it is worth; ask each institution what it requires	Partial — the framework holds nationally; every threshold, waiting period, and form is state law, and only California is shown below
Court self-help, legal aid, bar referral	Court information and self-help programs are generally free; legal aid depends on income and case type; referral consultations carry a small fee in some programs	Same as whichever process you end up filing; the help itself is immediate	None of its own; it helps you find the ones that apply to you	Nothing, but staff cannot tell you whether a step is safe for your facts	Open that state's court material, then call the county self-help centre or clerk	Verified from official court and bar sources
Probate attorney in the decedent's state	Hourly, flat, statutory schedule, hybrid, or limited scope — ask which, in writing. Court and third-party costs are separate	Set by the court's calendar, the state's creditor-claim period, and the estate's own facts	Whatever the controlling state imposes; a lawyer's job includes tracking them	Reduced, but not removed: the personal representative remains accountable to the court and beneficiaries	Ask for a written scope and fee basis before you engage	Verified as a category; every individual engagement varies
LegalMatch	Free basic account, entered automatically on case submission; paid subscriptions also exist. Attorney fees are negotiated separately with the lawyer	Response time depends on which member lawyers choose to reply	None of its own	What you type before an engagement exists is not protected — see the profile below	Submit a description of the matter, in general terms	Verified from the company's current user agreement and public pages
ClearEstate	Published package price, payable by the estate, varying by state. With Arizona selected, Probate starts at $4,648 and Probate & Taxes at $6,748, each plus $650 where there is no will or the probate is complex. Other engagement types are priced on a different basis	The company's own pricing page states that the entire estate settlement process can take anywhere from 6 to 18 months	None of its own; the state's periods run regardless of who does the paperwork	The executor remains the executor. Buying help does not transfer the duty or the exposure	Read the written scope and price for the decedent's state before paying	Verified from the company's current U.S. pricing page; state-selected checkout terms should be confirmed before payment
No provider yet	Nothing yet, beyond documents and any professional review you choose	As long as it takes to settle the facts, which is usually shorter than it feels	The state's periods still run; this is a decision not to buy, not a decision to wait on a filing	Only if a real, already-applicable date passes while you hold off	Gather documents and get one qualified opinion on the specific question	Editorial guidance, not a product

What each option can and cannot do

No formal administration

For a meaningful share of estates no court case is ever opened, and that is a legitimate outcome rather than a step someone skipped. If everything passed by beneficiary designation, survivorship, transfer-on-death, or trust, there may be nothing left for a court to administer. If a modest amount remains in the person's sole name, most states offer a simplified procedure — an affidavit, a summary administration, or a collection procedure — that lets a successor collect it without a full case, sometimes after a waiting period.

California, as the worked example: for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, a successor may collect the person's personal property by affidavit where the gross value of the estate, excluding what passes outside probate, does not exceed $208,850, and at least 40 days have passed since the death. That figure is set by the Judicial Council on form DE-300, revised April 28, 2025, and it changes periodically — some court and self-help pages still display the earlier $184,500, which applies only to deaths between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2025. Real property has separate procedures and separate limits. Checked August 4, 2026. Every other state sets its own figure, its own measure, and its own waiting period; a small-estate procedure may apply carries those as each is verified.

What this route does not do is make debts disappear. An unadministered estate leaves creditor claims unresolved rather than extinguished, and an asset found later can force a case open after all. Nor does it usually reach real property titled in the person's sole name. And where a simplified-procedure form exists, read what signing it obliges you to do: these forms commonly carry a personal undertaking about what you will do with what you collect.

Not ideal for: real property in the person's sole name, an estate where creditors may outrun the assets, or any situation where the heirs disagree.

Confirm before you rely on it:

• Is anything at all titled in the person's sole name, and what is it worth?
• Does the state offer a simplified procedure, what counts toward its limit, and is there a waiting period?
• What does each institution holding an asset require from a beneficiary or joint owner?
• What does the state require you to do with the original will, whether or not you open a case?

The official route: court self-help, legal aid, and bar referral

This is the benchmark every paid option should be measured against, because it is where the actual rules live. In California, every superior court runs a free legal self-help program whose staff can tell you about your case, help with the forms you need, and explain your options — while being clear that they can say how to do something, not what you should do, and cannot go to court for you.

One caveat matters before you count on it. California's own court material guarantees free self-help in family law and small claims at every superior court and notes that several courts also help with other legal issues, but that it varies between courts. Ask your county's self-help centre whether it handles probate before you rely on it, and expect the same variation in other states. Where a centre does not cover probate, the clerk's office can still tell you the court's form list, filing fee, and procedure.

That same guide points to legal aid, which depends on income and case type, and to referral services keeping lists of lawyers who will meet for 30 minutes for a small fee; it gives about $40 as an example, in California, as of July 30, 2026. Nationally, the ABA's lawyer referral resources explain how bar-run programs are structured, though the ABA itself does not refer anyone to an attorney.

Not ideal for: anyone who needs a decision made for them, a document interpreted for their facts, or someone to stand up at a hearing.

Confirm before you rely on it:

• Is the county probate court where the person lived actually the right court, and does it publish a current form list and fee schedule?
• Does that court have a self-help center, does it cover probate, and what will its staff answer?
• Is there a legal aid intake line for that state, and do you qualify on income and case type?
• If you use a referral service, is it run or certified by the state bar, and what does the consultation cost?

A probate attorney licensed in the decedent's state

A lawyer is the only option here who can tell you what the law requires for your particular facts, sign filings, appear at hearings, and be accountable to you for the advice. That is worth paying for when the estate is contested, when authority or title is unclear, when creditors may outrun the assets, or when a business interest, a trust, or a second state's property is involved.

We do not publish a national average attorney fee, and you should be careful with anyone who does — fee law, court practice, case type, and scope differ too much for an average to mean anything for your estate. Ask instead which basis applies and what sits outside it. Limited scope, where a lawyer handles one defined piece of the work rather than the whole case, is worth asking about by name; not every firm offers it.

Not ideal for: a straightforward, uncontested matter where the court's own forms and self-help staff would get you there, and you would rather not pay for full representation.

Confirm before you engage or pay:

• Is this lawyer currently licensed and in good standing in the controlling state, according to that state's own bar record?
• What is the fee basis in writing — hourly, flat, statutory, hybrid, or limited scope — and what triggers additional charges?
• Who is the client: you personally, you in your role, or the estate? And has a conflicts check been run against the other heirs and any creditors?
• Which costs are billed separately — filing, publication, certified copies, bond, appraisal, accounting, tax preparation?

LegalMatch

LegalMatch describes itself as an online platform providing a venue where people who need legal services and lawyers who offer them exchange information. Presenting a matter puts you on a free basic account automatically, and the company also sells paid subscriptions. Its how-it-works page says notifications go to member lawyers in the practice area and location you select, and that interested lawyers respond with a profile including fee structure and background; the company's other public pages note that responding lawyers are members who pay an annual fee.

Two things in the user agreement matter more than any of the marketing. The company says it makes every effort to verify at registration that subscribing attorneys are licensed and in good standing in at least one state, but that it does not continuously review any attorney's standing with a regulatory authority, makes no representation about a lawyer's status or ability, and tells users to check standing with the state bar themselves. Registration-time verification and the standing of a lawyer in the state that controls your estate today are not the same thing. And on confidentiality, it says that once a lawyer responds that office gains access to what you submitted, that it cannot guarantee the information stays confidential, and that users should not make admissions or use proper names, addresses, or other highly sensitive information.

Not ideal for: anyone expecting a guarantee of representation, ongoing verification that a lawyer is in good standing, legal advice from the platform, or confidentiality of what they type before an engagement exists.

Confirm before you engage or pay:

• Is the responding lawyer licensed and in good standing right now in the controlling state, per the bar's own record?
• How much probate work do they do in that county's court, and will they appear at hearings?
• What is the fee basis in writing, and who is the client?
• What did you already submit, and does anything in it need correcting or narrowing before you continue?

ClearEstate

ClearEstate sells administrative estate-settlement support through an online platform. Its U.S. pricing page states plainly that the company does not provide legal, accounting, tax, or investment advice and is not a law firm or a trust corporation. It serves six U.S. states and prices by state, so the figure you see depends on which state is selected. The published package covers use of the platform, initial death notifications, a probate application prepared from what you provide with one jurisdiction included, guided discovery of the estate's assets and liabilities, prepared liquidation and distribution instructions, and capped hours of communication with financial institutions and other third parties; the tax plan adds a final personal income tax return and a first estate income tax return.

Three limits deserve attention beyond the tables. The probate application in the package covers one jurisdiction, so property in a second state is a question to settle before you pay rather than after. The company conditions the engagement on all acting executors agreeing and the estate being free from conflicts or claims — where a matter turns complex or legal advice is needed, it describes coordinating with legal professionals from a partner network, which is a separate relationship and a separate fee. And the package price is not the company's only fee basis: it also markets a professional-executor engagement priced as a percentage of the estate's date-of-death value with a stated minimum, and separate cross-border pricing, so confirm which basis a quote uses. The company publishes a refund and cancellation policy — read it before paying rather than after.

Not ideal for: a contested or complex estate, an estate outside the six covered states, or anyone who needs legal advice or court representation, which the company does not provide.

Confirm before you engage or pay:

• Is the price you were quoted the price for the decedent's state and the basis you expected, and what exactly does the written scope include?
• What happens to property located in another state, given that one jurisdiction is included?
• What happens mid-engagement if a beneficiary objects, a creditor files a claim, or a co-executor withdraws consent?
• What does the published refund and cancellation policy not cover — file return, data retention, and who signs the agreement, you personally or the estate?

No provider yet

Holding off is a decision, not a delay, and it is the right one more often than it sounds. Nobody — a lawyer, a service, or this page — can price work honestly while authority, title, solvency, or jurisdiction is unsettled, and a quote given on unsettled facts tends to be re-quoted later.

Not ideal for: a real, already-applicable filing date in the decedent's state, or property that needs securing today. Those do not wait for clarity.

Confirm before you hold off:

• Does the decedent's state impose a period for delivering the original will, and has it started?
• Is anything time-sensitive already in motion — a hearing, a claim, a foreclosure, a vacant property?
• What single question would change your decision, and who is qualified to answer it?
• What will it cost to get that one answer, as against buying a package now?

How we chose and excluded the options on this page

There is no score, no star rating, and no ranking on this page, and none is used behind it. Options appear in the order that matches a reader's task — free and official routes first — not in order of quality or payment.

What an option had to clear. Its own current documentation has to state its role, its consumer fee or fee basis, where it operates, what is included and excluded, and the governing terms. Where lawyers are involved, there has to be an independent official way to check a license and discipline record. And it cannot use a probate or inheritance advance, an at-need funeral lead, a paid document-retrieval, or an heir-finder model — those categories are excluded permanently and are not evaluated on price.

What counts as evidence. Anything legal comes from a statute, court, bar, or agency source. Anything about a company's own service, price, geography, or terms comes from that company's current first-party documentation. Provider-authored comparisons of their competitors are not used as evidence for anything. Where a field could not be closed from documentation, it is labeled rather than estimated.

Considered and not included. Trust & Will's probate offering was evaluated and is not profiled here: as of the July 22, 2026 evidence review, a single current consumer service model, fee basis, state list, scope, additional fees, and cancellation terms could not be reconciled from the documentation reviewed. That is a documentation gate, not a judgment about the service. House-sale, cleanout, estate-sale, and financial-advisor services were excluded because they answer a different question and belong to the pages that own those decisions.

What to ask before you share details or sign anything

"Read the fine print" is not useful advice when you are exhausted. This is the shorter version: nine questions, and where the answer has to appear in writing.

Ask	Where the answer should appear
Who is the client — you personally, you in your role, or the estate?	The engagement letter or service agreement
Who may give legal advice, appear in court, and sign filings?	The attorney engagement, or the platform's own role disclaimer
Is this full representation, limited scope, document preparation, matching, or administrative support?	A written scope with its exclusions listed
Which states, counties, courts, and property locations are covered?	The availability page and the purchase or engagement terms
What is the fee basis — hourly, flat, statutory, subscription, or quoted — and is there a retainer, minimum, or add-on?	The written fee agreement, checkout terms, and billing schedule
Which court, notice, bond (the insurance some courts require to protect the estate from the representative's own errors), appraisal, tax, transfer, accounting, or third-party costs are excluded?	An itemized written estimate
What happens if the matter becomes contested or more complicated?	Termination, escalation, add-on, and outside-counsel clauses
What information is shared, with whom, and before any professional relationship exists?	The privacy policy, user agreement, and the intake screen itself
What are the cancellation, refund, data-retention, and file-return terms?	The current contract and privacy documentation

The advertised fee is not the total cost. Court filing fees, publication and mailed notice, certified copies of the death certificate, a bond premium if the court requires one, appraisal, and tax preparation are billed by other people, and are not covered by a professional's fee unless the writing says so. Ask for the excluded list in writing, not on a call.

Mail and calls you may start getting

Once a probate case is opened, the file is generally a public court record. California's courts explain that the county courts keep the records and the public can look up a case, with limited exceptions for confidential case types. One consequence surprises people: a filing can bring unsolicited mail and phone calls within weeks.

Three kinds are worth recognizing on sight.

• Probate or inheritance advances. Cash now, against your share later. These are usually structured as a purchase of your interest rather than a loan, so the cost may not be presented as a rate you can compare. Get the total dollar cost in writing and take it to a lawyer licensed in that state before signing.
• Unsolicited offers to buy the house. Some come from real businesses. But an offer arriving because of a court filing is not a test of what the property is worth, and no one is obliged to answer it.
• Document-preparation and heir-finder solicitations. Ask who would do the work, whether anyone involved is licensed, and what you would be paying for that the court does not already provide free.

None of these categories appears on this page and none will — a permanent editorial position, not a current state of affairs. If a solicitation misrepresents who it is from or what it does, your state attorney general's consumer office is where to report it.

Choosing the right kind of help for your situation

The first four rows are about the shape of the estate. The last five are the situations where the answer is to pause and get one qualified opinion before you buy anything — including from us.

Your situation	Next move	Free route	Confirm before you commit
Everything appears to have passed by beneficiary designation, joint title, or a trust	Ask each institution what it requires from a beneficiary, and check the state's court material before concluding no court process is needed	The state's own court material; the county clerk	What proof each institution wants; whether anything is titled in the person's sole name; what the state requires you to do with an original will
Modest, uncontested estate, one state, will in hand	The county court's self-help program and the state's own forms; then decide whether you want a limited-scope attorney review	County self-help centre, where it covers probate; the clerk for the form list either way	Which procedure the court says applies; the court's current filing fee and form list, from the court; whether local lawyers offer limited scope and what it excludes
A creditor claim, an objection, a co-executor disagreement, a business interest, or property in two states	A probate attorney licensed in the controlling state, before you pay anyone or move money. This row has no purchasable substitute	Legal aid if you qualify on income and case type; the clerk for procedure only	Whether they handle contested probate in that county; the fee basis in writing and who the client is; what happens to the fee if the matter resolves early
Uncontested estate in a covered state; the problem is time and paperwork	Get the written scope and price for that state, then hold it against the same nine questions you would use for a lawyer	Court self-help remains available and free in parallel	What the price includes and excludes; what happens if the estate becomes contested; whether all acting executors must sign; refund and cancellation terms
Unclear authority or title, or a will nobody can find	Gather the will or trust, the deed, beneficiary designations, and any court letters or order. If no will can be found, write down where it was last kept and who has already looked	The official court or title source	Whether a case has been opened by anyone else; what that state accepts as proof of authority, before you ask an institution to act
The estate may not cover what it owes	Stop paying anyone and list creditors, secured debts, available cash, and any priority claims	The clerk can explain procedure but cannot tell you the order of payment	A probate attorney, and a tax professional where tax debt is material, before a single distribution
A will or beneficiary change made late in life that you did not know about, or signs someone was pressuring or taking from the person	Preserve the document and any earlier version, the dates, and who was present. Do not confront anyone in writing first	Legal aid if you qualify	A probate attorney licensed in the controlling state. Where the person may have been exploited while alive, that state's adult protective services, and law enforcement where a crime may have occurred
You cannot afford to pay anyone, or the person received long-term care paid by Medicaid	Ask about a court filing-fee waiver, legal aid intake, and limited-scope representation by name — all three exist precisely for this	Legal aid intake for that state; the county self-help centre; the court's own fee-waiver process	Household income and size, the estate's cash position, and whether the person received Medicaid-funded long-term care. Where an estate-recovery claim may apply, an elder law attorney in the decedent's state
You are a beneficiary with no role, or you are handling this reluctantly or were not close to the person	As a beneficiary: ask the personal representative in writing for the case number and a status update, and read the court file yourself. As a reluctant executor: you may decline before you begin acting, or engage limited-scope help for the parts you do not want	Court records lookup; the clerk	Which notices your state entitles you to, and when; or, if declining, what that state requires and whether you have already done something that commits you. The duties are the same whatever the relationship was, and nothing on this page assumes anything about it

Use one scorecard, not two. The nine questions in the section above are the scorecard for every option here — free, professional, or purchased. Do not soften them for a company because its website is reassuring, and do not skip them for a lawyer because a friend recommended them.

Deciding not to buy anything yet is a legitimate outcome, not a failure to make progress. None of this means something has gone wrong. It means the facts have not settled enough for a stranger to price the work honestly, including us. Gather the documents, get one qualified opinion on the specific question, and the rest usually gets simpler. If what you are carrying is grief rather than paperwork, grief resources is a separate, offer-free page.

Common questions

Am I responsible for my parent's or spouse's debts?

Generally no. Debts are paid from the estate, and if the estate cannot pay them, they usually go unpaid. You may owe a debt yourself if you co-signed it, if it was a joint account, if a community-property or family-expense rule in your state reaches it, or if a particular state law makes you responsible. A collector may contact you to find out who the executor is, but may not tell you that you have to pay from your own money. Which exceptions apply to you is a state-law question worth putting to a lawyer before you pay anything.

What should I avoid putting in writing before I have hired anyone?

LegalMatch's user agreement is unusually direct about this, and the caution applies to any intake form. It says that once a lawyer responds that office gains access to what you submitted, that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed, and that users should not make admissions, use proper names or addresses, or provide highly sensitive information. Describe the situation in general terms. Save account numbers, balances, Social Security numbers, and accusations about family members for a signed engagement.

How long does probate take?

No one can honestly promise a number. The pace is set by whichever dependency is slowest: the state's creditor-claim period, the court's calendar and how quickly it appoints a personal representative, inventory and appraisal, selling real property, tax filings, and any dispute. Jurisdiction changes the answer materially: the California claim period in the deadline block above runs from appointment. California's courts also note that a home passing through probate court there typically takes at least about nine months. Other states set different periods. Ask the county court about its own current timing.

What does probate actually cost?

Separate the pieces, because different people bill them. The court's filing fee is set by the state or county and published in that court's own fee schedule — get it from the court, not from a service's estimate. Then there is publication or mailed notice, certified copies of the death certificate, a bond premium if the court requires one, appraisal, any compensation the personal representative takes, and attorney or service fees, which have their own basis. A single "probate cost" number blends all of these and tells you very little. Court self-help programs and the state judiciary's own probate pages cost nothing, and legal aid may be free if you qualify — but "free" describes the help, not the case, and none of it removes filing fees, certified copies, publication, notarization, or a bond premium.

Your next step

Open the probate pages published by the courts of the state where the person lived — the router above reaches them for six states, and the directories reach the rest — and write down three things: the state, the county, and the one task you need done. Take that to the court's self-help program or clerk first: it costs nothing, and it is where the controlling rules live. If the task turns out to need advice rather than information, ask one lawyer licensed in that state for a written scope before you commit to anything. And if authority, title, what the estate owes, or a family disagreement is still unclear, that written scope is the thing to get first — not a package.

How this page is maintained

Estate Made Clear is an independent educational publisher covering estate administration for U.S. general audiences. This page is written and maintained by the Estate Made Clear editorial team. We are not a law firm, a court, a government agency, a tax preparer, a fiduciary, an adviser, or a document-retrieval service, and nothing here is legal or tax advice about your estate.

Our method is the reason to trust or distrust a given line, rather than any claim of expertise: legal statements come from statutes, courts, bars, and federal agencies; statements about a company come from its own current documentation; anything we could not close from a permitted source is labeled Partial or Verified with limitation rather than estimated, and you can see those labels beside each block. Every consequential claim carries the date it was checked. Company prices, availability, and terms are rechecked monthly to quarterly and again immediately before publication; court, statute, and bar material at least annually and whenever a form or rule changes. The next scheduled review of this page is October 20, 2026.

Sources and last verified date

Last verified: August 4, 2026

Next review: October 20, 2026.

Provider prices, state availability, and terms carry their own earlier as-of date of July 30, 2026, shown beside each figure.

• Guide to property after someone dies — California Courts Self-Help Guide — supports the court appointment of a personal representative, the priority order among relatives, the point that whether a court process is needed depends on what the person owned, and the California row of the state router.
• Wills, estates, and advance care planning — California Courts Self-Help Guide — supports the descriptions of trusts, payable-on-death accounts, and transfer-on-death deeds as paths outside probate court, the successor-trustee role, and the California nine-month reference for a home passing through probate court.
• Get free or low-cost legal help — California Courts Self-Help Guide — supports what California court self-help staff can and cannot do, legal aid eligibility depending on income and case type, and the referral-service consultation example.
• Court-based self-help services — California Courts Self-Help Guide — supports that California guarantees free self-help in family law and small claims at every superior court and that coverage of other subjects varies between courts.
• How to look up a court case — California Courts Self-Help Guide — supports that county courts keep the case records, that the public can look up a case, and that some case types are confidential.
• Probate Code section 8200 — California Legislative Information — supports the 30-day period for a custodian to deliver an original will to the superior court clerk, and the custodian's liability for damages caused by failing to.
• Probate Code section 9100 — California Legislative Information — supports the California creditor claim period of the later of four months after letters are first issued or 60 days after notice of administration is given.
• Probate Code section 13100 — California Legislative Information — supports the California affidavit procedure for collecting a decedent's personal property and its 40-day waiting period.
• Maximum values for small estate set-aside and disposition of estate without administration, form DE-300 — Judicial Council of California — supports the current California small-estate maximum of $208,850 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, the earlier $184,500 figure for deaths between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2025, and that the Judicial Council publishes and periodically adjusts these values.
• Can I be personally responsible for paying a deceased relative's debts? — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — supports that relatives are generally not personally liable for a decedent's debts, that exceptions vary by state, that unpaid debts of an insufficient estate generally go unpaid, and the limits on what a collector may say to a relative.
• Federal, state, territory, county, and municipal courts — USAGov — supports that probate court for wills and estates is a state or territory court and identifies the official directories for finding the courts that serve a given area.
• State and Federal Court Resources — U.S. Department of Justice — the per-jurisdiction routing destination for the courts, statutes, and bar of every U.S. state and territory.
• State court websites — National Center for State Courts — the routing destination for each state judiciary's own website and self-help material.
• Find a lawyer and affordable legal aid — USAGov — the routing destination for legal aid and referral programs in any state.
• State attorneys general — USAGov — the routing destination for reporting a misleading solicitation in any state.
• Legal advice vs. legal information — National Center for State Courts — supports the general boundary between legal information and legal advice, and who may provide each.
• Find Legal Help — American Bar Association — supports the routes to state lawyer-licensing lookups and referral programs, and the ABA's statement that it does not itself refer people to an attorney.
• Lawyer referral resources — American Bar Association Standing Committee on Lawyer Referral and Information Service — supports how bar-run lawyer referral programs are structured and reviewed.
• Why use a certified lawyer referral service — The State Bar of California — supports the distinction between a state-certified lawyer referral service and a commercial matching platform.
• Probate — Florida Courts Help, Florida State Courts System — supports the Florida row of the state router and is that state's own probate self-help destination.
• When someone dies — New York State Unified Court System, CourtHelp — supports the New York row of the state router, including that the Surrogate's Court handles estates, and is that state's own probate self-help destination.
• Decedent's estate forms — Supreme Court of Ohio — supports the Ohio row of the state router, including that the Supreme Court of Ohio publishes standard probate forms filed in the county probate courts.
• Orphans' Court forms, for the public — Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania — supports the Pennsylvania row of the state router, including the roles of the Register of Wills and the Orphans' Court.
• Probate court basics — TexasLawHelp — supports the Texas row of the state router, including which courts hear probate depending on the county, and the four-year period for filing a will after death as stated by that service.
• Terms and conditions (user agreement) — LegalMatch — supports LegalMatch's stated role as a venue rather than a law firm, the free basic account on case submission, the registration-time licensure check, the absence of continuous license-standing review, and the confidentiality and sensitive-information cautions.
• How it works — LegalMatch — supports how a matter is presented, how member lawyers are notified by practice area and location, and what a response includes.
• Why it works — LegalMatch — supports that the matching service is free to consumers and that responding member attorneys pay an annual fee.
• U.S. estate settlement pricing — ClearEstate — supports the six covered U.S. states, the state-selected starting prices and the no-will or complex-probate addition, the included tasks and communication-hour caps, the excluded costs, the acting-executor and no-conflict conditions, the complexity add-on and partner-network language, the 6-to-18-month estate settlement range, and the company's statement that it is not a law firm and does not give legal, accounting, tax, or investment advice.
• Estate settlement services for executors — ClearEstate — supports that the company also offers a professional-executor engagement priced as a percentage of the estate's date-of-death value subject to a stated minimum fee.
• Refund and cancellation policy — ClearEstate — supports that the company publishes refund and cancellation terms for its services.