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How much does it cost to file for guardianship in Georgia?

Filing a guardianship petition in Georgia costs $206 on the statewide probate court schedule. The Georgia Council of Probate Court Judges' Schedule of Costs and Fees, effective January 1, 2025, prices both minor and adult guardianship and conservatorship petitions the same way it prices first estate petitions on this site's Georgia probate costs page: a $175 base under O.C.G.A. §15-9-60, plus the statutory add-ons the schedule collects — the §§15-23-7, 15-9-60.1 and 36-15-9 charges and the $15 indigent defense fee under §15-21A-6 — for a $206 total on the first petition for a named minor or adult. A subsequent petition in the same guardianship totals $191, because the indigent defense fee is charged one time only, on the first proceeding by which the probate court's jurisdiction is invoked for that person.

Georgia guardianship fees at a glance

The one-time-only rule is the detail filers most often miss, and the schedule states it twice — once for minors under §15-21A-6(b)(1)(B) and once for adults under §15-21A-6(b)(1)(C): the $15 indigent defense fee attaches to the first proceeding for a named person and never again in that person's case, which is exactly why the first petition totals $206 and every subsequent petition totals $191. The temporary guardianship line serves a narrower need: temporary letters of guardianship of a minor — commonly used where a parent will be unavailable for a defined stretch — are priced at $154 on the county summaries of the Council schedule, with a $69 petition to terminate the temporary guardianship when it ends early. Motions and caveats at $75 are the schedule's universal contested-filing price, the same figure estate litigants pay on the probate side. The national comparison is on the guardianship filing costs hub.

Minor guardianship, adult guardianship, conservatorship

Georgia probate courts handle all three protective arrangements, and the Council schedule groups them because their filing economics are shared. A minor guardianship addresses a child's person — often where parents are deceased, incapacitated or temporarily unavailable — while a minor conservatorship addresses a child's property. For adults, a guardian manages personal decisions for a person found to lack sufficient capacity, and a conservator manages that person's property; petitions for an adult are frequently filed together. The schedule's sections (f) and (g) track those groupings — minor guardianships and conservatorships in one, adult in the other — and both land on the same $175 base and $206 first-petition total. What differs is not the filing price but the proof: adult cases require an evaluation and a hearing on capacity, and the schedule is explicit that fees for guardians ad litem, court-appointed attorneys and court-appointed evaluators, when collected by the court, are in addition to the schedule's court costs — or are payable directly to the person providing the service.

A county example: Fulton County's published adult figures

County schedules show what the add-on warning means in practice. Fulton County Probate Court's published fee schedule prices a petition for appointment of a permanent guardian or conservator for an adult at $659 initial filing and $640 subsequent filing, and an emergency guardian or conservator petition at the same $659 and $640 — figures far above the Council's $206 court-cost total because Fulton's published lines bundle the county's own charges for the machinery an adult case requires, including a court-appointed evaluator at $200 and a guardian ad litem at $200 on the same schedule. Fulton also prices a petition for temporary letters of minor guardianship at $159 plus publication where necessary, conservatorship of a minor at $209 for a first filing and $190 for a second, and a motion for adult guardianship at $75. The lesson is not that one figure is wrong: $206 is the statewide court-cost schedule, and a large county's all-in published price for an adult case can be several times that once evaluator, guardian ad litem and service components are collected with the filing. Confirm your own county's total with its probate court before budgeting.

How the case runs

1. File the guardianship or conservatorship petition in the probate court of the county where the minor or proposed ward lives and pay the first-petition total $206
2. Serve the required parties and, in an adult case, complete the court-ordered evaluation process
3. Attend the hearing; an objector's caveat is priced at $75
4. Qualify, take the oath and receive letters of guardianship or conservatorship
5. File later petitions at $191 and fiduciary compliance reports at $40 with assets or no fee without assets

What guardianship really costs beyond the clerk

Beyond court costs, a Georgia guardianship budget meets the appointee layer the Council schedule flags: guardian ad litem, court-appointed attorney and evaluator fees are additional, set in the case, and in an adult contested matter they can exceed the filing total — Fulton's published $200 evaluator and $200 guardian ad litem lines are the concrete example. A conservator may also need bond, priced by the bonding company on the estate's value, and the ward's estate typically bears administration expenses as the court allows. The petitioner's own attorney fees are market-priced and unpriced here for the usual reason: no official schedule publishes them. What is predictable is the schedule spine — $206 first petition, $191 subsequent, $154 temporary minor guardianship, $75 contested filings, $40 compliance reports with assets. Compare other states on the guardianship hub, including Arizona guardianship costs and North Carolina guardianship costs.

Can't afford the fee?

A petitioner who cannot pay can raise indigency with the probate court when the petition is filed, supported by a sworn statement of income, assets and expenses; Georgia courts can relieve or defer court costs in appropriate cases, and the clerk's office will state the current local procedure. Ask before filing rather than after — the petition is not filed until its costs are paid or relieved — and remember that relief aimed at court costs does not itself pay evaluator or guardian ad litem charges, which the court addresses in the case. The general mechanics of fee waivers are explained in the fee waiver guide.

Sources: Georgia Council of Probate Court Judges, Schedule of Costs and Fees, effective January 1, 2025 (posted by Glynn County Probate Court), read directly — minor and adult guardianship and conservatorship petition base $175 under O.C.G.A. §15-9-60 with add-ons under §§15-23-7, 15-9-60.1, 15-21A-6 ($15, one time only per §15-21A-6(b)(1)(B) and (C)) and 36-15-9, total $206; subsequent petition $191; motion, response, request, citation or caveat $75; fiduciary compliance report $40 with assets, no fee without assets; guardian ad litem, court-appointed attorney and evaluator fees additional · Glynn County Probate Court fee summary of the same schedule — temporary letters of guardianship of a minor $154; petition to terminate temporary guardianship $69 · Fulton County Probate Court Fee Schedule, read directly — permanent or emergency adult guardian or conservator petition $659 initial / $640 subsequent; evaluator $200; guardian ad litem $200; temporary minor guardianship $159 plus publication where necessary. Last verified: October 2026 — confirm current figures, and your county's all-in total, with the probate court.