About Probatly
How we verify
Probatly is an independent legal-information site for lay executors and families settling an estate. It exists for one reason: the practical law of probate — thresholds, fees, forms, deadlines — is published by fifty different states in fifty different places, and the websites that summarise it are frequently, measurably out of date.
The rule every figure follows
No number appears on this site unless it traces to a primary source: the state statute, the court’s published fee schedule, or the official form itself. Each figure carries the citation and the date it was checked — like this one: Verified Nov 7, 2026the standard used across this site. Secondary sources (law-firm guides, other publishers) are used only to find the primary source, never as the source.
Where the law genuinely has no single number — filing fees set county by county in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Alabama and parts of Texas law, for example — we publish the mechanism, the statutory base where one exists, a worked example, and the typical range, and we label it as county-varying. We would rather show you an honest range than a precise figure we invented.
The re-verification promise
Probate figures change on a legislative calendar. In 2025–26 alone, five of the ten states we cover changed a small-estate threshold or a related dollar figure — Florida doubled its summary-administration limit on July 1, 2026, and months later most of the web still showed the old number. So the whole data set is re-verified every January and every July, when most state changes take effect, and the stamp on each figure is updated. Alabama’s small-estate limit, which is re-derived from inflation every year, gets its own annual check against the official state figure.
What Probatly is not
Probatly is not a law firm, does not provide legal advice, and does not prepare or file documents for anyone. It publishes general legal information and links to the official blank forms published by the courts — the same forms, free, that any form-selling site would charge you for. Where an estate is contested, large, or unusual, the right next step is a licensed probate attorney in your state, and our pages will tell you so.
How the site is paid for
Probatly is free to use. It may earn revenue from clearly labelled affiliate links to estate-planning services and from advertising on content pages — never on the tools, and never in exchange for changing a figure. No advertiser or partner can buy a threshold, a fee, or a deadline.
Found an error?
The verification system only works if it is correctable. If a figure looks wrong, check the statute it cites — that is what it is there for — and know that every figure is re-checked on the January/July cycle regardless.