The recession has taken a toll on the amount of revenue that State governments are able to generate. States have been slashing spending in a number of different areas, including courts. Many states that have suffered from revenue shortages have been raising probate fees. Probate courts have been raising fees to stay open while states are losing revenue and cutting spending. Connecticut is currently the state with the highest probate fees, and New Jersey and North Carolina are up in the top as well. Probate fees are not the only court costs that have gone up, many other court fees have been increasing as well in order to cover operating costs.
See Liz Skinner, Cost of settling estates rising as states hunt for more revenue, Investment News, July 16, 2015.
