Coventry Probate Court, RI Probate Information

Coventry's published rules add several local gates to the ordinary duties of a personal representative. An accounting will not be accepted unless it includes the attorney certification described in R.I. Gen. Laws 33-14-2.2 or copies of canceled checks and documents supporting the entries. Coventry also requires the fiduciary's affidavit of notice to known and easily ascertainable creditors before a first and final accounting or affidavit of complete administration is accepted, tying local closing practice to R.I. Gen. Laws 33-11-5.1.

Coventry rule 14 says inventories by administrators and executors are strictly enforced and are due within 90 days unless the court allows an extension on petition (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-9-1). Coventry rule 15 also requires original releases, the paid funeral bill, estate-tax lien discharge, claim releases, and creditor-notice certification before an affidavit of complete administration will be accepted.

Rhode Island probate forms are statewide. A legislative commission prescribes them and the Secretary of State publishes them free to the public, to lawyers and to the probate clerks (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-16); they are numbered in the PC series and downloadable at https://www.sos.ri.gov/divisions/business-services/probate-forms/. The Coventry Probate Court uses the same forms as every other Rhode Island probate court, and Coventry rule 17 makes the statewide forms mandatory.

Coventry's probate page points readers to an older Secretary of State path that redirects away from the probate form catalogue, so use the live Secretary of State probate forms page instead. Coventry does not publish a separate downloadable probate form of its own, although its local rules say attorney and fiduciary fee-affidavit forms are on file in the Probate Clerk's office.

Rhode Island sets probate fees by statute and the same state schedule applies in all 39 cities and towns. For a petition to probate a will or to grant administration, the fee is one percent of the decedent's personal property over which the court has jurisdiction, with a floor of $30 and a ceiling of $1,500, figures unchanged since at least 1996 (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-21). Two things about that fee surprise people. First, it is due before the petition is filed and it is calculated from an estimate you supply on the petition itself, so the amount you pay at the counter is provisional: the statute requires the fee to be revised when the estimate turns out to be wrong, with a further payment or a refund, and the Coventry Probate Court recalculates it against the inventory you file within 90 days of your appointment (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-9-1). Second, the statutory fee is not the whole cost. Most petitions have to be advertised in a newspaper for two weeks, and the cost of that advertising is paid to the clerk in advance (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-11); Coventry also charges its own records fee. If every interested party signs a waiver under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22, the advertising requirement and its cost can fall away. A separate $30 fee, unchanged since at least 1996, applies to a list of other petitions, including filing a will with no probate, an affidavit of complete administration and a petition to file a claim out of time (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-11-5 and 33-22-21), and each certificate of appointment costs $5 under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-21. Copies of anything on file are $1.50 a page with a $3 charge to certify, figures set by R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-21.

1. Before filing, check whether the petition needs advertisement under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-11 or can proceed on waiver under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22.
2. For an advertised matter, Coventry rule 4 requires the filing and fees to be in the Probate Clerk's office no later than the Monday of the week of publication. The rule states that publication runs in the Wednesday edition of The Kent County Daily Times under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-11.
3. For a matter on waiver under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22, Coventry rule 4 requires filing at least 24 hours before the hearing.
4. Sessions are held at 3:00 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursday of each month in the Town Hall Council Chambers, as published in Coventry's local administrative rules under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-29 and its 2026 hearing-date spreadsheet.
5. On the hearing day, sign the docket in the Town Clerk's Office. Coventry rule 2 says cases are heard in sign-in order and contested matters are heard last, consistent with R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-30.
6. After appointment, file the inventory within 90 days unless the court allows more time, and expect Coventry's one percent inventory charge to be reconciled against the opening estimate (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-9-1 and 33-22-21).

The voluntary informal route under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-24 is statewide, but Coventry adds two local details. Coventry's fee schedule accessed September 1, 2026 lists voluntary informal administration under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-24 at $39.00 and voluntary informal executor under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-24-2 at $39.00. Coventry rule 15 says these filings are handled administratively in the Probate Clerk's office and do not appear on the court docket under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-30.

The statewide limits still control: for the voluntary informal administration route, the estate must consist entirely of personal property, the qualifying amount is $15,000 in force since 2005 exclusive of tangible personal property, and the filer under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-24-1 must be a Rhode Island resident. A named out-of-state executor under a will may use the voluntary informal executor route only by appointing a resident agent under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-24-2.

Page last reviewed: September 2026.