Cumberland Probate Court, RI Probate Information

Cumberland's local rules add practical filing requirements on top of statewide estate settlement duties. Before a first and final account or certificate of completed administration is accepted, Cumberland requires the original paid funeral bill, the fiduciary's affidavit of notice to known and easily ascertainable creditors under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-11-5.1, a real-property filing path, releases from claims and heirs, the inventory under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-9-1, payment of the court fee under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-21, and resolution of pending petitions.

For accounts, Cumberland's rules require certification by the fiduciary and by the attorney or preparing CPA under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-14-2.2. If the account follows a real-estate sale, the rules require the HUD settlement sheet. The rules also say notice of the account hearing is mailed at least 10 days before the hearing unless waived under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22.

Cumberland's rules also affect later requests for authority documents. After two years of no activity in a matter, a request for a certificate of appointment or exemplified copies requires an ex parte miscellaneous petition and an affidavit of all heirs, and certificates issue only to named fiduciaries and their attorneys (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-21).

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 sos.ri.gov.

The Cumberland Probate Court uses the same statewide forms as every other Rhode Island probate court, and Cumberland's rule 22 is stricter in one local way: it says the court accepts only forms approved and established on the official Secretary of State probate forms page (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-16). The probate page also links Cumberland's local administrative rules, fee schedule, and 2026 court dates.

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 set by statute and 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 Cumberland Probate Court recalculates it against the inventory you file within 90 days of your appointment (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-21; 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); Cumberland also charges its own records fee. If every interested party signs a waiver, the advertising requirement and its cost can fall away under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22. A separate $30 fee 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, and each certificate of appointment costs $5.00. Copies of anything on file are $1.50 a page with a $3.00 charge to certify, all under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-21.

1. Before filing, call the probate clerk at (401) 728-2400, extension 154, and check the current date. Cumberland's local administrative rules say the court is in session at 9:30 a.m. on the second Thursday of each month and at other dates as scheduled by the probate judge (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-29).
2. If the matter is on waiver, Cumberland's rule 42 says waived matters are filed at least 2 days before the hearing, except emergencies. Waiver practice is part of Rhode Island notice procedure under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22.
3. Use the town's 2026 date list as a calendar, not as a permanent rule. It lists January 8, February 12, March 12, April 9, May 14, June 11, July 9, August 13, September 17, October 8, and November 12, 2026. September 17 is not the second Thursday, and no December 2026 date is listed.
4. After appointment, file the inventory within 90 days unless the court allows more time (R.I. Gen. Laws 33-9-1). Cumberland's fee schedule uses that inventory to recalculate the one percent fee under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-22-21.

Cumberland prices the voluntary informal executor route under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-24-2 and the voluntary informal administration route under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-24-1 at $39.00 on its schedule, accessed September 1, 2026. The statewide limit is $15,000, in force since 2005, for qualifying personal property with tangible personal property excluded under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-24-1, and the court filing still happens through the Cumberland probate clerk rather than by handing an affidavit directly to a bank.

The out-of-state rule is important in estate settlement. An out-of-state person named as executor in a will can use the R.I. Gen. Laws 33-24-2 voluntary informal executor route if a resident agent is appointed with PC-3.5. An out-of-state child whose Rhode Island parent died without a will cannot serve as voluntary administrator under R.I. Gen. Laws 33-24-1, because that statute requires the affiant to be a Rhode Island resident.