Marc Cormier has spent more than 25 years watching families walk into probate without knowing what it actually costs them. The house is usually the biggest asset in the estate, and it is also the one nobody has a real number for until an attorney, the Register of Wills, and closing costs have all taken their share.
That gap is what led the Maryland real estate specialist to build the Probate Cost Calculator, a free tool at GuideToProbate.com that walks personal representatives through the real math before they list a property, accept a cash offer, or commit to anything.
“Most families do not know what probate costs until they are already in the middle of it,” Cormier said. “By then they have made decisions that are hard to walk back. This gives them the real number first.”
The calculator runs on Maryland statutory formulas rather than rough estimates. Personal representative commission follows Maryland Estates and Trusts section 7-601, 9 percent of the first $20,000 of estate value and 3.6 percent of everything above that. Register of Wills fees follow the state’s current tiered schedule. Closing costs, appraisal fees, and notice and filing costs round out the picture, along with optional toggles for a mortgage payoff or a probate bond if either applies.
The impact shows up clearly in a worked example. On a $500,000 Maryland estate, with no mortgage payoff, no bond required, and a traditional listing at 5.5 percent commission, the calculator estimates roughly $55,755 in total costs, leaving about $444,245 net to the estate. That is close to 89 percent of the sale price staying with the family, a number most personal representatives have never seen laid out before they start.
For Cormier, that number matters because of what it protects against. “A personal representative has a fiduciary duty to the estate,” he said. “That starts with knowing the numbers. Whether the property sells as-is, gets fixed up first, or goes to a cash buyer, the family needs the net number for each path, not the sale price alone.”
The tool also reflects a broader shift in how Cormier approaches probate real estate. Rather than pitching a listing, he positions himself as an educator first, someone personal representatives can bring questions to before they have decided on a direction at all. GuideToProbate.com, his probate knowledge center, already includes detailed guidance for Maryland, Virginia, and DC estates, along with a Track Record page documenting real closed transactions and the gap between initial cash offers and eventual sale prices.
Looking ahead, Cormier plans to keep expanding that resource library rather than treat the calculator as a one-time launch. Additional documented case studies are in progress, adding to the track record families and referring attorneys can review before choosing a path. The goal, he said, is the same one that led to the calculator in the first place: give personal representatives the real numbers early, so the decisions that follow are the right ones instead of the fastest ones.
The Probate Cost Calculator is free to use at GuideToProbate.com/probate-cost-calculator. Additional guidance for Maryland, Virginia, and DC personal representatives is available at GuideToProbate.com, including a Track Record page of real closed probate sales.
Author Bio:
Marc Cormier is a Maryland real estate specialist with more than 25 years of experience helping personal representatives navigate probate and estate property sales across Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. A Seniors Real Estate Specialist and Brown University graduate, he built the free Probate Cost Calculator at GuideToProbate.com
Visit:
https://guidetoprobate.huzi.site/probate-cost-calculator/
