An executor typically gets paid between 2% and 5% of the probate estate’s value, which is the share most people have in mind when they ask what percent of an estate an executor gets paid. The exact figure depends on three things: what the will says, what the state’s probate statute allows, and how complex the estate turns out to be. And the percentage only applies to assets that actually pass through probate, so an estate that looks large on paper can produce a modest fee.
Who Decides the Percentage
Three sources control executor compensation, and they apply in order.
The will comes first. It can name a flat dollar amount, specify a percentage, or state that the executor serves without pay. When the will addresses compensation, that provision generally governs.
If the will is silent, state law fills the gap. About 21 states use statutory fee schedules with set percentages. The rest apply a “reasonable compensation” standard, which lets the probate court decide the fee based on the estate’s size, the difficulty of the work, the hours spent, and local norms for similar estates.
Even where a statute sets percentages, the court keeps the authority to adjust. An executor who did little work on a simple estate may receive less if a beneficiary objects. One who dealt with unusual complications can petition for more.
What Tiered Fee Schedules Look Like
Statutory states generally use a tiered structure: a higher percentage on the first dollars of estate value, dropping as the estate grows. A common pattern pays around 4% on the first $100,000, 3% on the next several hundred thousand, and progressively smaller percentages above that. Some states calculate the fee on both money received and money paid out, which can roughly double the base. On very large estates above $10 million, the top-tier percentage may fall to 0.5% or lower.
Here is how the math plays out. On a $1,000,000 probate estate under a schedule that pays 4% on the first $100,000 and 3% from $100,001 to $1,000,000, the executor earns $4,000 on the first bracket and $27,000 on the second. The total is $31,000, or about 3.1% of the estate. On a $500,000 estate under the same schedule, the fee comes to $16,000, or 3.2%. The effective percentage rises as the estate shrinks because the higher top bracket covers more of the total.
In “reasonable compensation” states, there is no formula. Courts weigh hours logged, the nature of the assets, whether the executor has professional expertise, and what executors in the area earn for comparable work. The result is more uncertainty and more flexibility.
The Percentage Applies to the Probate Estate Only
This is the point that catches most people off guard. The fee is calculated on the probate estate, not the decedent’s full net worth.
The probate estate includes assets titled solely in the deceased person’s name at death: real estate in their name alone, individual bank and brokerage accounts, vehicles, and personal property.
Several categories of assets skip probate entirely and do not factor into the fee:
- Life insurance policies with a named beneficiary
- Retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs with designated beneficiaries
- Property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship
- Payable-on-death bank accounts
- Anything held in a living trust
The executor has no authority over these assets because they pass by operation of law or contract directly to the named recipient.
Consider someone with a $3 million total estate who holds $2.5 million in trust assets and beneficiary-designated accounts. The probate estate is $500,000. The executor fee applies to that $500,000, not the full $3 million. Estate planning that moves wealth out of probate shrinks the executor’s percentage-based pay accordingly.
Co-Executors Usually Split One Fee
When a will names two or more co-executors, the fee does not automatically multiply. In most jurisdictions, co-executors divide a single statutory fee, often equally unless they agree otherwise. A few states permit each co-executor to collect a full commission when the estate is large enough, but that is the exception. The probate court can resolve disputes over how to split the money.
Problems arise when one co-executor carries most of the workload while another contributes little. Spelling out in the will how compensation should be divided can prevent that fight.
What the Fee Does and Doesn’t Cover
The commission pays the executor for their time and effort. It does not cover out-of-pocket expenses. Filing fees, postage, travel to meet with attorneys or appraisers, storage costs, and court costs are reimbursable separately, on top of the fee. Keep every receipt, because the court and the beneficiaries will want documentation before signing off.
Standard fees also assume routine administration: collecting assets, paying bills, filing tax returns, distributing property. When the work goes meaningfully beyond that, the executor can petition the court for extraordinary compensation. Running a family business to preserve its value, handling a contested real estate sale, defending the estate in a lawsuit, dealing with difficult IRS issues, or managing litigation among beneficiaries can all qualify. Courts require detailed records of the hours spent, the nature of the work, and the benefit to the estate. Vague claims will not succeed.
Taxes Change What You Keep
Executor fees are taxable income. The IRS requires every personal representative to report the fee in gross income. 1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 559, Survivors, Executors, and Administrators
How you report depends on whether you serve professionally. An individual acting as executor for a friend or relative, not in the trade of managing estates, reports the fee on Schedule 1 of Form 1040, line 8z, and does not owe self-employment tax. Someone in the business of serving as an executor reports the fee on Schedule C as self-employment income, which adds self-employment tax to regular income tax.
When Beneficiaries Waive the Fee
Executors who also inherit from the estate face a choice. The fee is taxable income, while an inheritance generally is not. If your inheritance is $200,000 and the executor fee would be $15,000, taking the fee means paying income tax on $15,000 that would otherwise reach you tax-free. Many family-member executors waive the fee for that reason.
Waiving is not automatically the better move. If the estate owes federal estate tax, the fee is deductible as an administration expense on the estate tax return, and that deduction can save the estate more than the executor’s personal income tax on the fee. 2eCFR. 26 CFR 20.2053-3 – Deduction for Expenses of Administering Estate The right answer depends on the estate’s size, the applicable rates, and the executor’s own tax bracket.
When the Fee Can Be Reduced or Lost
An executor who breaches their fiduciary duty risks losing the fee entirely, and the exposure doesn’t stop there. Courts can deny compensation, remove the executor, and order a surcharge requiring the executor to reimburse the estate from personal funds for losses they caused.
Conduct that puts the fee at risk includes self-dealing, neglect of duties, reckless investment decisions, and claiming compensation that exceeds what the work justified. Honest mistakes made in good faith do not usually trigger a surcharge, but an executor who cannot explain why a decision was reasonable at the time is in a weak spot.
When the Executor Actually Gets Paid
Payment comes near the end of probate, not at the start. After debts and taxes have been settled, the executor files a final accounting with the probate court that details every dollar in and out of the estate, including the proposed fee calculation. Beneficiaries can review the accounting and object if they believe the fee is excessive or that the estate was mishandled. The court then approves the fee as proposed or adjusts it, and only then does the executor receive payment. If objections surface, that payment can be delayed by months.