Being Executor Can Turn Into A Second Job
Your sibling sees an inheritance getting smaller and thinks taking an executor fee from the estate is greedy. You see months of bank calls, paperwork, tax filings, property maintenance, creditor claims, and family questions that somebody has to handle. But the real question isn’t whether relatives should help for free, it’s whether the compensation matches the work and follows the rules governing the estate.
Executors Are Generally Allowed To Be Paid
Serving as executor isn’t simply an honorary family role. The American Bar Association notes that fiduciary work can be difficult and time-consuming and that compensation is appropriate. State law or the will typically determines what an executor can receive, although an executor can choose to waive compensation.
Start With The Will
Before debating what seems fair, read the document that appointed the executor. Some wills specify compensation or provide a method for determining it. Others say nothing, leaving the estate to follow the default rules of the state where probate is being handled.
State Law Can Produce Very Different Fees
There’s no single nationwide executor-fee formula. California uses a graduated percentage schedule for ordinary services, New York has its own commission structure, Florida presumes certain percentage-based commissions to be reasonable, and Pennsylvania instead directs courts to allow compensation that is reasonable and just. Comparing your fee with someone administering an estate in another state may therefore be meaningless.
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A Percentage Fee Can Look Bigger Than Expected
Percentage-based compensation sometimes shocks beneficiaries because the executor may receive thousands of dollars even when nobody kept an hourly timesheet. That doesn’t automatically make the fee excessive. In states using statutory schedules, the calculation may be based largely on estate value rather than the executor’s personal estimate of what their time was worth.
Estate Value Doesn’t Tell You How Easy The Job Was
A $2 million estate containing one brokerage account can potentially be simpler than a $400,000 estate with a neglected house, unpaid taxes, disputed personal property, multiple creditors, and fighting beneficiaries. In states that use a reasonableness standard, factors such as complexity and the work actually performed can become particularly important.
Taking Months Isn’t Unusual
Probate can be slow even when the executor is doing everything correctly. Fidelity notes that simple estates may sometimes be settled within months, while complicated estates can take a year or several years. Creditor periods, tax filings, property sales, court schedules, and difficult assets can all keep an estate open.
Finding Everything Can Take Real Work
One of the executor’s first jobs is identifying what the deceased actually owned and owed. That can mean locating bank and brokerage accounts, insurance policies, retirement accounts, vehicles, real estate, valuables, digital assets, loans, subscriptions, and forgotten debts. Families often underestimate how much detective work occurs before anyone receives an inheritance.
Someone Has To Protect The Property
If the estate includes a house, vehicle, rental property, or valuable personal belongings, somebody must secure and maintain them. That can mean insurance calls, utilities, lawn care, repairs, inspections, cleaning, winterization, storage, and supervising contractors. The executor remains responsible even when beneficiaries are mostly waiting for a check.
Creditor Claims Create Another Layer
Executors generally have to notify creditors, review claims, determine what is legitimate, and pay valid debts in the proper order. Disputed bills may require correspondence or legal help. Distributing the estate too soon can create serious problems if an unpaid obligation appears later.
Taxes Can Keep The Estate Open
The executor may have to arrange the deceased person’s final income-tax return and possibly estate income, state inheritance, or estate-tax filings depending on the circumstances. The IRS specifically identifies filing and paying applicable taxes as responsibilities of a personal representative. Waiting for tax information can delay final distributions even when most other work is finished.
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Selling A House Can Become A Project Of Its Own
An estate property may need to be emptied, cleaned, repaired, appraised, insured, listed, negotiated, and eventually closed. If siblings disagree about whether to sell, how much work to do first, or what price to accept, the executor can spend considerable time managing a transaction that looks simple from the outside.
Businesses And Unusual Assets Increase The Workload
Business interests, rental properties, valuable collections, cryptocurrency, property in multiple states, or hard-to-value investments can make an estate considerably harder to administer. Fidelity notes that executors may need attorneys, accountants, appraisers, and other professionals when an estate becomes complicated.
Family Conflict Counts As Work Too
The executor may spend hours answering repeated questions, explaining the will, arranging access to belongings, mediating arguments, and documenting decisions because siblings don’t trust one another. That time may not create an obvious asset for the estate, but family conflict can make administration substantially more demanding.
Ordinary And Extraordinary Work May Be Treated Differently
Some states distinguish between ordinary executor duties and extraordinary services. Florida, for example, specifically recognizes additional reasonable compensation for work such as litigation, selling property, complicated tax matters, operating the deceased person’s business, and certain other special services. The rules differ elsewhere, but unusual work can matter.
Executor Fees And Attorney Fees Aren’t The Same Thing
Hiring a probate lawyer doesn’t necessarily eliminate the executor’s job. The attorney handles legal work, while the executor still gathers documents, communicates with institutions and beneficiaries, manages assets, approves payments, makes decisions, and provides information the lawyer needs. Paying both isn’t automatically double charging.
But The Executor Shouldn’t Charge For Work Someone Else Did
Beneficiaries have a legitimate concern if an executor claims extensive compensation for tasks that were entirely performed by lawyers, accountants, property managers, or other professionals. Whether that matters legally depends on the state’s fee system, but under a reasonableness standard, the executor should be able to explain what services they personally provided.
Reimbursement Is Different From Compensation
If the executor personally pays for postage, certified copies, travel required for estate business, property supplies, filing costs, or another legitimate estate expense, reimbursement generally isn’t the same thing as being paid for their labor. Keeping the two categories separate makes the accounting much clearer.
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Keep Receipts For Out-Of-Pocket Costs
Don’t submit vague entries such as “estate expenses, $1,800.” Save receipts and explain what was purchased and why it was necessary. Good documentation protects the executor and makes it much harder for siblings to claim that personal expenses were quietly charged to the estate.
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Keep A Record Of The Work Too
Even where compensation is calculated by statute rather than by the hour, a basic activity log can prevent disputes. Record calls, appointments, property visits, paperwork, creditor issues, tax work, and time spent coordinating professionals. If someone later calls the fee excessive, the executor can show what administering the estate actually involved.
Co-Executors Don’t Always Mean Double Fees
When multiple people serve together, state law may govern how commissions are divided or whether more than one full commission is permitted. New York, for example, has detailed rules governing multiple fiduciary commissions. Siblings shouldn’t assume each co-executor automatically receives the same full fee.
Transparency Can Prevent A Lot Of The Fight
Beneficiaries are less likely to react badly to an executor fee when they know about it before the final accounting appears. Explain how the amount will be calculated, which law or will provision authorizes it, and whether additional compensation is being requested for unusual work.
Don’t Just Write Yourself A Check
The ABA cautions that some states don’t allow fiduciaries simply to pay their own compensation without court authorization. The proper procedure can depend on the state and the stage of probate. Before taking money, confirm whether the fee belongs in an accounting, petition, court approval, beneficiary consent, or some other process.
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Beneficiaries Can Question The Fee
Being named executor doesn’t provide a blank check. Beneficiaries can review accountings and, where permitted, object to compensation they believe is improper. In Florida, for example, courts can review whether personal-representative compensation is reasonable and can examine fees paid to people the executor hired.
Courts Can Reduce Excessive Compensation
A statutory or requested fee isn’t always untouchable. State probate courts may have authority to review compensation, particularly when extraordinary fees are requested or the governing law uses a reasonableness standard. Florida law expressly allows a court to order a refund when someone has received excessive estate compensation.
Poor Performance Can Hurt The Executor’s Position
Compensation is supposed to pay for properly administering the estate, not for creating unnecessary problems. Unreasonable delays, poor records, self-dealing, failure to protect property, or other breaches of fiduciary duty can lead to objections and potentially much more serious consequences than a dispute over the fee itself.
Executor Fees Are Taxable Income
This is one difference families sometimes overlook. The IRS says executor or personal-representative fees must generally be included in the recipient’s gross income. Someone serving as executor for a relative ordinarily reports the compensation as income even if administering estates isn’t their regular business.
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That Can Matter When The Executor Is Also An Heir
An executor who is also inheriting may want tax advice before automatically taking the maximum available fee. The IRS generally doesn’t include property received as an inheritance in gross income, while executor compensation is taxable. That doesn’t mean the executor should work for free, but the difference can affect the economics of the decision.
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Waiving A Fee Is Generous, Not Automatically Required
Many family executors choose not to charge, especially when the estate is simple or the executor is receiving a substantial inheritance anyway. But the ABA specifically advises fiduciaries to understand the full scope of the job before quickly waiving compensation. Months of serious administrative work aren’t suddenly worthless because the executor shares DNA with the beneficiaries.
Reasonable Payment Should Be Explainable
The strongest answer to a sibling accusing an executor of greed isn’t “the law says I can take it.” It’s a transparent record showing what the executor did, how long and complicated the administration became, what the will and state law permit, and exactly how the fee was calculated. If the amount follows those rules and reasonably reflects the responsibility involved, being paid for months of estate work is very different from taking advantage of an inheritance.
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