Clear Money Guide
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Open the inputs first, then use the guide outline to check assumptions and sources.
Updated August 13, 2026. Quick answer: this calculator computes executor compensation to the dollar in the 21 states whose compensation statute we transcribed and checked — Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming — with the statute cited beside every result. A $1,000,000 estate pays the executor $23,000 in California (Prob. Code §10800), $34,000 in New York (SCPA 2307), $38,000 in New Jersey (N.J.S.A. 3B:18-14) and $37,080 in Maryland (Est. and Trusts §7-601). Four states were added on 13 August 2026 — West Virginia, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and North Carolina all publish a statutory percentage, and this tool previously told those readers their state did not. For the other 30 jurisdictions there is no percentage schedule this tool computes: the fee there is reasonable compensation a court approves, and picking your state says so plainly rather than leaving you guessing. Pick your state below, or see how the schedules rank against each other in our study of states with the highest executor fees.
The calculator
Before the fee question there is an authority question. If more than one person is named, most states require all of them to concur on every act — and no statute says what happens when they cannot agree.
The three things the generic “X% of the estate” articles get wrong
The base is usually not the whole estate. California’s schedule runs on the PROBATE estate only — a $900,000 house in joint tenancy and a $500,000 401(k) with a named beneficiary contribute nothing to the fee. Texas is stricter still: the 5% commission applies to cash the executor actually moves, expressly excluding money already sitting in bank or brokerage accounts at death, life-insurance proceeds, and cash distributed to heirs (Tex. Est. Code §352.002). On a modern estate held mostly in accounts with beneficiary designations, the statutory fee can be a fraction of what “5% of the estate” suggests.
Ceiling, floor, or presumption — the same-looking schedule means three different things. Iowa’s is a maximum courts can cut. Missouri’s is a minimum courts can raise. Florida’s is only presumed reasonable, and the will can override it.
The fee is taxable income; the inheritance is not. Before invoicing the estate, read is an executor fee taxable and — if you are also an heir — whether to waive the fee, where taking the fee is often a mistake.
State detail: California · New York · Texas · Florida · everyone else: the reasonable-compensation states. What the whole probate costs: probate cost by state.
Distributing a house one heir wants to keep? While the estate is open, a non-pro-rata distribution can move it to that heir with no sale and no capital gain — if the executor has the authority. Check before deeding co-ownership.
What the filings actually say. We measured the fee schedules 176 SEC-registered advisers publish in their Form ADV Part 2A filings: at $250,000 only 28.4% disclose a fee you can price at all, and the weighted median annual cost among those that do is $2,000 to $2,500. The full benchmark, with method.
Nine more states, and they do not agree: New Jersey · Ohio · Georgia · Missouri · Iowa · Pennsylvania · Virginia · Washington · Michigan. Missouri’s statutory schedule is a minimum; Iowa’s near-identical one is a maximum.
Cite or share this calculator
Suggested citation: Clear Money Guide, “Executor Fee Calculator (2026),” statute-cited; clearmoneyguide.com/executor-fee-calculator/. Free to cite with attribution.
For attorneys, accountants and professional fiduciaries: every figure this tool returns names the statute it came from, so a client can be handed the number and the authority together. It is free to link to, with no login and no email capture in front of the result.
Methodology: each schedule is transcribed from the statute cited beside the result, then computed twice — by the calculator itself and by a second, independently written engine — and the two must agree to the cent before anything ships. Statutory compensation is the starting point, not the whole bill: filing fees, appraisal, publication, bond and the estate attorney’s own fee are separate, and in several states the attorney draws a schedule of their own. Nothing here is legal advice.
Nine more schedule states, each with its own statute: Kentucky · South Carolina · West Virginia · Maryland · Oklahoma · Nevada · Oregon · Wyoming · Wisconsin. Every one of the nine publishes a percentage schedule, so the fee is computable rather than argued.
Twenty-nine more states, most with no percentage schedule at all, each worked through individually, statute and all: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont.
The executor’s commission above is a separate charge from what the estate’s attorney is paid. 46 more states worked through on the attorney-fee side: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.