Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: Pennsylvania has no statutory percentage for either the executor or the attorney. Compensation must be “reasonable and just.” The widely circulated Johnson estate schedule is a case-law custom that courts often reference — it is not a statute, and describing it as one is the standard error on this topic.
What the law actually says
20 Pa.C.S. §3537 provides that the court shall allow compensation to the personal representative, and to attorneys, that is reasonable and just under the circumstances. There is no percentage in the statute, for either role. Pennsylvania is a “reasonable fee” state in the fullest sense.
The Johnson schedule, described accurately
What practitioners call the Johnson schedule comes from an Orphans’ Court opinion, not from the legislature. Courts across the Commonwealth commonly refer to it when testing whether a fee is reasonable, which gives it real practical force — but it binds no one by its own authority, it is not enacted law, and a fee inside it can still be challenged while a fee outside it can still be approved. Precision matters here: if a source calls it “Pennsylvania’s statutory fee schedule,” that source is wrong about the thing it is describing.
What to do with that
Because nothing is fixed, the fee is genuinely negotiable and genuinely reviewable. Ask on what basis the fee is calculated, ask whether the attorney is referencing Johnson and at what percentages, and remember that the executor’s compensation and the attorney’s fee are two separate charges even though neither has a statute behind it.
The rest of the picture: Pennsylvania probate cost.
How the fee models compare across all 51 jurisdictions: probate cost by state, and the national picture on what a probate attorney costs.
Statutory text read at each state’s own legislature or official code publisher. General information, not legal advice; fee statutes change and a court retains the final say on what is reasonable.