Executor Fee in Missouri (2026)

Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: Missouri’s percentage schedule is a minimum — a floor, not a cap. The court shall allow more where reasonable compensation exceeds it. That is the opposite of how most people read a fee schedule, and the exact opposite of neighbouring Iowa, whose near-identical schedule is a ceiling.

The minimum schedule

RSMo §473.153 sets, as the minimum compensation, percentages of the personal property administered plus the proceeds of real property sold under court order: 5% of the first $5,000; 4% of the next $20,000; 3% of the next $75,000; 2¾% of the next $300,000; 2½% of the next $600,000; and 2% on all over $1,000,000.

Why the word minimum matters

Where reasonable compensation exceeds the schedule, the statute directs the court to allow the additional amount. There is a boundary on it — in the aggregate, not exceeding twice the schedule minimum or 5% of the value administered, whichever is less, with exceptions where real property was taken into possession but not sold, or extraordinary services were performed. So Missouri is a floor with a bounded ceiling, which is a genuinely unusual structure.

The attorney is on the same schedule

Unusually, §473.153 also governs attorneys performing services for the estate, so the same percentages appear twice against one estate — once for the personal representative and once for the lawyer.

What the whole process costs in this state: Missouri probate cost. Every state’s fee model side by side: probate cost by state.

Work out the number: the executor fee calculator. How the standard is applied where no schedule exists: reasonable-compensation states. Whether to take the fee at all: when the executor is also an heir, and how the fee is taxed.

Statutory text read at each state’s own legislature or official code publisher. General information, not legal advice; a court retains the final say on what compensation is allowed.