Executor Fee in Virginia (2026)

Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: Virginia sets no statutory percentage. What actually decides an executor’s fee is the Commissioner of Accounts for the circuit — a court-appointed officer who audits the accounting and applies a published guideline scale. Those guidelines are local, not statewide, and they are guidelines.

The statute, and what it does not do

Va. Code §64.2-1208 entitles the personal representative to reasonable compensation. It sets no percentage and no schedule.

Who actually decides

Virginia routes estate accountings through a Commissioner of Accounts appointed by the circuit court. The commissioner reviews the accounting and applies the fee guidelines published for that jurisdiction, commonly a sliding scale in the region of 5% of receipts with adjustments. Because commissioners are appointed circuit by circuit, the applicable guideline is a local document — the correct question is not “what is the Virginia rate” but “what does this commissioner’s published scale say.”

What that means in practice

Ask the Commissioner of Accounts for the circuit for the current fee guidelines before taking a commission, and keep the accounting clean: the guideline is applied against a filed accounting, and a disorganised one costs more than the percentage argument is worth.

What the whole process costs in this state: Virginia 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.