Executor Fee in Washington (2026)

Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: Washington sets no percentage — the personal representative receives such compensation as the court deems just and reasonable. The bigger fact is structural: most Washington estates are administered with nonintervention powers, which keeps the court out almost entirely, so in practice nobody reviews the fee unless a beneficiary objects.

The statute

RCW 11.48.210 provides that the personal representative shall be allowed such compensation as the court deems just and reasonable. There is no schedule, and attorney fees are on the same reasonableness standard.

Nonintervention is the part that matters

Under RCW 11.68, a Washington estate that is solvent and whose will grants them is typically administered with nonintervention powers: the personal representative administers and distributes without ongoing court supervision. That makes Washington probate genuinely fast and cheap by national standards. It also means the only effective review of a fee is a beneficiary raising an objection.

The consequence for both sides

For the executor: take a defensible fee and document the work, because there is no court order blessing it in advance. For a beneficiary: nobody is checking on your behalf, so the accounting is the thing to ask for and read.

What the whole process costs in this state: Washington probate cost. Every state’s fee model side by side: probate cost by state. The separate proceeding for someone still living who can no longer manage their own affairs is priced differently again: what guardianship costs in Washington.

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.