Updated September 3, 2026. Quick answer: Wisconsin sets the lowest headline fee among the states with a written schedule: a flat 2% under Wis. Stat. §857.05(2), computed on the estate’s inventory value less mortgages and liens, plus any net principal gains realized during administration. $100,000 pays $2,000; $500,000 pays $10,000; $1,000,000 pays $20,000. Unlike most schedule states, the 2% is only a default; it can be changed by a written agreement between the decedent and the personal representative, or between the majority-interest heirs and the personal representative.
A genuinely flat rate, with a negotiable floor
§857.05(2) sets one rate (2%) on the whole base, with no tiers or brackets the way most other schedule states structure their statute. But the rate is explicitly a default: the statute lets the decedent and the personal representative, or the persons who receive the majority interest in the estate and the personal representative, agree in writing to a different rate instead, plus “such further sums in cases of unusual difficulty or extraordinary services as the court determines reasonable.”
The base nets out debt but adds back gains
The commission runs on “the inventory value of the property for which the personal representative is accountable, less any mortgages or liens, plus net principal gains in the estate proceedings”, a base that subtracts encumbrances (a mortgaged house counts net of the mortgage, unlike states such as California that use gross value) but adds back any appreciation the estate realizes while it is being administered.
A lawyer-executor can be paid for both roles
§857.05(3) allows the court to award both the executor’s commission and the attorney’s fee when the personal representative is also the estate’s attorney and the will authorizes it, a combined-role allowance that some other states, such as West Virginia, expressly prohibit.
What the whole process costs in this state: Wisconsin 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.
Related: whether Wisconsin requires the executor to post a bond.