Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Virginia has no statutory percentage fee schedule for the probate attorney or the executor. Both are entitled only to reasonable compensation, set case by case by the local commissioner of accounts, and Virginia additionally lets many smaller estates skip formal administration altogether.
One reasonable-compensation statute, no percentages
In stating and settling the account, the commissioner of accounts shall allow the fiduciary any reasonable expenses incurred by him and, except in cases in which it is otherwise provided, a reasonable compensation in the form of a commission on receipts or otherwise.
Source: Va. Code section 64.2-1208(A)
This is the general fiduciary compensation statute covering executors and administrators. It authorizes a commission but sets no percentage or bracket; the commissioner of accounts, a court-appointed local official who reviews estate accountings, fixes the amount.
The attorney’s fee falls under the same expense review, not a separate schedule
Virginia has no separate statute pricing the estate’s attorney. Legal fees paid by the estate are reviewed by the commissioner of accounts as part of the same reasonable expenses the fiduciary is allowed, with no dollar-bracket or percentage formula written into the code.
Many Virginia estates skip formal administration entirely
the value of the decedent’s entire personal probate estate as of the date of the decedent’s death, wherever located, does not exceed $75,000
Source: Va. Code section 64.2-601
For personal estates at or under this threshold, successors can collect assets using a small-estate affidavit instead of qualifying a personal representative and opening a formal administration, part of why attorney and executor fees are a smaller factor in Virginia probate than in states with a mandatory formal process.
The executor’s commission is a different charge
Virginia does not give the executor or administrator a separate statutory percentage the way New Jersey does; the same reasonable-compensation standard in section 64.2-1208 covers the fiduciary’s own commission. Local commissioners of accounts commonly reference an informal benchmark, often cited around 5% of receipts, but that figure is custom rather than a statutory bracket and was not found codified this session.
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.
The attorney fee above is separate from what the court itself charges just to open the case, see the Virginia probate filing fee.