Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Connecticut sets no statutory percentage for an executor’s fee. Compensation is governed by Probate Court Rules of Procedure, Rule 39, which requires the Probate Court to determine whether the fee is reasonable, whether or not anyone objects. The court applies a nine-factor test traced to Hayward v. Plant (1923), and that review happens automatically alongside the fiduciary’s financial account, not only on request.
The rule, and what it does not do
Rule 39.1 through 39.2 of the Connecticut Probate Court Rules of Procedure, implementing Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 17b-95(c), 45a-294, 45a-499k, 45a-594, governs fiduciary and attorney’s fees. The rule states plainly that fiduciary and attorney’s fees not previously approved by the court are subject to review in connection with the financial report or account covering the period in which the fees are paid, and the court shall determine whether the fees are reasonable, whether or not an interested party raises an objection to the fees. There is no statutory percentage anywhere in Connecticut law for an executor’s compensation.
Who actually decides, and the nine-factor test
The Probate Court for the district administering the estate decides reasonableness, per Rule 39.1. The fiduciary must move for approval of a proposed or already-rendered fee, and the court’s review draws on nine factors: size of the estate, responsibilities involved, character of the work required, special problems and difficulties met in doing the work, results achieved, knowledge, skill and judgment required, manner and promptness in which the matter was handled, time and labor required, and other relevant and material circumstances. That nine-factor task-statement test traces directly to the Connecticut Supreme Court’s 1923 decision in Hayward v. Plant, 98 Conn. 374, 384. Connecticut also charges a separate, statutory court-administration fee under a graduated schedule tied to estate size, that fee is paid to the Probate Court itself, not to the executor, and the two should never be confused.
What that means in practice
Document how the nine Hayward factors apply to the actual work done, time and labor, results achieved, difficulties met, before moving the Probate Court for approval, and expect that review to happen automatically when the account is filed even if no one objects. Also remember that a will can set the fiduciary’s compensation, but the fiduciary may renounce a will-set fee and request court-determined reasonable compensation instead, so a low will-stated fee is not necessarily the final word.
What the whole process costs in this state: Connecticut 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 Connecticut requires the executor to post a bond.