Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Idaho Code § 15-3-719 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for services, with no percentage, schedule, or factor list in the text. The provision was enacted in 1971 as part of Idaho’s early adoption of the Uniform Probate Code and has not been amended since, it remains word-for-word the original 1969 Uniform Probate Code §3-719 language. Reasonableness is subject to the probate court’s later review under Idaho Code §15-3-721.
The statute, and what it does not set
Idaho Code § 15-3-719 provides that a personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for his services. If a will provides for compensation and there is no contract with the decedent regarding compensation, the personal representative may renounce that provision before qualifying and be entitled to reasonable compensation instead, and may also renounce the right to all or any part of the compensation by written filing with the court. No enumerated factor list appears anywhere in the section.
Who actually decides, and the unamended text
The probate or magistrate court presiding over the estate makes the reasonableness determination. Idaho’s Uniform Probate Code lets the personal representative set their own compensation initially, subject to the court’s later reasonableness review under Idaho Code §15-3-721. What makes Idaho distinctive is that Section 15-3-719 has not been amended since its 1971 enactment, it remains word-for-word the original 1969 Uniform Probate Code §3-719 text, with no enumerated statutory factor list ever added. Idaho courts instead apply general fiduciary-duty and quantum-meruit reasonableness principles case by case.
What that means in practice
Since no statutory factor list exists and the text has stood unchanged for over five decades, expect the court to lean on general fiduciary-duty and quantum-meruit principles rather than a checklist, so document time, effort, and results the way you would for any quantum-meruit claim. As with the other Uniform Probate Code states, a will-set fee is not the only option, it can be renounced before qualifying in favor of reasonable compensation instead.
What the whole process costs in this state: Idaho 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 Idaho requires the executor to post a bond.