Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Louisiana executor compensation defaults to a flat 2.5% of the amount of the inventory under La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 3351, applied whenever the testament is silent on the point and the administrator or executor has not agreed on a different fee with the surviving spouse and all competent heirs or legatees. A $100,000 inventory pays $2,500; a $500,000 inventory pays $12,500; a $1,000,000 inventory pays $25,000. Louisiana calls this role a succession representative, executor if the estate is testate and administrator if intestate, and a court can raise the commission above 2.5% on a proper showing that the usual rate is inadequate.
A flat rate on the inventory, not a tiered schedule
Unlike states that scale the executor’s percentage down as the estate grows, Louisiana’s default rate under art. 3351 is a single flat 2.5% applied to the amount of the sworn descriptive list, or inventory, and that figure is gross: it is not reduced for the decedent’s debts. The rate only applies in the absence of a provision in the testament or an agreement between the parties; if the will sets a different fee, or the representative and the surviving spouse plus all competent heirs and legatees agree on one, that governs instead. A court may increase the commission above 2.5% on a proper showing that the usual rate is inadequate for the work involved. A separate provision, art. 3422, caps small-succession compensation at not more than 5% of gross assets, a different and capped mechanism that does not apply to the ordinary 2.5% commission.
A double-dipping bar, and a shared commission for co-representatives
Article 3351.1 stops a succession representative from collecting the full 2.5% on top of separate pay in another role connected to the same estate. If the same person also serves as the succession’s attorney, or as an officer or managing partner of a majority-decedent-owned entity, the representative’s compensation is reduced by whatever they are paid in that other capacity, unless heirs and legatees owning a two-thirds interest waive the reduction in writing. When more than one representative is appointed, the 2.5% is not simply split evenly; art. 3352 has the court apportion it among them as the court directs.
What to check before assuming the flat rate applies
Before treating 2.5% of the inventory as the answer, confirm the testament is actually silent on compensation and that no agreement exists between the representative and the surviving spouse and all competent heirs or legatees, since either one displaces the default rate. Confirm whether the inventory figure being used is the gross sworn descriptive list, since the 2.5% runs on that gross amount rather than a net-of-debts figure. If the representative is also the succession’s attorney or an officer of a majority-decedent-owned entity, check whether art. 3351.1’s offset applies before finalizing the commission, and if there is more than one representative, get the court’s apportionment under art. 3352 rather than assuming an even split.
What the whole process costs in this state: Louisiana 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 Louisiana requires the executor to post a bond.