Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Maine entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for services under 18-C M.R.S. §3-719 (compensation); §3-721 (review factors). There is no statutory percentage and no upfront court approval step. The personal representative initially sets its own fee, and the probate court reviews that fee only reactively, on petition of an interested person or an appropriate motion in a supervised administration, applying the review factors in §3-721.
The statute, and what it does not do
§3-719 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for their services. It sets no percentage and no schedule, and it does not itself list the factors used to measure reasonableness; that review test lives in the companion section, §3-721.
Who actually decides, and when
Maine does not require a court to approve the personal representative’s fee before it is taken. The personal representative initially self-determines their own reasonable fee, and the probate court steps in only reactively, on petition of an interested person or, in a supervised administration, on an appropriate motion, under §3-721. That section weighs the time and labor required, the novelty and difficulty of the questions involved and the skill required to perform the service properly, the fee customarily charged locally for similar services, the amount involved and the results obtained, and the experience, reputation and ability of the person performing the services, and it is described as a six-factor test that lets the court claw back excessive compensation after the fact. If the decedent’s will sets compensation, that provision governs unless the personal representative formally renounces it before qualifying, in which case reasonable compensation under §3-719 applies instead; a personal representative may also renounce all or part of their compensation by written filing.
What that means in practice
Because there is no upfront judicial fee-setting step, a Maine personal representative should be prepared to justify the fee they set for themselves against the §3-721 factors if an interested person later petitions the court, rather than assuming self-determination is the end of the matter. Keep records of time, difficulty, and results as the administration proceeds, since those are exactly what a reactive §3-721 review will test. If a will sets compensation and the personal representative would rather take reasonable compensation instead, the renunciation has to happen before qualifying, not after.
What the whole process costs in this state: Maine 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 Maine requires the executor to post a bond.