Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Minnesota entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for services under Minn. Stat. § 524.3-719. Unlike most states that adopted the Uniform Probate Code’s bare reasonable-compensation language and left it undefined, Minnesota’s subsection (b) writes three factors directly into the statute: the time and labor required, the complexity and novelty of the problems involved, and the extent of the responsibilities assumed and the results obtained. The court applies that test.
The statute, and what it does not do
§ 524.3-719 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for services. It sets no percentage and no schedule, but it does not stop at the bare reasonable-compensation language either; subsection (b), added by 1986 c 444, spells out the three factors the court weighs.
Who actually decides, and the factors that are unusually explicit
The court decides what reasonable compensation means in a given estate, applying the three factors written directly into subsection (b): the time and labor required, the complexity and novelty of problems involved, and the extent of the responsibilities assumed and the results obtained. Most states that adopted the Uniform Probate Code’s version of this section leave reasonable undefined by statute; Minnesota is an exception in codifying an explicit test in the compensation statute itself. A personal representative may renounce a will’s compensation clause before qualifying and take statutory reasonable compensation instead, or renounce compensation entirely by a written filing with the court.
What that means in practice
Because Minnesota’s three factors are written into the statute rather than left to case law, a personal representative building a record to support their fee should document time and labor, the complexity or novelty of what the administration actually involved, and the responsibilities assumed and results obtained, since those are the exact terms the court will apply. If a will’s compensation provision looks unfavorable, renouncing it before qualifying preserves the option to take statutory reasonable compensation instead.
What the whole process costs in this state: Minnesota 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 Minnesota requires the executor to post a bond.