Executor Fee in Tennessee: The Statute Speaks to the Clerk’s Accounting, Not a Direct Grant to the Executor

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-606 does not grant the executor a fee directly. It instructs the clerk, in settling the accounting, to charge the accounting party with money received or collectible through due diligence, and to credit that party with reasonable compensation for services and with disbursements backed by lawful vouchers. The reasonable-compensation determination happens inside that clerk-run settlement and accounting process, under the court’s oversight.

The statute, and what it does not do

Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-2-606 sets no percentage and no schedule. It is not phrased as a direct grant of a fee to an executor. Instead it describes what the clerk does when settling an account: charge the accounting party with all money received, or that could have been received through due and reasonable diligence, and credit that party with reasonable compensation for services and with disbursements supported by lawful vouchers. There is no enumerated list of factors in the statute; the reasonable-compensation credit is left to the clerk’s accounting discretion, subject to court oversight.

The accounting party framing, and what does not apply

The statute’s language covers any accounting party, a term that reaches executors, administrators, guardians, and other fiduciaries who owe the court a settlement, rather than naming the executor specifically. That framing places the fee determination inside the settlement and accounting process handled by the court clerk, subject to the court, rather than as a standalone fee petition. A companion statute, Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-1-407, separately sets compensation for public administrators and guardians, a different role covered by different language and not part of this page’s answer.

What that means in practice

Keep lawful vouchers for every disbursement, since the statute credits the accounting party only for disbursements that are supported by vouchers. Expect the reasonable-compensation figure to surface as a line in the clerk’s settlement of the account rather than as a separately litigated percentage claim. And do not reach for the public administrator statute, Tenn. Code Ann. § 30-1-407, when pricing an executor’s fee; it governs a different role.

What the whole process costs in this state: Tennessee 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.