Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Arkansas is a genuine exception: Ark. Code Ann. §28-48-108(d) sets a default percentage fee schedule for the estate’s attorney, separate from the personal representative’s own commission schedule in subsection (a) of the same statute. Both schedules can be overridden, the PR’s by contract and the attorney’s by court adjustment if it is excessive or insufficient, so this is a presumptive default rather than an unbendable mandate.
Arkansas puts both fee schedules in one statute
Ark. Code Ann. §28-48-108, Compensation of personal representative, employment of attorneys, contains two separate percentage schedules stacked in the same section. Subsection (a) sets the personal representative’s own compensation at 10% of the first $1,000, 5% of the next $4,000, and 3% of the balance of personal property fully administered. Subsection (d)(2) then sets a different, more granular schedule for the estate’s attorney: 5% of the first $5,000, 4% of the next $20,000, 3% of the next $75,000, 2.75% of the next $300,000, 2.5% of the next $600,000, and 2% of everything after that, calculated on the total market value of real and personal property reportable to the circuit court.
The schedule is a default, not an unbendable mandate
The attorney fee schedule applies unless otherwise contracted with the personal representative, heirs, and beneficiaries, so the parties can agree to a different arrangement from the outset. Under subsection (f)(1), the personal representative may fix both fees without prior court approval, but the reasonableness of any compensation is subject to review by the court. Subsection (d)(3) gives the court an explicit override: if the statutory schedule produces a fee the court finds excessive or insufficient, the court must instead allow a fee commensurate with the value of the legal services actually rendered, and (f)(2) lets the court order refunds of any compensation later found excessive.
A practical trap this creates for Arkansas estates
Because the attorney fee schedule is presumptive rather than fixed, and buried in the same code section as the personal representative’s commission, an Arkansas attorney who simply invoices the sliding-scale percentage without documenting hours and the value of services rendered is exposed if an heir petitions for review: subsection (d)(3) puts the burden on demonstrating the fee is commensurate with the actual legal work, not just arithmetically correct under the table.
The rest of the arithmetic: Arkansas probate cost.
How the fee models compare across all 51 jurisdictions: probate cost by state, and the national picture on what a probate attorney costs.
Statutory text read at each state’s own legislature or official code publisher. General information, not legal advice; fee statutes change and a court retains the final say on what is reasonable.
The attorney fee above is separate from what the court itself charges just to open the case, see the Arkansas probate filing fee.