Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: The District of Columbia has no percentage fee for probate attorneys. D.C. Code §20-751 entitles the personal representative to reasonable compensation, and §20-753 applies the same reasonable-compensation review to the attorney, tested against a five-factor standard the court applies only if someone objects.
D.C. Code 20-751 and 20-753: reasonable compensation, reviewed on five factors
D.C. Code §20-751 provides that a personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for services, and the subchapter it sits in is titled Claims by Personal Representatives and Attorneys, folding both roles into the same standard; Superior Court Probate Division Rule 124 requires a joint Request for Compensation from both the PR and the attorney under §20-751. Section 20-753 supplies the actual test: the court may review the reasonableness of the need for or scope of employment of any attorney, and shall consider the reasonable relationship of compensation to the work performed, any estimate provided in advance, the reasonableness of time spent and hourly rate, the nature and complexity of the matter and results achieved, and whether relevant time limitations were met.
No court approval up front, unless someone objects
Superior Court Probate Division Rule 424 lets reasonable compensation be paid to personal representatives and attorneys without prior court approval; the need for the employment and the reasonableness of the compensation is reviewed only on petition of an interested person who did not consent after fair disclosure. The PR and attorney jointly file a verified Request for Compensation disclosing hours, rate, and what percentage of the estate’s assets the fee represents, interested persons get notice and 20 days to object, and if nobody objects and the combined fee falls in a customary range the Register of Wills may approve it on the papers.
DC’s genuine trap: a real percentage schedule exists, but for a different proceeding
DC does have an actual percentage-based fee: Superior Court Probate Division Rule 225(a) sets guardian or conservator compensation at up to 5% of amounts disbursed, for a living, incapacitated ward’s estate under Title 21. That is not a decedent’s-estate rule and does not apply to executors or their attorneys, but the resemblance makes it a genuine, DC-specific source of confusion for anyone comparing probate fee structures across jurisdictions. Separately, the Register of Wills’ own filing-fee schedule under Rule 125(a)(1) is a court cost, not attorney or executor compensation, and should not be presented as either.
The rest of the arithmetic: District of Columbia 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 District of Columbia probate filing fee.