Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Rhode Island sets no percentage for either the executor or the lawyer. R.I. Gen. Laws §33-14-8 lets the probate court award the personal representative whatever compensation it considers just, and attorney fees for routine administration are reviewed the same way.
R.I. Gen. Laws section 33-14-8: such compensation as the probate court shall consider just
Title 33’s only compensation statute for a Rhode Island executor or administrator sets no percentage, floor, or ceiling; it simply directs the probate court to allow whatever compensation it shall consider just when the accounts are filed. There is no parallel statute in Title 33 that separately schedules the attorney’s fee by percentage.
How it works in practice: approval at accounting, not at filing
Because neither the personal representative’s compensation nor the attorney’s fee is fixed by formula, Rhode Island probate courts decide both when the fiduciary’s account is presented for allowance, applying the same just standard rather than a published rate.
Contested cases flip the rule entirely
R.I. Gen. Laws §33-22-26 lets a probate court award costs and reasonable attorney’s fees against the losing party in a contested or appealed probate proceeding, to be paid by that party or out of the contested estate. In a litigated Rhode Island estate, who ultimately pays the lawyer can shift onto the losing side rather than being drawn from the estate as a routine administration expense.
The rest of the arithmetic: Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island probate filing fee.