Guides for real money decisions

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Massachusetts sets no statutory percentage for executor compensation. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 190B, § 3-719 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for services, and that is all the section itself says; no factors are listed in the statute. What counts as reasonable in a given estate is left […]

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Maine entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for services under 18-C M.R.S. §3-719 (compensation); §3-721 (review factors). There is no statutory percentage and no upfront court approval step. The personal representative initially sets its own fee, and the probate court reviews that fee only reactively, on petition of […]

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Louisiana executor compensation defaults to a flat 2.5% of the amount of the inventory under La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 3351, applied whenever the testament is silent on the point and the administrator or executor has not agreed on a different fee with the surviving spouse and all competent […]

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: K.S.A. 59-1717 entitles a fiduciary to compensation for services, and for those of his or her attorneys, that is just and reasonable, with no statutory factors defining the term. The more distinctive rule sits in a companion statute, K.S.A. 59-1504: a will’s compensation provision controls as the executor’s full […]

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Indiana Code § 29-1-10-13 lets a will set the personal representative’s compensation, and if it does, that provision is the full fee unless the representative files a written renunciation before qualifying. Absent a will provision, or after a valid renunciation, the probate court allows whatever compensation it deems just […]

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: 755 ILCS 5/27-1 entitles a representative to reasonable compensation for services, with no statutory factor list, the Probate Act leaves the term undefined and committed to the probate court’s discretion. What is distinctive is priority: a fee allowed under Section 27-1 is classified as a first-class claim for administrative […]

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Idaho Code § 15-3-719 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for services, with no percentage, schedule, or factor list in the text. The provision was enacted in 1971 as part of Idaho’s early adoption of the Uniform Probate Code and has not been amended since, it remains word-for-word […]

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Hawaii’s Uniform Probate Code provision, Haw. Rev. Stat. § 560:3-719, entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation and lets them determine that compensation themselves in the first instance, paying it without pre-approval. The probate court reviews reasonableness under the companion statute, HRS §560:3-721, but only after notice to interested […]

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: The District of Columbia entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation under D.C. Code § 20-751, and the statute itself lists no enumerated factors. Reasonableness is reviewed by the Superior Court, Probate Division, but only upon request of an interested person, it is not automatic. An older guideline, Probate […]

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Delaware’s compensation statute does not set its own standard. 12 Del. C. § 2305 instead delegates the standard to Court of Chancery Rule 192, and conditions any commission on two gating requirements: timely filing of the required account and compliance with Title 30, Chapter 13 tax-filing requirements. Miss either […]

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Connecticut sets no statutory percentage for an executor’s fee. Compensation is governed by Probate Court Rules of Procedure, Rule 39, which requires the Probate Court to determine whether the fee is reasonable, whether or not anyone objects. The court applies a nine-factor test traced to Hayward v. Plant (1923), […]

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Colorado sets no percentage or schedule for executors specifically anymore. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-10-602 (current); former § 15-12-719 repealed 2011 reflects the current governing provision, which entitles a fiduciary and his or her lawyer to reasonable compensation for services rendered on behalf of an estate. The former personal-representative-specific […]