Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: Florida’s personal-representative fee (Fla. Stat. §733.617) is presumed reasonable at 3% of the first $1,000,000 of compensable value, 2.5% from $1M–$5M, 2% from $5M–$10M, and 1.5% above — so $30,000 on a $1M estate. “Presumed” is the operative word: the will can set different […]
Executor Fee in Florida: The Presumed 733.617 Schedule Read More »
Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: New York executor commissions (SCPA 2307) are 5% of the first $100,000, 4% of the next $200,000, 3% of the next $700,000, 2.5% of the next $4,000,000, and 2% above $5,000,000 — computed on sums the executor receives and pays out, technically half for
Executor Fee in New York: SCPA 2307 Commissions, and the Co-Executor Trap Read More »
Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: the Texas “5% executor fee” is not 5% of the estate. Estates Code §352.002 pays 5% of cash the executor actually receives plus 5% of cash actually paid out — and expressly excludes the three biggest cash events in most estates: money already sitting
Executor Fee in Texas: 5% of Cash Moved – Not 5% of the Estate Read More »
Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: California executor compensation is set by Probate Code §10800: 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, 2% of the next $800,000, 1% of the next $9,000,000, 0.5% of the next $15,000,000, with the court setting a reasonable amount above $25M. A
Executor Fee in California: The Section 10800 Schedule, and Its Real Base Read More »
Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: in most states there is no percentage — the statute says only that executor compensation must be “reasonable,” and the probate judge decides what that means. The factors courts actually weigh: the estate’s size and complexity, hours documented, the skill the work demanded, results
Executor Fees in Reasonable-Compensation States: How Courts Decide Read More »
Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: if you are the sole heir, waive it — the fee is taxable income while the same dollars as inheritance are tax-free, so charging the estate just hands part of your own money to the IRS. If there are multiple heirs, the math flips:
Should an Executor Waive the Fee When They’re Also an Heir? Read More »
Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: yes — an executor fee is taxable ordinary income to you in the year received. The inheritance you take as an heir is not taxable income. That asymmetry — from IRS Publication 559 — is the single most important fact in deciding whether to
Is an Executor Fee Taxable? Yes – and Your Inheritance Isn’t Read More »
Guides › Settling an Estate Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: eight states set executor pay by statute — California, New York, Texas, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Nevada and Wyoming — and in those states the fee is computable to the dollar: a $1,000,000 estate pays the executor $23,000 in California (Prob. Code §10800) and $34,000
Executor Fee Calculator: The 8 Statutory States, Computed Exactly Read More »
Guides › Long-Term Care Planning Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: self-funding care is a withdrawal-order problem. A care year is usually a year of enormous deductible medical expenses, which can absorb the tax on money coming out of IRAs and 401(k)s — so the standard “taxable first” habit is often exactly backwards once care
Paying for Long-Term Care Without Insurance: The Self-Funder’s Playbook Read More »
Guides › Long-Term Care Planning Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: hybrids (life insurance or an annuity with a long-term-care rider) fix the two things people hate about traditional policies — premiums that can be raised on the whole class later, and decades of payments that vanish if care is never needed. In exchange you
Hybrid vs Traditional Long-Term Care Insurance: The Structural Trade Read More »
