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 in New York (SCPA 2307). Everywhere else the standard is “reasonable compensation,” decided by the court on factors, not a formula. Pick your state below.
The calculator
The three things the generic “X% of the estate” articles get wrong
The base is usually not the whole estate. California’s schedule runs on the PROBATE estate only — a $900,000 house in joint tenancy and a $500,000 401(k) with a named beneficiary contribute nothing to the fee. Texas is stricter still: the 5% commission applies to cash the executor actually moves, expressly excluding money already sitting in bank or brokerage accounts at death, life-insurance proceeds, and cash distributed to heirs (Tex. Est. Code §352.002). On a modern estate held mostly in accounts with beneficiary designations, the statutory fee can be a fraction of what “5% of the estate” suggests.
Ceiling, floor, or presumption — the same-looking schedule means three different things. Iowa’s is a maximum courts can cut. Missouri’s is a minimum courts can raise. Florida’s is only presumed reasonable, and the will can override it.
The fee is taxable income; the inheritance is not. Before invoicing the estate, read is an executor fee taxable and — if you are also an heir — whether to waive the fee, where taking the fee is often a mistake.
State detail: California · New York · Texas · Florida · everyone else: the reasonable-compensation states. What the whole probate costs: probate cost by state.
Settling the estate is step one. The distribution is step two.
Executors usually end the process holding or receiving a six-figure distribution — and the fee-vs-inheritance tax decision above is just the first of several. The matching service below introduces you to advisers who pay to meet you.
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The number that surprises people who bought a long time ago
Downsizing is the one home sale where the gain is usually large and the exclusion usually still covers it. A couple who bought in 1994 for $180,000 and sell at $760,000 with $46,000 of selling costs have a realized gain of about $534,000 before improvements. That is above the $500,000 joint cap — but decades of capital improvements are exactly what brings it back under, and most sellers have never added them up.
Improvements are the lever, and the records are the constraint
A new roof, an addition, a replaced HVAC system, new windows, a finished basement: these add to basis. Repainting and repairs do not. Thirty years of improvements on a family home routinely total six figures, and every dollar of it reduces the gain dollar for dollar. The practical problem is documentary, not legal — the seller who kept receipts pays less than the identical seller who did not.
Why downsizers should check the net investment income tax separately
A retiree with modest ordinary income can still be pushed over the 3.8 percent NIIT threshold by the sale itself, because taxable gain is net investment income. The thresholds are $250,000 on a joint return and $200,000 otherwise, written into Section 1411(b) as fixed figures with no indexing. A sale that produces $120,000 of taxable gain on top of $180,000 of other income crosses the joint threshold and picks up 3.8 percent on the part above it.
The move itself may change the tax
Downsizing usually means moving, and sometimes across a state line. Some states tax the gain the federal exclusion just removed. If the sale and the move are in the same year, the order of the two matters, and it is worth checking the destination state before signing.
Related
Methodology
- Exclusion caps, the 2-of-5 test, the nonqualified-use allocation, the reduced-exclusion fraction and the depreciation carve-out are taken from the text of 26 U.S.C. 121. The 3.8 percent rate and its thresholds are from 26 U.S.C. 1411. Both were read on 2026-07-30.
- Section 121 caps and Section 1411 thresholds are written in the statute as fixed dollar amounts with no indexing mechanism, so they are built in. Long-term capital gain brackets ARE indexed annually, so your rate is an input rather than a lookup.
- Figures were computed by two independently written engines that agree to the cent, and the calculator on this page reproduces both exactly.
- Federal only. State treatment varies and some states do not follow the federal exclusion.
Educational estimate, not tax advice, and not a filed return. Federal only. Confirm anything that changes a filing decision with a CPA or tax attorney.
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Distributing a house one heir wants to keep? While the estate is open, a non-pro-rata distribution can move it to that heir with no sale and no capital gain — if the executor has the authority. Check before deeding co-ownership.