Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Alabama uses a reasonable-compensation standard with a hard percentage ceiling layered on top. Ala. Code § 43-2-848 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation as appears fair to the probate court, considering factors like the novelty and difficulty of the administration, the skill required, the customary local fee, the results obtained, and the personal representative’s experience and risk, but the reasonable fee cannot exceed 2.5% of the value of all property received and under the personal representative’s possession and control, plus a separate 2.5% of all disbursements. Because those are two separate 2.5% streams, a personal representative who both receives and disburses the same assets can reach close to 5% total, and subsection (b) allows additional reasonable compensation for extraordinary services on top of that cap.
The statute, and its unusual ceiling
Ala. Code § 43-2-848 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for services as may appear to the court to be fair, considering factors including the novelty and difficulty of the administrative process, the skill requisite to perform the service, the fee customarily charged in the locality for similar services, the amount involved and results obtained, and the experience, reputation, diligence, and ability of the person performing the services, along with the liability, financial or otherwise, of the personal representative, or the risk and responsibility involved. Unlike a pure reasonable-compensation statute, this fee is capped: it shall not exceed two and one-half percent of the value of all property received and under the possession and control of the personal representative, plus a separate two and one-half percent of all disbursements.
Who actually decides, and the two-part ceiling most summaries miss
Alabama’s probate court decides, applying the reasonable-compensation factors within the statutory ceiling; the section is codified in the Probate Procedure Act, Title 43, Chapter 2, Article 20. The ceiling itself is easy to understate: it is not a single 2.5% figure, it is 2.5% of property received and controlled by the personal representative plus a separate 2.5% of all disbursements, so a personal representative who both receives and disburses the same assets can approach roughly 5% total. Subsection (b) allows additional reasonable compensation for extraordinary services on top of that combined cap. Subsections (c) and (d) let the will, or a written agreement among the decedent and all affected beneficiaries, fix a different, binding compensation method instead, as long as it is not unconscionable.
What that means in practice
A personal representative estimating an Alabama fee should calculate both halves of the ceiling separately, 2.5% of what passes through their possession and control and 2.5% of what they actually disburse, rather than assuming a flat 2.5% limit. If the will or a written agreement among the decedent and all affected beneficiaries sets a different compensation method, that method controls instead of the statutory ceiling, provided it is not unconscionable. Extraordinary services beyond routine administration can support an additional fee under subsection (b), on top of the base ceiling.
What the whole process costs in this state: Alabama probate cost. Every state’s fee model side by side: probate cost by state.
Work out the number: the executor fee calculator. How the standard is applied where no schedule exists: reasonable-compensation states. Whether to take the fee at all: when the executor is also an heir, and how the fee is taxed.
Statutory text read at each state’s own legislature or official code publisher. General information, not legal advice; a court retains the final say on what compensation is allowed.
Related: whether Alabama requires the executor to post a bond.