Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Arizona sets no percentage or schedule. Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 14-3719 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for his services in a single short paragraph, with no enumerated factors for the court to weigh. If a will sets the personal representative’s compensation and there is no separate contract with the decedent about it, the personal representative may renounce the will’s clause before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead, and may renounce all or part of their compensation by filing a written renunciation with the court.
The statute, and what it does not do
Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 14-3719 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for his services. That is the entire operative standard, a single short paragraph with no percentage, no schedule, and no enumerated factors for the court to apply.
Who actually decides, and the renunciation option
The court decides what is reasonable, without a statutory list of factors to guide it, since the section itself does not provide one. Where a will sets the personal representative’s compensation and there is no separate contract with the decedent covering it, the personal representative can renounce that will provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation under § 14-3719 instead. A personal representative can also renounce all or part of their compensation entirely, by filing a written renunciation with the court.
What that means in practice
Because the statute gives the court no enumerated factors, an Arizona personal representative and their attorney have more room to argue what counts as reasonable than in states with a published factor list. If a will’s compensation clause looks worse than the statutory reasonable-compensation standard, and there is no contract with the decedent locking it in, renouncing the will’s clause before qualifying is the way to fall back on § 14-3719 instead.
What the whole process costs in this state: Arizona 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 Arizona requires the executor to post a bond.