Executor Fee in Michigan (2026)

Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: Michigan sets no percentage schedule — compensation for the personal representative and attorneys is simply reasonable under EPIC. But Michigan does something most states do not: it charges the estate a value-scaled probate inventory fee, a court charge that rises with the estate and has nothing to do with anyone’s compensation.

Compensation: reasonable, with no schedule

MCL 700.3719 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation, and Michigan’s Estates and Protected Individuals Code prescribes no percentage for either the representative or the attorney.

The inventory fee, which is a different animal

MCL 600.871 imposes a probate court inventory fee computed on the value of the estate’s inventory. It is a court charge, not compensation, and it is easy to mistake for a “probate percentage” because it does scale with value. Budget it separately from the executor’s fee and from the attorney’s bill — three distinct charges against one estate.

What decides a reasonable fee here

With no schedule to point at, the record does the work: time spent, the complexity of the assets, whether a business or out-of-state real property was involved, and whether anything was contested. The general standard is on how reasonable gets decided.

What the whole process costs in this state: Michigan probate cost. Every state’s fee model side by side: probate cost by state. The separate proceeding for someone still living who can no longer manage their own affairs is priced differently again: what guardianship costs in Michigan.

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.