Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Nebraska entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for services under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 30-2480 (reasonableness factors at § 30-2482). Reasonableness is measured by four factors: the time and labor required, the novelty and difficulty of the questions involved and the skill required to perform the service properly, the fee customarily charged locally for similar services, and the amount involved and the results obtained, together with the experience, reputation and ability of the person performing the services. The county court applies that standard, per In re Estate of Gsantner, 288 Neb. 222, 846 N.W.2d 646 (2014).
The statute, and the factors it points to
§ 30-2480 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for their services, with no percentage or schedule attached. The factors used to test that reasonableness are the time and labor required, the novelty and difficulty of the questions involved, and the skill requisite to perform the service properly; the fee customarily charged in the locality for similar services; the amount involved and the results obtained; and the experience, reputation, and ability of the person performing the services. The county court applies that standard, as annotated on the official statute page in In re Estate of Gsantner, 288 Neb. 222, 846 N.W.2d 646 (2014).
A cross-reference that does most of the work: § 30-2482
A companion section, § 30-2482, is nominally about reviewing the compensation a personal representative sets for any employed agent, attorney, auditor, or investment advisor, using a seven-factor test, and it independently empowers the court to order a refund of excessive compensation. Gsantner holds that a personal representative’s right to reasonable compensation exists independently of the estate’s own rights, and that § 30-2482’s factors provide an indication of the legislature’s intent for a reasonable personal representative fee, even though § 30-2482 is nominally directed at agent and employee compensation review rather than the personal representative’s own fee.
What that means in practice
A Nebraska personal representative should be ready to justify their fee against both the four factors named directly in § 30-2480 and the broader seven-factor review the county court can draw on under § 30-2482, since Gsantner treats the two sections as connected rather than separate. Document time and labor, difficulty, and results as the administration proceeds, since those are exactly the terms a county court applying Gsantner will use to test the fee.
What the whole process costs in this state: Nebraska 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 Nebraska requires the executor to post a bond.