Updated September 17, 2026. Quick answer: New Mexico sets no percentage or schedule today. NMSA 1978 § 45-3-719 entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for his services, the bare Uniform Probate Code standard, with no enumerated factors in the text itself. The section was repealed and reenacted by Laws 1995, ch. 210, § 38, effective July 1, 1995, more than 30 years ago, replacing an older, percentage-driven predecessor; every case in the official annotations that computes a specific dollar allowance is expressly flagged as decided under that former law, not the current text. A companion section, § 45-3-721, lets the court review the reasonableness of a personal representative’s self-determined fee after notice or on petition of an interested person, and order a refund of any excessive amount.
The statute, and what it does not do
NMSA 1978 § 45-3-719 states, in full: “A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for his services. If a will provides for compensation of the personal representative and there is no contract with the decedent regarding compensation, he may renounce the provision before qualifying and be entitled to reasonable compensation. A personal representative also may renounce his right to all or any part of the compensation. A written renunciation of the fee may be filed with the court.” No percentage, schedule, or enumerated factor list appears anywhere in the section, the bare Uniform Probate Code formulation.
The 1995 reenactment, and why its own case-law annotations do not apply to it
The current text is not New Mexico’s original executor-compensation law. Section 45-3-719 was repealed and reenacted by Laws 1995, ch. 210, § 38, effective July 1, 1995; its lineage runs through former 32A-3-719 (1953 Comp., enacted by Laws 1976 (S.S.), ch. 37, § 10) back to former 31-10-1 (1953 Comp.). What is distinctive is that every reported case in the official annotations to the current section, one computing a specific dollar allowance, one describing a reduced rate of compensation for cash-equivalent assets like U.S. Treasury notes, one reading a former introductory unless-otherwise-ordered-by-the-court clause as authority for extra pay on extraordinary services, and one holding that the fee covers defending the final account, is expressly labeled decided under former law in the annotations themselves. None of them construes the bare reasonable-compensation text now in force. A companion section, § 45-3-721, lets the court review, after notice to interested persons or on petition of an interested person, the reasonableness of the compensation a personal representative determined for their own services, and order a refund of any excessive amount.
What that means in practice
Because the modern statute carries no percentage schedule, no enumerated factor list, and no published appellate decision squarely construing its own bare reasonable-compensation language, a New Mexico personal representative has less case-specific guidance to point to than in a state whose current standard has been directly litigated; the older cases in the annotations describe a different, percentage-based statute that reasonable compensation replaced in 1995. Document time, effort, and results the way any reasonable-compensation-state administrator would, and expect a self-determined fee to remain open to review under § 45-3-721 if an interested person petitions after notice, with a refund ordered if the compensation is later found excessive. If a will sets compensation and there is no separate contract with the decedent about it, renouncing that provision before qualifying preserves the statutory reasonable-compensation standard instead, and a personal representative may also renounce all or part of any compensation entirely by a written filing with the court.
| NMSA 1978 § 45-3-719 (compensation) |
| NMSA 1978 § 45-3-721 (review of compensation) |
What the whole process costs in this state: New Mexico 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.