Executor Fee in New York: SCPA 2307 Commissions, and the Co-Executor Trap

Guides › Settling an Estate

Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: New York executor commissions (SCPA 2307) are 5% of the first $100,000, 4% of the next $200,000, 3% of the next $700,000, 2.5% of the next $4,000,000, and 2% above $5,000,000 — computed on sums the executor receives and pays out, technically half for receiving and half for paying. A $1,000,000 estate produces a $34,000 commission — the highest big-state schedule in the country.

Two New York specifics worth money

The base is money that moves, not net worth. Property that passes outside administration — joint accounts, beneficiary designations, trust assets — generates no commission. Specifically devised property (the ring left to a named person) is also excluded: the executor hands it over but does not commission it.

Multiple executors multiply the cost. On estates over $300,000, up to two executors can EACH take a full commission (three or more share two full commissions) — naming co-executors on a $1M estate can turn $34,000 of fees into $68,000. Parents naming “all my children equally” as co-executors are usually buying family harmony at 3.4% of the estate.

Trustee commissions are a different statute — and they are annual

If you came here looking for New York trustee commissions, this is the wrong section of the law. SCPA 2307 sets what an executor or administrator is paid. A trustee of a continuing trust is paid under SCPA 2309, headed “Commissions of trustees, of donees of powers during minority and of donees of powers in trust under wills of persons dying, or lifetime trusts established, after August 31, 1956.”

🔴 The difference is not the percentage. It is the frequency. An executor’s commission is essentially a one-time event — receiving and paying out the estate. A trustee under SCPA 2309 is entitled to annual commissions, every year, for as long as the trust runs, in addition to a commission “for paying out all sums of money constituting principal… at the rate of 1 per cent.”

The annual rates in the statute:

• $10.50 per $1,000 or major fraction on the first $400,000 of principal
• $4.50 per $1,000 on the next $600,000
• $3.00 per $1,000 on all additional principal

Two details that decide real numbers. The annual commission is computed on principal value either at the end of the period or, at the trustee’s option, at the beginning — and the option chosen for the first period is binding for the continuance of the trust and on any successor trustee. And the August 31, 1956 boundary in the section heading is real: trusts established before that date are not governed by these rates.

Where a bank or trust company is serving, its published fee schedule — not the statute — is usually what actually gets charged: what banks and trust companies charge as executor or trustee.

Honest gap: the SCPA 2309 text above was read from a commercial code mirror stating “current as of January 1, 2026”, because the legislature’s own renderer returned an empty script shell on every attempt. The rates are quoted as published there. We have not published a verified standalone page on New York trustee commissions, and a trustee negotiating real money should confirm the current text before relying on it.