Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Maine sets no percentage fee for the personal representative or the attorney. Section 3-719 of the probate code says only that the personal representative gets reasonable compensation, and section 3-721 lets any interested person ask a court to test the reasonableness of an attorney’s compensation using a six-factor test, the closest thing Maine has to a real standard.
Section 3-719: reasonable compensation, no dollar figure or percentage attached
Title 18-C, section 3-719 states that a personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for the personal representative’s services, allows a personal representative to renounce a will’s compensation provision before qualifying, and lets a personal representative renounce all or part of the compensation by written filing with the court. No percentage or dollar formula appears anywhere in the section, and it does not mention attorneys.
Section 3-721’s six factors are the real test for the attorney’s fee
Section 3-721 lets the court, after notice to interested persons, review the propriety of employing any person, including any attorney, auditor, investment advisor, or other specialized agent, and the reasonableness of that person’s compensation. The statute lists six factors: the time, labor, novelty, difficulty, and skill required; whether accepting the engagement precluded other work; the customary fee for similar services in the locality; the amount involved and results obtained; time limitations imposed by the circumstances; and the experience, reputation, and ability of the person performing the services, and the court can order a refund of any compensation found excessive.
Maine’s good-faith litigation rule is a separate pot of money
Section 3-720 provides that if any personal representative or person nominated as personal representative defends or prosecutes any proceeding in good faith, whether successful or not, that person is entitled to receive from the estate necessary expenses and disbursements including reasonable attorney’s fees incurred. That reimbursement sits on top of, not instead of, the ordinary administration fee reviewed under sections 3-719 and 3-721, and can cover a nominee who never actually qualified as personal representative.
The rest of the arithmetic: Maine probate cost.
How the fee models compare across all 51 jurisdictions: probate cost by state, and the national picture on what a probate attorney costs.
Statutory text read at each state’s own legislature or official code publisher. General information, not legal advice; fee statutes change and a court retains the final say on what is reasonable.
The attorney fee above is separate from what the court itself charges just to open the case, see the Maine probate filing fee.