Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Nebraska’s probate code sets no percentage fee schedule for the attorney or the personal representative. Fees are fixed on a reasonable-compensation standard reviewed by the county court, and Nebraska case law puts the burden on whoever challenges a fee to show it was excessive.
No percentage anywhere in the Nebraska Probate Code
Nebraska’s Uniform Probate Code based statute does not set a percentage fee for the personal representative or the attorney. The clearest statutory hook, Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-2481, provides that a personal representative who defends or prosecutes any proceeding in good faith, whether successful or not, is entitled to receive from the estate necessary expenses and disbursements including reasonable attorneys’ fees incurred, a reasonableness standard, not a formula.
County court discretion and who carries the burden
Fixing what counts as reasonable compensation is left to the sound discretion of the county court handling the estate. Nebraska case law interpreting 30-2481 places the burden on whoever is challenging a fee award to show the compensation was excessive, rather than requiring the attorney to affirmatively justify every dollar up front.
Ordinary administration is even less anchored than litigation fees
Because the clearest statutory language is framed around defending or prosecuting a proceeding rather than routine estate administration, Nebraska’s probate code leaves the ordinary, non-litigation attorney fee less anchored in specific statutory text than in many other reasonable-compensation states. Families should expect the fee to be tested against the county court’s general reasonableness review at the final accounting rather than measured against any published statutory number.
The rest of the arithmetic: Nebraska 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 Nebraska probate filing fee.