Probate Attorney Fees in North Dakota (2026)

Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: North Dakota sets no percentage for either the executor or the attorney. Both are paid reasonable compensation under N.D.C.C. §30.1-18-19, and any interested person can ask the court to test that reasonableness under §30.1-18-21.

N.D.C.C. section 30.1-18-19: no percentage anywhere

North Dakota’s Uniform Probate Code provision on personal representative compensation says only that the representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for services rendered, with no tiered schedule or dollar-based percentage. A representative named in a will at a stated rate can even renounce that provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead.

How North Dakota actually tests an attorney’s fee

Section 30.1-18-21 lets the court, on its own motion or on request of any interested party, review the reasonableness of compensation the personal representative sets for their own work, including work performed as the estate’s attorney, as well as fees paid to any attorney or other agent the representative employs. If the court finds the amount excessive, it can order the money returned to the estate.

Both roles compete for the same reasonableness pool

Because North Dakota never installed a percentage safe harbor for either the executor or the attorney, every dollar of professional fees on a North Dakota estate is, in principle, litigable on reasonableness grounds alone. In practice this pushes rural county courts toward local hourly-rate norms rather than any published benchmark.

The rest of the arithmetic: North Dakota 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.