Explaining executor commission and legal fees to a family
5 min read · Updated 7 October 2026
The question "what will this cost?" has two answers in an estate, the executor’s commission and the lawyer’s fee, and families often hear them as one. Separating them, and showing where each number comes from, turns the most uncomfortable conversation in estate work into an ordinary one.
Two fees, two sources
The executor or personal representative is usually entitled to compensation for the work of administering the estate. In some states the statute sets a scale, a percentage that steps down as the estate grows; in others the standard is reasonable compensation, decided by the court if anyone objects. The lawyer’s fee is separate, agreed with the executor, and in some places also measured against a statutory scale or subject to the court’s approval. Which rules apply is your jurisdiction’s question; the family only needs to know there are two fees and that each has a rule behind it.
Show the arithmetic, band by band
Where a scale applies, work it on paper in front of the family: the first band at its rate, the next band at its rate, the total. A scale worked band by band is obviously a rule being applied. A single percentage quoted on its own looks like a number someone chose.
Where the standard is reasonable compensation, show what "reasonable" will be measured against: the time spent, the complexity, the result, and what the court in question has allowed before. Say that the beneficiaries will see the figure before it is paid.
Hourly or percentage: say which, and why
A lawyer’s fee on an estate may be hourly, a percentage, or a fixed amount for a defined piece of work. Each has a case: hourly fits an estate whose difficulty is unknown; a percentage fits a jurisdiction that measures fees that way; a fixed fee fits a simple, predictable administration. Choose for the estate in front of you and put the reason in the engagement letter. A family that knows why the fee is structured as it is rarely disputes the amount.
Keep the record the fee rests on
An hourly fee rests on time records that say what was done and for how long, in words a beneficiary can read. A percentage fee rests on the value it was computed from, with the valuation it came from. A petition for fees, where one is needed, is simply those records arranged for the court. Kept from the first week, they take an hour to assemble; reconstructed, they take a week and look reconstructed.
This guide describes a way of working. It is not legal advice and states no jurisdiction's deadline or rule; the periods and standards that apply to your matter are set by your statute, your court and your bar or law society.