What is an executor paid?

Every state answers differently — a fixed schedule, a presumption, or just “reasonable.” Pick your state, type the numbers, and see the math with the statute behind it.

Which state?

Estate accounted forInventory (appraisal) value of the probate assets, plus money received during administration, plus gains on sales, minus losses on sales. Gross values — don't subtract mortgages.

How each state works

California fixes the fee by statute (Prob. Code §10800): 4% of the first $100,000 of the estate accounted for, then 3%, 2%, 1%, and 0.5% as the estate grows. The estate’s attorney earns a separate fee on the same schedule. The court can’t change the ordinary fee — but it decides when it’s paid, and extra work (selling the house, lawsuits, tax trouble) can earn more, in an amount the court sets.

New York (SCPA §2307) pays half the schedule on what you take in and half on what you pay out — 5% of the first $100,000 down to 2% above $5,000,000 — plus 5% of any rents you collect. Specific bequests and real estate that passes directly don’t count. With co-executors, how many full commissions exist depends on the estate’s size.

New Jersey (N.J.S.A. 3B:18-13, -14) separates the two jobs: 6% of the income the estate earns, plus corpus commissions of 5% on the first $200,000 of principal, 3.5% to $1,000,000, and 2% above. Each additional co-fiduciary adds 1% to the pot, shared.

Florida (Fla. Stat. §733.617) calls 3% of the first $1,000,000 of the probate inventory plus income “presumed reasonable,” sliding to 1.5% at the top. The court can still raise or lower it for how the work actually went.

Texas (Est. Code ch. 352) pays 5% of cash in and 5% of cash out, capped at 5% of the gross estate — but the biggest pools often earn nothing: money already in the bank at death, life insurance, and everything handed to beneficiaries are all excluded. Many Texas executors find the statutory number surprisingly small; the court can allow reasonable pay instead when it comes out unfair.

Pennsylvania has no schedule at all — the statute promises only “reasonable and just” pay (20 Pa.C.S. §3537). The numbers above come from the Johnson Estate guideline many PA courts use as a benchmark, but judges aren’t bound by it and want fees tied to work actually done.

Everywhere else? The calculator covers all 50 states and DC. Eighteen states have a real fee schedule — from Missouri’s statutory minimum (RSMo 473.153) to ceilings like Maryland’s 9%/3.6% (Est. & Trusts §7-601) and flat defaults like Wisconsin’s 2% — and the calculator computes each one, labeled as the floor, ceiling, or default its statute actually makes it. The other 26 states and DC pay “reasonable compensation,” where no honest calculator can print a number: pick one of those states above and you get the standard itself, statute-cited, with what courts weigh — because a made-up percentage would be worse than none.

The caveats that apply everywhere

If the will sets the executor’s pay, the will usually wins — have the attorney read it.
Executor pay is taxable income to you. If you’re also the main beneficiary, waiving the fee and taking more as inheritance is often smarter — a call to make with the attorney and a tax preparer.
Co-executors share by rules that differ per state; nobody simply gets double.
Courts can trim or deny fees for slow or careless administration.

ExecutorLedger keeps the numbers these formulas feed on — every receipt, payment, and value, recorded as you go, free. When the accounting is due, the document builds itself.