Expenses of the Estate, Part III: D0 I Get Paid To Act As Personal Representative (Executor)?

Minnesota Probate Attorney Explains Compensation for a Personal Representative 

You are nominated as a personal representative to handle someone’s estate. Can you get paid for handling these matters? In a word, yes.

Your fee is dictated by Minnesota probate law. Unfortunately, Minnesota law doesn’t provide much guidance as the probate law simply says, “[a] personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for services.”

What does that mean?

It’s not really clear. The courts have generally stated that they know an unreasonable fee when they see one. But, they have failed to provide guidance on what constitutes a reasonable fee.

A personal representative is always entitled to be reimbursed for any expenses related to the probate. For instance, paying for filing fees, copies of the death certificate, publishing fees, attorney’s fees, accountant fees etc.…

I often suggest to clients that they state the fee they want to get upfront to the rest of the family so there is no argument later.  This can be a flat amount of the estate ($5,000) or an hourly fee and the PR can simply track their time spent working on the probate.

Are fees received for acting as personal representative taxable?  See the next post for the answer.

Work with a Minnesota probate lawyer to ensure that you are getting paid a fair amount for the work you put into handling an estate.