Paying an Executor and Successor Trustee

[TonyDown]

 

Now that you've invested and saved, you may want to set up your estate to avoid probate and assure your legacy goes to the right place, right?

I looked into having a professional fiduciary act as my trustee and executor of my will.  One takeaway is how much $$ they pay themselves seems a lot.  

I'd rather have a family member be responsible and have them receive payment for the effort.

Also the two professional outfits I contacted did not give me much confidence.

So here is my question.

My question is for those that have worked on your estate planning, and not using a professional successor trustee or/and have been named as executor or successor trustee by someone else.

How much does the estate pay those roles, and how does that process work?

I have done some internet searching on this and will do more.  But am hoping to benefit from first hand experience you might share.

 

 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

I don't trust any of my family members.  I do have friends that I trust.  My Trust is set up so that a friend is the executor and another friend is the successor.  There are provisions to pay both of my friends for their duties in administration my Trust.

I wouldn't impose and ask them to do it for free.  Similar to how if I ask a friend to come over and help me move furniture, I will take him out to dinner and drinks afterwards as a thank you.

Edited July 12 by Vegas_Millennial

[+ Charlie]

I have recently dealt with these issues. I was executor of my late spouse's estate; the alternate executor--if I were unwilling or unable to perform--was one of my spouse's brothers. Because I was the sole beneficiary of my spouse's estate as well as executor, I was told by our lawyer that probate was unnecessary, and the settlement has gone smoothly, albeit with a lot of paperwork.

Since my spouse was named executor in my will, I had to make a new will after he died. The same brother-in-law agreed to become the executor of my will, and his daughter is named the alternate if he is unwilling or unable to perform (she is a lawyer and quite competent). Both of them rejected my offer of financial compensation for their duties. There are several beneficiaries named in my new will, none of them related to me by blood, but since I have no family of my own and owe no debts, I don't expect it to be contested by anyone, but I can't be sure that it will avoid probate. 

[mtaabq]

Replying from NM here (as every State is different) … my will was structured so that my PR (personal representative) has the right to charge my Estate $30 an hour for work she does on its behalf. That was suggested by my Attorney and I thought it was a good idea. I asked a close friend to act as PR (and my POA) as she has experience with settling estates. Also, my family knows her and trusts her. We are not talking vast sums of money here but I feel better knowing she’ll get sh*t taken care of appropriately when I die. 

Anyone is free to DM me with questions. 

[+ JamesB]

When a family member takes on the role of executor or trustee, they’re usually paid 0.5% to 1% of the estate or trust each year, or about $30 to $75 per hour. That’s quite a bit less than what professional fiduciaries charge, often 1% to 2%, or $100 to $175 per hour. These fees come out of the estate or trust itself. Executors typically need court approval to get paid, while trustees can pay themselves directly, following the instructions in the will, trust, or state law.

From real-life experiences, one key lesson is clear: spell out fees clearly, keep good records, and communicate openly with other family members to avoid misunderstandings. If you're planning your own estate, it's smart to set clear pay guidelines (like 0.5% or $50/hour), choose a family member who's financially savvy, and consider setting aside money for professional help if needed. It can save everyone stress down the road.

[+ Charlie]

Picking a family member as executor should be as carefully done as anything else. Most people automatically choose a sibling or an adult child for the role, but I didn't have that option, since I had no siblings, and mine was a childless same-sex marriage. As an only child, my only relations in my generation were multiple cousins, but only two of them are still alive, both much younger females whom I haven't even seen in this century. However, my spouse had two surviving younger brothers, both of whom I had known and been friendly with since they were young men. The older one, who is also gay and has a law degree, might seem like the logical choice on paper, but he is my age, has a history of medical problems, and lives 3000 miles away from me; he probably wouldn't be able to take care of anything that needs to be done in person, especially if I live a lot longer. The youngest brother lives only half as far away from me and is accustomed to make visits; he also has a daughter who is a lawyer and is willing to be a back-up executor for her father. So although I feel less close to him emotionally, he was the better choice.

But no matter how well you think you know the family member and you think he/she knows you, before making the will, one should have a long talk with the potential executor, making sure he/she is aware of all the duties and expectations in your specific situation, and is willing and able to perform them.

Edited July 13 by Charlie

[marylander1940]

On 7/12/2025 at 2:45 PM, TonyDown said:

 

Now that you've invested and saved, you may want to set up your estate to avoid probate and assure your legacy goes to the right place, right?

I looked into having a professional fiduciary act as my trustee and executor of my will.  One takeaway is how much $$ they pay themselves seems a lot.  

I'd rather have a family member be responsible and have them receive payment for the effort.

Also the two professional outfits I contacted did not give me much confidence.

So here is my question.

My question is for those that have worked on your estate planning, and not using a professional successor trustee or/and have been named as executor or successor trustee by someone else.

How much does the estate pay those roles, and how does that process work?

I have done some internet searching on this and will do more.  But am hoping to benefit from first hand experience you might share.

 

 

I think you answered your question already.

1. Ask a family member to do it!
2. Let others know about it. 
3. Write a will 
4. IF there's something specific you want someone to have just give it to him/her in life. 

 

One more thing.... congratulations for a life well-lived! Creating wealth and passing it to others should always be part the plan, especially considering how lucky we are to live in this country and era! 

Edited July 14 by marylander1940

[TonyDown]

I am creating a revocable trust and will assign a successor trustee as part of my estate plan.  

My estate is not complex, so in this case I wanted to understand what is typical for compensating the role, if it's a family member.

A 1% fee mentioned above seems reasonable for my successor trustee and executor, compared to the fee schedule professional fiduciaries quoted to me.

 

[Thelatin]

I’m POA for my fathers estate.  My sister has been so grateful for all of the effort I’ve put in to keeping his finances in order.  She routinely sends me flowers and gift cards.  Not.

Nothing has changed in 30 years - but for some reason she thought she was getting a larger portion.  Not a happy camper. 

[+ nycman]

On 7/13/2025 at 3:30 PM, Charlie said:

one should have a long talk with the potential executor

In addition to the other excellent advice in this thread, I find this statement to be incredibly important. I was recently the executor of a Will. Before the person passed, we sat and had a long conversations over several days about their wishes. They died soon thereafter. Those frank discussions and talks made everything so much easier for me.

No Will can possibly address every possible scenario. There will be gray areas and judgment calls, no matter how perfectly the Will is written and executed. Those talks allowed me to execute the decedent’s wishes with confidence and inner peace. 

Personally, I have decided to use professionals. The workload of being an executor is gargantuan. The family and beneficiaries will never value or appreciate the time and effort it takes. For me this is the correct path. YMMV.

[TonyDown]

2 hours ago, Thelatin said:

I’m POA for my fathers estate.  My sister has been so grateful for all of the effort I’ve put in to keeping his finances in order.  She routinely sends me flowers and gift cards.  Not.

Nothing has changed in 30 years - but for some reason she thought she was getting a larger portion.  Not a happy camper. 

That's an important point.  

What to compensate the POA, especially if the effort continues for years.

I followed up with an estate lawyer regarding industry standard compensation for successor trustee.  She quoted 1%, and since my estate is simple, my sense is 1% an upper limit.  So, again, that aligns with the above comment.

 

Also told the lawyer the rate for a professional trustee seemed excessive to me.  Sounds like I was correct.  Unnecessary, if family can perform the role.

Edited July 14 by TonyDown

[Luv2play]

Here in Ontario Canada the rules are different than those I see quoted in this thread. I am in the middle of acting as an estate trustee(formerly called executor) for a dear friend who died last January. She had asked me to be her trustee when she made her will several years ago after her husband had died. They were childless and she had no siblings. 
Since her death I have had to spend some time each week winding up her affairs. It is a painstaking process and I did all the grunt work although I hired a lawyer to do some of the legal steps  required and to make it easier to execute them. They have the office staff to manage these steps. 
Compensation is quite generous under our system, up to 5 percent of the value of the estate. I think it would be lower in multi million dollar estates but that is not what I am dealing with. 

[handiacefailure]

I'm getting concerned with this myself.    I have a trust and my will is a pour over will.    I lost my dad and my younger sister recently and she was my only sibling and neither of us have kids so not sure who to handle my estate if my mom precedes me in death or incapable.   Really has me concerned about who to act as my health and financial P of A if I need someone

My lawyer told me to name my bank as my successor trustee and they would charge around 5 percent of my estate assets to handle the distribution.   It's all going to charity so I guess it doesn't really matter

[+ purplekow]

10 minutes ago, handiacefailure said:

I'm getting concerned with this myself.    I have a trust and my will is a pour over will.    I lost my dad and my younger sister recently and she was my only sibling and neither of us have kids so not sure who to handle my estate if my mom precedes me in death or incapable.   Really has me concerned about who to act as my health and financial P of A if I need someone

My lawyer told me to name my bank as my successor trustee and they would charge around 5 percent of my estate assets to handle the distribution.   It's all going to charity so I guess it doesn't really matter

If it is going to a charity, one charity that is, then contact them and have them become the executor of the will.  If it is multiple charities, then a friend may be the best choice in terms of getting as much money to the charities as possible.  

[+ Charlie]

4 hours ago, TonyDown said:

That's an important point.  

What to compensate the POA, especially if the effort continues for years.

I followed up with an estate lawyer regarding industry standard compensation for successor trustee.  She quoted 1%, and since my estate is simple, my sense is 1% an upper limit.  So, again, that aligns with the above comment.

 

Also told the lawyer the rate for a professional trustee seemed excessive to me.  Sounds like I was correct.  Unnecessary, if family can perform the role.

As I mentioned before, when I asked my brother-in-law what financial compensation he would like for his work as executor, he declined to accept anything. I suspect it was because he knew the will itself already contained a substantial bequest for his young grandchildren's future education. I imagine many family members could be in a similar kind of situation in regards to a will, and would be reluctant to expect the kind of compensation that a professional would expect..

[TonyDown]

2 hours ago, handiacefailure said:

I'm getting concerned with this myself.    I have a trust and my will is a pour over will.    I lost my dad and my younger sister recently and she was my only sibling and neither of us have kids so not sure who to handle my estate if my mom precedes me in death or incapable.   Really has me concerned about who to act as my health and financial P of A if I need someone

My lawyer told me to name my bank as my successor trustee and they would charge around 5 percent of my estate assets to handle the distribution.   It's all going to charity so I guess it doesn't really matter

That amount sounds close to what the professional trustee outfit wanted for compensation.  Ultimately I was not impressed with their process or price.  

Checking with your bank sounds like a good idea.  I learned about an example where a client needed an ongoing POA, and used a fiduciary at their bank.

[Luv2play]

8 hours ago, TonyDown said:

That amount sounds close to what the professional trustee outfit wanted for compensation.  Ultimately I was not impressed with their process or price.  

Checking with your bank sounds like a good idea.  I learned about an example where a client needed an ongoing POA, and used a fiduciary at their bank.

If one decides to use professionals as executors then one can expect to pay up to 5 percent for the service. 
 

People forget or have no idea of everything that is involved in disposing of an estate, especially when there are no relatives willing to take household goods and personal property like Jewellery and art. Disposing of this is time consuming especially if you are trying to realize the maximum possible for the charities that are to benefit. You can’t just throw everything in a dumpster. 

In my case I spent months cataloguing, photographing, listing and dealing with auctioneers, jewelry dealers who buy estate jewelry, valuing real estate and a car and transporting some of these items to places where they were going to be sold. 
 

Just wrapping fragile items and boxing them takes time. Some of these items fetched very good prices at auction. 
 

I could never have done this work if I had a full time job. Even as it was, it cut into my free time quite a bit as I work in several charitable organizations as a volunteer myself. 
 

I would advise anyone taking on the job of executor to talk a lot with the person asking you beforehand and getting a good feel for what their wishes are. It is often not spelled out very clearly in the will. Those conversations will guide you once you are actually dealing with things after the person has died.

[+ Charlie]

1 hour ago, Luv2play said:

If one decides to use professionals as executors then one can expect to pay up to 5 percent for the service. 
 

People forget or have no idea of everything that is involved in disposing of an estate, especially when there are no relatives willing to take household goods and personal property like Jewellery and art. Disposing of this is time consuming especially if you are trying to realize the maximum possible for the charities that are to benefit. You can’t just throw everything in a dumpster. 

In my case I spent months cataloguing, photographing, listing and dealing with auctioneers, jewelry dealers who buy estate jewelry, valuing real estate and a car and transporting some of these items to places where they were going to be sold. 
 

Just wrapping fragile items and boxing them takes time. Some of these items fetched very good prices at auction. 
 

I could never have done this work if I had a full time job. Even as it was, it cut into my free time quite a bit as I work in several charitable organizations as a volunteer myself. 
 

I would advise anyone taking on the job of executor to talk a lot with the person asking you beforehand and getting a good feel for what their wishes are. It is often not spelled out very clearly in the will. Those conversations will guide you once you are actually dealing with things after the person has died.

Even a family member may not already know important information, like what possessions need to be disposed of that are not specifically mentioned in the will, where important documents and items are stored, the status of things like mortgages and loans, etc. Such information should not only be discussed with a potential executor, he/she should also be given a written list of such things.

[Luv2play]

5 hours ago, Charlie said:

Even a family member may not already know important information, like what possessions need to be disposed of that are not specifically mentioned in the will, where important documents and items are stored, the status of things like mortgages and loans, etc. Such information should not only be discussed with a potential executor, he/she should also be given a written list of such things.

I was fortunate in that my friend had been a private secretary in her professional life for the chief executive of a large automotive firm in Montreal. She showed me all her files after naming me executor and they were beautifully organized. 
She also provided me with a list of all  accounts at financial institutions and credit cards, pension info, taxes and the name of the accountant who did them etc. 

She showed me her safe and how to unlock it where she kept her fine jewelry of which she had a pile. Not Cartier but lots of gold in those rings, necklaces and earrings. 

Even all her distant relatives overseas and close friends to contact after her death. So I had a good roadmap to follow. It made things much easier and faster to execute. But of course an infinite number of documents to fill out and send and then get back other certificates and the like to file with the estate papers. Had to go though probate too before I could unfreeze her accounts. I had to work with her bank to process ongoing expenses related to her residence car etc. 

Luckily there are lists that you can get to check off exact items in winding up estates. The list is several pages long. 

Edited July 15 by Luv2play

[Pepper Young]

Thanks everyone. This was an interesting read.

I had a falling out with the main beneficiary of my will, which leaves me in a pickle. I'm an only child, have no children of my own and am not in any type of romantic relationship. I do have cousins that are alive and well, but have not seen, talked to or heard from in many, many years. So fuck them.

I got a basic outline of who I want the new beneficiaries (charities) to be but who will execute this plan? I have one close friend, but alas, she is near 80 and I expect to outlive her. I'm reluctant to ask another friend but I guess I could. Of course my plan is to die broke but I'm not sure how to execute that either. So decisions, decisions. My lawyer and I have long intimate conversations where we look deep into each other's eyes as he racks up $150/hour.  

[+ Charlie]

2 hours ago, Pepper Young said:

Thanks everyone. This was an interesting read.

I had a falling out with the main beneficiary of my will, which leaves me in a pickle. I'm an only child, have no children of my own and am not in any type of romantic relationship. I do have cousins that are alive and well, but have not seen, talked to or heard from in many, many years. So fuck them.

I got a basic outline of who I want the new beneficiaries (charities) to be but who will execute this plan? I have one close friend, but alas, she is near 80 and I expect to outlive her. I'm reluctant to ask another friend but I guess I could. Of course my plan is to die broke but I'm not sure how to execute that either. So decisions, decisions. My lawyer and I have long intimate conversations where we look deep into each other's eyes as he racks up $150/hour.  

One thing that I only indirectly mentioned in my posts is that my lawyer recommends that a will name not only an executor, but an alternate if the executor named in the will is unable to execute it at the time of your death. In my case, I was lucky that my brother-in-law's daughter knows the full situation and was willing to be named in the will as alternate executor if her father can't perform the necessary duties when I die. The alternate should know how to access the same information that the primary executor needs to have.

[+ Lucky]

4 hours ago, Pepper Young said:

Thanks everyone. This was an interesting read.

I had a falling out with the main beneficiary of my will, which leaves me in a pickle. I'm an only child, have no children of my own and am not in any type of romantic relationship. I do have cousins that are alive and well, but have not seen, talked to or heard from in many, many years. So fuck them.

I got a basic outline of who I want the new beneficiaries (charities) to be but who will execute this plan? I have one close friend, but alas, she is near 80 and I expect to outlive her. I'm reluctant to ask another friend but I guess I could. Of course my plan is to die broke but I'm not sure how to execute that either. So decisions, decisions. My lawyer and I have long intimate conversations where we look deep into each other's eyes as he racks up $150/hour.  

If you are looking for heirs, please DM me and i will provide you my name and address!