How much does an executor get paid in New York? The answer is a commission set by state statute, not by the family and not by the will. The governing provision is Section 2307 of the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act, and it fixes both the percentages and the pool of assets those percentages apply to.
The commission is calculated in tiers, on money received and paid out by the estate: five percent on the first bracket, four percent on the next, three percent on the next, then two and a half percent, then two percent on the largest estates. The statute directs that the commission be computed separately for receiving and for paying out, at one half the rate for each side. Property is valued in a manner directed by the court and treated as money for the calculation.
That is the answer most people are looking for. The part that actually decides what an executor takes home, and the part that causes the arguments, is which assets count.
The commission base decides what an executor will get paid in New York
A common assumption in Bronx and Westchester families is that the executor is paid a percentage of everything the decedent owned. That is not how SCPA 2307 works, and the difference is frequently large.
The commission is computed on assets that pass through administration. Property that transfers outside probate does not enter the calculation at all. That includes accounts held jointly with right of survivorship, retirement accounts and life insurance payable to a named beneficiary, and assets already titled in a trust. Those pass by operation of law or by contract. The executor does not receive them, does not pay them out, and takes no commission on them.
The statute also carves out a specific exclusion that surprises nearly everyone: a specific legacy or devise. If a will leaves a named item of property to a named person, the house on the corner to a daughter, a particular investment account to a son, the value of that item is excluded from the commission base. The executor still delivers it. The executor is simply not compensated on it as though it were money that moved through the estate.
The practical consequence is that two estates of identical size can produce very different commissions depending only on how the assets were titled and how the will was drafted.
Where this collides with estate planning
Consider a family that has done everything it was told to do. Accounts are joint with a child. The IRA has a beneficiary form. The residence was left to a specific child by name in the will. There may be very little left in the probate estate at all, and the executor, who may be doing months of genuine work, is compensated on a base that reflects almost none of it.
Now consider the reverse. A will that pours everything into the residuary estate without any specific devises creates the widest possible commission base, and if the will names more than one executor, more than one commission may be payable.
Neither arrangement is right or wrong on its own. The point is that the fee is a downstream consequence of drafting and titling decisions made years earlier, usually without anyone raising the subject. A family sitting down for estate planning can ask the question then, when it is still a choice, rather than after a death when it becomes a dispute.
Multiple executors
Naming two adult children as co-executors is common and is usually done for reasons of fairness rather than administration. SCPA 2307 addresses it directly, and the treatment turns on the size of the estate.
Where the estate is large enough, the statute allows each fiduciary a full commission, subject to a cap once the number of fiduciaries grows. Below that threshold, one commission is apportioned among them according to the services each actually rendered. The statute contemplates that the fiduciaries may agree in writing to a different apportionment, but not to more than one full commission for any one of them.
There is a second cost to co-executors that has nothing to do with money. Every filing, every signature, every decision now requires two people who may disagree. That is a frequent origin point for estate litigation, and it usually starts with something small.
A family member serving as executor often waives the commission
An executor is entitled to a commission. An executor is not required to take one.
Where a child serves as executor and is also a beneficiary of the estate, taking the commission is often the worse outcome for that child. A commission is compensation for services and is treated as income. An inheritance received as a beneficiary generally is not. Depending on the family’s circumstances, the same dollars can arrive with a very different tax character depending on which hat the person is wearing when they receive them.
This is a calculation worth doing with an accountant before the commission is claimed, not after. It is also a decision that should be made deliberately rather than by default, because a waiver is not automatically reversible once the accounting is settled.
When the commission is actually paid
The commission is generally payable on the judicial settlement of the account, which is the end of the process, not the beginning. An executor who has been advancing costs and doing the work for a year or more is waiting until then. That timing catches people who assumed the fee would arrive as they went.
Frequently asked questions
Does the executor of a will get paid in New York? Yes. An executor is entitled to a statutory commission under SCPA 2307 for services as fiduciary. Commissions are separate from any legal fees the estate pays to counsel, and separate from reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses the executor advanced.
Can a will change what the executor is paid? A will may address compensation, and the statute contains specific provisions for corporate executors whose rates are stipulated in the will or in a published fee schedule. For an individual executor the statutory schedule is the ordinary reference point. Whether a particular clause in a particular will alters that is a question for review of the actual document.
What is the executor fee on a small estate? The tiers begin at the lowest bracket, and the commission is computed on the assets that pass through administration. A small probate estate produces a small commission even where the family’s total wealth is substantial, because so much of it may pass outside probate.
Who pays the executor commission? The estate does. It is an administration expense paid before the residuary beneficiaries receive their shares, which means in practical terms it reduces what the residuary beneficiaries take.
Is the executor commission the same as the probate attorney’s fee? No. They are separate. The statute provides for the fiduciary’s commission for serving as fiduciary, and separately contemplates compensation for legal services. An executor who is also an attorney faces additional rules.
Getting the question answered for your family
Executor compensation is one of the few parts of probate with a number attached to it, which is why it draws attention. It is rarely the part that determines whether an estate administers smoothly. Titling, drafting, and who is named to serve usually decide that long before anyone reaches the accounting.
Cormac McEnery Law handles estate planning, probate, and estate administration from offices in City Island in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn, and works with families across the Bronx and Westchester. If you have been named as an executor and are trying to understand what the role involves, or you are drafting a will and want to think through who should serve, call the office at (718) 885-1234 to arrange a consultation.
This article is general information about New York law and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every estate is different, and the application of SCPA 2307 to a particular estate depends on facts specific to that estate. Consult an attorney about your own circumstances.
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