Being named in a will as the person who will settle an estate is a quiet compliment. It is also a job. Somewhere in the first month of gathering statements, calling banks, and figuring out what a court filing deadline actually means, most people start wondering whether they are supposed to be paid for any of this.
The question is reasonable, and the Minnesota answer catches people off guard. How much do executors of wills get paid is not settled by a chart, a percentage, or a fee schedule here. It is settled by what the estate actually required.
In Minnesota, the Title Is “Personal Representative”
Minnesota’s probate system rarely uses the word executor. The person appointed to administer an estate is called a personal representative, and that is the term you will see on the court paperwork. Families still say executor, and we use both words here, but the distinction matters when you are reading a form.
The role carries fiduciary duties, meaning the estate’s interests come ahead of your own. The work behind any fee — locating and valuing assets, opening an estate account, notifying creditors, filing final tax returns, transferring real estate, and distributing what remains — is heavier than most people expect. We break the job down in more detail in our overview of an executor’s duties during probate.
What Minnesota Law Actually Says About the Fee
Minnesota entitles a personal representative to reasonable compensation for their services. When a court is asked whether a particular fee is reasonable, it looks at three things:
- the time and labor the job required;
- how complex or unusual the problems were; and
- the responsibilities the person took on and what they accomplished.
That is the entire test. No tiers, no multiplier, no state-published rate.
Why the “Percentage of the Estate” Idea Does Not Apply Here
Some states do allow a commission calculated as a percentage of estate value, and national articles and online fee calculators repeat that framing as though it were universal. Minnesota does not work that way, and assuming otherwise is how a well-meaning family member ends up taking a number they cannot defend.
There is a practical logic to Minnesota’s approach. A $1.2 million estate made up of one house and two brokerage accounts can be far less work than a $400,000 estate holding a small business interest, a cabin titled in another state, and two siblings who are not speaking. The standard follows the effort, not the balance sheet.
What Supports a Defensible Fee
Because reasonableness is judged after the fact, the personal representatives who have the easiest time are the ones who kept records as they went. Things that tend to matter:
- Time notes kept along the way. Dates, tasks, and hours, written down as they happen rather than reconstructed a year later.
- Genuine complexity. Real property, business interests, hard-to-value assets, or out-of-state property.
- Creditor claims or disputes. A contested claim or a challenge to the will changes the responsibilities involved.
- Who did the work. If an attorney or accountant handled a portion of the administration, the fee should reflect that rather than bill it twice. Attorney fees are a separate expense of the estate.
Compensation is paid by the estate as an expense of administration, which means it reduces what beneficiaries receive. That is precisely why documentation is worth the trouble.
Should a Family Member Take the Fee at All?
Plenty of them do not, and Minnesota makes that straightforward. A personal representative can give up all or part of the compensation, and a written waiver of the fee can be filed with the court. If the will names a compensation figure and there was no separate agreement with the person who died, the personal representative can generally decline that provision before taking the role and be paid reasonable compensation instead.
Two practical considerations usually drive the decision. First, a fee for services is generally treated as taxable income, while an inheritance generally is not — worth a conversation with your tax preparer if you are both the personal representative and a beneficiary. Second, family perception. When one adult child does eighteen months of work and the others do none, a fee can be the fairer outcome. In our experience, resentment comes from being surprised by the number, not from the number itself.
Who Reviews the Fee, and Who Can Object
Beneficiaries are not stuck with whatever figure the personal representative writes down. An interested person can ask the court to review whether the compensation is reasonable, and that review can extend to the fees of any attorney or advisor the estate hired. If someone has been paid more than the work warranted, the court can require a refund.
Knowing where fee approval sits in the sequence helps. Our walkthrough of the steps of probate in Minnesota lays out the order of events. Estate Planning Director Philip Ruce also covered the opening stage of estate administration in a segment on KSTP’s Minnesota Live: What are the first steps during probate?
If You Are the One Writing the Will
This question has a planning side, and it is the cheaper side to address. A will can speak to compensation directly, which removes guesswork later. Choosing someone with the time and temperament for a year of administrative follow-through often matters more than birth order. And organizing assets during your lifetime — so the person you name inherits a tidy file rather than a scavenger hunt — reduces the hours the estate ends up paying for.
We have these conversations regularly with families across Minneapolis, Woodbury, Bloomington, White Bear Lake, and Minnetonka, and the ones who address it in advance tend to hand their families a much shorter road.
Key Takeaways
- Minnesota pays a personal representative reasonable compensation — there is no set percentage of estate value.
- Reasonableness turns on the time and labor required, how complex the problems were, and the responsibilities taken on.
- Time records and documentation are the practical difference between a fee that holds up and one that draws questions.
- The fee can be waived in whole or in part, and a written waiver can be filed with the court.
- Beneficiaries can ask the court to review a fee, and compensation beyond what the work warranted may have to be refunded.
- Compensation is an expense of the estate, so it reduces what beneficiaries ultimately receive.
Sorting This Out Before It Becomes Your Family’s Problem
Whether you have just been appointed or you are deciding who to name in your own will, how much do executors of wills get paid is really a question about clarity — for the person doing the work and for everyone waiting on a distribution. Stone Arch Law Office helps Minnesota families and personal representatives think through compensation, documentation, and the rest of estate administration in plain terms. The right approach depends on your circumstances, and an attorney can help you evaluate them. Book a call to learn more.
References: The Norman Transcript (April 18, 2026) “Senior Column: How to Prepare to be an executor of an estate” | U.S. News & World Report (Dec. 22, 2021) “How to Prepare to Be an Executor of an Estate”
