Did you or a relative charge for being executor?

Many of you have probably been an executor or have parents/brothers/sisters who have been an executor for parents/relatives estates. Did you/they charge for being the executor or do it for free? If they charged what was the rate/amount? I think the maximum is set by the state?? Just wanted more information before I talk to the lawyer next time. I have probably spent the equivalent of 30 days working on my mother's estate the past 6 months. Mom was the executor of dad's estate but I did all of the work on that one too. Any ideas? Thank you.

it depends how messed up it is and who gets the money. the lawyer should steer you on this. 30 days seems extremely excessive for the job. total i mighta had 20 hours total. my sister and i shared the estate and she helped anytime i needed it. I didn't charge BUT that is one case. If i had to listen to family members complain at me for carrying out my mothers wishes; i would charge the max!

5-10 %

I have been executor of two estates, no, I did not charge or even think about it, in both cases the deceased asked me to serve before their deaths, I had a chance to decline. If I had thought that serving in that capacity was a burden I would have told them to find someone else, Lord, I'm glad I don't have people like you for kinfolks.

Wouldn't dare of charged executor fee, siblings would have killed. Seriously, the state allowed $500 each for my sister and myself. Less than 20000 estate. Have heard 10%.

7% was the rate when I did my parents estate. It was so messed up wish it had been even higher. Wife did most of the work so the 7% went to her. Bill

when we settled our parents estate my self and sister were the executors. when it finialy came time to settle every thing, one brother and three nephews[sisters kids]and sister and brother inlaw turned in a bill for over $22,000.00 they charged the estate for every thing that they did, includeding trying to charge for cleaning up the mess they made on the property.

I was executor for my Grandma because my Dad was to ill to do it. He died before the estate was settled and his sisters gave me an equal share of the estate(It wasn't very much)as payment. I didn't ask for it. I was also my Mother's executor and I did it for free.

i'm the eldest sibling, just us in grandpa's trust (fed taxes easily avoided), i did it for nothing.
30 days in 6 months sounds like alot time though. personal relationships matter too.

That time includes multiple trips to banks to consoliate all $ in the estate account, the funeral - start to finish, the lawyer, completing an inventory, selling a car and pickup, turning in the vehicle plates, cancelling insurances, dividing up her personal property in the house among heirs, cleaning the house, cancelling everything that needed cancelling (AAA, AARP, auto insurance, etc., etc.), redoing all of the auto-pays to keep the house running until it is sold, doing multiple repairs to the property, selling other personal property that needed to be sold (+$20,000), instructing the other heirs on how to get their POD (payable on death) and TOD (transfer on death) property, making partial distributions of cash, and taking the remainder of personal property to an auction. I will try to sell the house and/or list it. I have pretty much done all of the leg work for the lawyer. Person hadn't downsized so there is alot of stuff and had a sizeable estate. Just didn't have any experience in whether to put in for something or not. Other heirs are not physically involved in closing / cleaning up the estate.

Sis and I were executors of Mom's estate, late 80s....charged our three siblings maybe $10 per hour....they were over half the country away, all of them, for years.....no complaints from them ----just glad to get the final check. Sis and I were local for decades, always took care of things for Mom.

I have been the executor on four different estates. Three where family and the other a good friend. Two where small ones with very little to do. The other two where very involved. Here in Iowa you can charge up to 7% and not be called into question. I did not take a dime for any of the ones I did. The one friend did leave me an amount in his will. I split it between his three daughters. They needed it worse than me.

I feel strange getting some thing from some one just because they died. Their stuff is not mine. I just feel funny about that type of stuff.

My younger brother & I were co-executors for Dad's estate. Attorney asked if we wanted a fee for our work. We both said "No!" Attorney smiled, then said that he would cut his fee in half since we did almost all of the work.

Really depends on the circumstances.

If it's a simple estate and not a lot of work, it's hardly worth the argument.

If it's complex enough to consider charging for the work, that should be obvious enough to all involved, and they should't make too much of a stink.

It CAN be a significant amount of work, and there's nothing wrong with asking for some compensation.

But personally, I think it's most appropriate to ask for a token amount - more in line with a "gift" for your services, and a modest one at that.

Tracking hours and billing an hourly rate is only going to lead to trouble - arguments over how much time you REALLY spent - whether or not you HAD to spend that time - COULD it have been done cheaper by somebody else "oh you're really going to charge us for time on the phone?" - etc etc etc.

When it comes to family - ESPECIALLY under the stress of losing a loved one - best to keep things very simple, and very up front.

Discuss with the family the work involved, let them come to the conclusion that it might be best to let you do all the legwork and give you $X for the responsibility.

If they want it done for less than seems fair to you - let them do it for that amount.

Always better to get it out right up front before any work is performed.

I think it depends on the attitudes of the other heirs. In my case, I didn"t charge anything because everyone was helpful and cooperative. If that had not been the case, I would have charged the estate, not for the services so much, but for the aggravation of putting up with vultures.

if the work is shared then it is easy to forgo compensation.
But if the work all falls solely on one person, bring it up as nicely as you can.
My moms estate, which included a house that was a mess, took almost 2 full years to settle. my brother did all the legal, accounting as he is a accountant. My sister cleared out the house, i cleared the garage and basement. 2 bros did next to nothing and nothing at all.
Not fair, but thats the way it always was.
Bro who did the estate did pay himself something. He deserved it, took him days of red tape to get it done.
My wife and her sisters cleared, cleaned and staged the sale of thier parents house. The brothers did very little. The 2 sisters without kids are executors and doing all the paperwork. Work was shared, no compenastion as for as i know.

It can be a mess, but it has to be done. If you have broad shoulders and thick skin, you can do it.
Both parents died after farming for 62 years. They had all 3 of us as executors. That was a mess. One demanded he gets to handle all the bill paying and keeping track of the banking. The rest decided to let him so we did not have as much headaches from him. After the first year with nothing being cleaned out (except one bank account) or settled, other members asked me what other options we had. I told them we should see a different attorney for advice. The estate was so messed up the first attorney wanted out. The other family members told the new attorney to designate me as executor. I kept a running log of everything, hours, miles, phone calls. When it came time to finally have an auction, I got no help other than my wife. They never threw anything away. They even had every receipt from 1946 to the last purchase. Interesting reading, but time consuming. At final closing, attorney asked for my expenses, I said "none." My other brother insisted I be paid for all I did. He works a lot of mandatory overtime so they could not help much. After all was paid out, I got a check in the mail from attorney. Said my younger brother insisted I should be paid so she put that in the estate final expenses presented to the court and had no objections from anyone.

If anything might ever come into question, it is good to have a complete, detailed record log. (time and length of calls with phone statement, time of travels with miles, start and end times when cleaning and sorting, etc.) Pictures of the way everything looks before you touch anything, as well as every step of the way. Also, it would be good every time you went near the estate to have another sibling with you if possible to avoid some of the "you took XXX."

A good portion of my semi retired law practice consists of Estate Settlement and Planning and UNFORTUNATELY Ive seen it happen way tooooooo manyyyyyyy times:

Mary lives next door to mom, takes care of her and works her tail off for years and incurs a lot of expense in doing so,,,,,,,,,,Mom dies,,,,,,,,,Big Shot know it all brother who lives in California and never came to see mom STEPS IN AND WANTS TO BE THE PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND TAKES OVER AND BULLYS THE WHOLE FAMILY GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

That being said, the majority of my clients choose NOT to charge for their services (similar to a Power of Attorney) although a reasonable fee is permitted by law. If asked it depends on the size and complexity of the estate, a figure of 2 to as high as 10% might be in line, again it depends on many many factors and the time and effort required. ITS A LOT OF WORK AND RUNNING AROUND AND NOTTTTTTTT SOMETHING OTHERS SHOULD BE JEALOUS OF IN MY OPINION. Usually an heir or the person named as personal representative in a Will comes to me and I might take the job as attorney for the estate (I ONLY do unsupervised estates, if supervised my fee would like double). Then I gather some info and give the personal rep a detailed laundry list of documents and items I need and give them a detailed "to do" list. Once all is ready I file the petition in court and all the legal mumbo jumbo and work is done and after maybe 6 months to a year the estate is settled and closed. Most of the work is in the beginning and less at the end. Many local attorneys dont practice in this area, its a lottttttt of time and legal paperwork and several hundred up to a few thousand dollars (if smaller estates) is merely pocket change for them lol, they dont want to fool with such menial tasks, but hey Country Lawyer Ol John T will, pays for my RV escapades lol.

CONSULT A LOCAL COPMETENT TRAINED PROFESSIONAL ESTATES ATTORNEY and dont hang your hat too much on what know it all brother in law or Billy Bob and Bubba and other non professionals tell you what to do is my best free professional advice

Remember "A living person has no heirs"

Best Wishes, God Bless, and Merry CHRISTmas (despite the far lefts anger, its a Federal Holiday also wooooooo hooooooooo)

John T Country Lawyer

I think everything I have will be auctioned off for charity and cash will go the same way.

My brother was the executor of our mothers estate. what he did was move our mother into his house, and let her house sit empty. Our mother was a trusting person, she had the mental capacity of a 10 year old the last few years of her life. My brother and his wife had mother put the property into their names and hers. They were stupid enough not put rights to survivor ship on the deed. So in the end they stole 2/3rd's of the estate, not all of it. They then sold the house to my brothers step son at a greatly reduced price. Then 1/3rd of that amount was split 6 ways after paying an attorney to probate the estate. That was not what my mother wanted, but after they are old you can manipulate them any way you want. And when they are dead you can steal anything your conscience lets you.

I think everything I have will be auctioned off for charity and cash will go the same way.

In SC you can NOT charge for being an executor.

Absent unusual circunstances, most family members do not.

Dean

"My brother and his wife had mother put the property into their names and hers. They were stupid enough not put rights to survivor ship on the deed"

GREAT COMMENT

Fer sure, youre right, had real estate been conveyed to Joint Tenants with rights of survivorship, when mom died brother and his wife would have owned it ALL outright by operation of law, a non probate transfer, which would even nnalert a will to the contrary.......

If real estste was transferred by Deed to mom and brother and his wife as "Tenants in Common" (or even if not but Joint language was totally absent) when mom dies her estate owns 1/3 and the others own the 2/3........

When I do small estate planning for clients so many walk in and talk about how Mom has put certain property in Mary's name (lives close and helps mom and pays her bills etc) with moms not realizing when mom dies what remains "could" be alllllllll Marys alone regardless of will provisions or moms intent all kids share alike!!!!!!!!

John T

in wisconsin the court appointed "personel represenative" gets 2% plus actual (cash outlay) expences. I am currently doing an Aunts that is below court threshold for just expences (stamps, mailings etc.)

John, That piece of Shi_ brother is no longer invited to any family functions. He can sit home and count his money or check his bank balance. And be proud of what he did.

Done it twice....once for grandmother and second time for mother. Didn't charge for either, but my uncle was such a horse's butt, I probably should've charged for the first one.

I sure hear that, his little "trick" got him 2/3 and alllllllll the others were left to divide 1/3 grrrrrrrrrrrrr IVE SEEN THAT HAPPEN MORE THEN ONCE WHEN MOM DIES I even had a client where the family got into a fist fight AT THE FUNERAL HOME......

John T

In the middle of one right now. No charge. Being split exactly 3 ways between myself and 2 sisters. Enough for everyone.

did my mothers estate. Dad asked me to, he did not want to.it was simple, so did not charge for it. even though sister was a pain in the a--. Dad dies and i was executor again. had no help from any of the five siblings. did exactly as Dad had in the will.could not satisfy any of them . sister helped a little on house clean out. a bunch of quilts missing, must of been in the trash bags in the back of her fancy car. had a dumpster sitting there, but she said she would take them home to her trash. should of looked at them. everybody was a pain in the a--. so took the max allowed.

(quoted from post at 06:52:57 12/20/12) My brother was the executor of our mothers estate. what he did was move our mother into his house, and let her house sit empty. Our mother was a trusting person, she had the mental capacity of a 10 year old the last few years of her life. My brother and his wife had mother put the property into their names and hers. They were stupid enough not put rights to survivor ship on the deed. So in the end they stole 2/3rd's of the estate, not all of it. They then sold the house to my brothers step son at a greatly reduced price. Then 1/3rd of that amount was split 6 ways after paying an attorney to probate the estate. That was not what my mother wanted, but after they are old you can manipulate them any way you want. And when they are dead you can steal anything your conscience lets you.

Click to expand...

If your brother took care of your mother for the last ten years of her life, then they deserved the money. It's a thankless job taking care of someone like that. JMHO

my sister was executor for my parents and did not charge anything--just split it 3 ways among my brother, I, and her.

I do probably a half dozen probates per year, and it is rare that an executor charges for it.

One exception that you may find interesting:
When folks go to a nursing home, the government pays for it under Medicaid, if the folks can't pay. A lien accrues against their real estate, but nothing is done about the lien until both of the couple dies.

As you can imagine, the lien can amount to far more than the value of the property. So when the folks die, no one has any incentive to do a probate. So the guvment makes the heirs an offer: find an attorney to do the probate, and sell the house. Guvment will pay for the lawyer, pay the executor for his services, and split up to 10% of the sale price among the heirs.

I've done 2 or 3 of these. Talked to the guvment person on the first one, and she said its far cheaper (and less risky) to farm out the probate and give away part of the value of the property than for the guvment to do it themselves.

I just finished being the executor of my mother's estate and the trustee of her trust which included selling her house of 54 years. It took a lot of time and I felt it was an honor to represent her and her wishes. The thought of charging a fee is personally offensive.