How Much Does a Guardian Get Paid in Ohio? Rates, Caps, and Limits

How much a guardian gets paid in Ohio depends entirely on the county. There is no statewide salary or fixed rate. Each county’s Probate Court sets its own compensation schedule by local rule, and estate guardians are most often paid a percentage of the money flowing through the guardianship, commonly starting around 3% of the first $200,000 in income and 3% of the first $200,000 in expenditures. Guardians of the person are paid separately, based on an itemized statement of the time they actually spent.

Why the Pay Rate Depends on Your County

Ohio’s Rules of Superintendence give the whole subject one sentence. Rule 73 says only that “Guardian’s compensation shall be set by local rule.”¹ Every county Probate Court writes its own schedule from there. Some use percentage formulas tied to the ward’s income and expenditures. Others use hourly rates. A few combine both. Two guardians doing identical work for financially identical wards can end up with very different fees depending on the county.

The Probate Judge always has the last word. A judge can approve a fee request in full, reduce it, or deny it. No guardian in Ohio can simply pay themselves from the ward’s assets, no matter what the local schedule says. Rule 73(B) is explicit that a guardian cannot charge fees in excess of those approved by the court.¹

What Estate Guardians Typically Earn

A guardian of the estate handles the ward’s financial life: paying bills, managing accounts, filing taxes, and overseeing investments. Because the work centers on money, most counties tie the pay to it.

Brown County’s schedule is a useful example of the kind of percentage structure many Ohio counties use in some variation:²

3% of the first $200,000 in income received by the ward
3% of the first $200,000 in expenditures made on the ward’s behalf
2% of expenditures exceeding $200,000
0.2% of the fair market value of the ward’s principal assets

Consider a ward who receives $50,000 in annual income and has $45,000 in expenditures for care. The guardian earns about $1,500 on the income side plus $1,350 on the expenditure side, for roughly $2,850 before adding the principal-value component. Brown County also guarantees a minimum annual fee of $500 for estate guardians.² Other counties may set higher or lower percentages, use tiered brackets, or pay by the hour. Check the local rules published by the Probate Court where the guardianship is filed.

A few accounting details matter when the fee is calculated as a percentage. Balances carried forward from one accounting period to the next do not count as income. Reinvesting funds does not count as an expenditure. A final distribution of remaining assets to the ward at the close of the guardianship, however, does count as an expenditure.²

What Guardians of the Person Earn

A guardian of the person makes decisions about where the ward lives, what medical care they receive, and how their daily needs are met, without handling finances. Under Rule 73(C), pay for a person-only guardian is not baked into the standard fee schedule. The guardian has to file a separate application with an itemized statement showing the services performed, the time spent, and the amount requested.¹

The court then weighs factors like how complex the ward’s needs are, how much time and labor the role required, the guardian’s qualifications, and the going rate for similar services in the community. Detailed time records are the difference between a fee approved and a fee denied. A guardian who cannot document how the hours were spent should not expect much.

When Two Guardians Split One Fee

If the court appoints co-guardians, their combined compensation cannot exceed what a single guardian would have earned for the same work.¹ Appointing two guardians does not double the money. The co-guardians agree on how to divide the total, and the court approves the split.

VA Guardianships Have Their Own Cap

When the guardianship exists mainly to manage benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Ohio Revised Code Section 5905.13 caps routine compensation at 5% of the money the ward receives during each accounting period.³ The court can authorize additional pay for extraordinary services, but the guardian must petition for it and the VA regional office gets notice and a chance to be heard.

Two more limits apply in a VA case. The guardian earns no commission on assets transferred in from a prior guardian, and no commission on proceeds from liquidating existing loans or investments.³

When the Court Reduces or Denies a Fee

Rule 73(E) lets the Probate Court cut or deny compensation in two situations: when the guardian is late filing a required inventory or accounting, and when the court finds after a hearing that the guardian has not faithfully performed the duties of the role.¹ The second ground is broad. Poor investment decisions, neglecting the ward’s medical needs, or failing to keep adequate records can all qualify.

Ohio Revised Code Section 2109.24 goes further. If a guardian fails to file a required account and the delinquency continues for 30 days after the court sends notice, the court can remove the guardian and forfeit all compensation, unless the delay was necessary and reasonable. A guardian removed under Section 2109.53 receives nothing.

When the Ward Cannot Afford to Pay

Not every ward has assets. Ohio Revised Code Section 2111.51 establishes a county indigent guardianship fund that Probate Courts can draw from to cover costs when the ward cannot pay. Any payment from the fund needs a judge’s order and must be tied to establishing, maintaining, or closing the guardianship.

Local rules add conditions. In Brown County, the guardian must first file an Affidavit of Indigency. The hourly rate from the indigent fund is capped at whatever rate the court pays assigned counsel and guardians ad litem in its Juvenile Division. A guardian who is a blood relative or spouse of the ward, or who already receives third-party compensation for the same guardianship, cannot draw from the fund at all.² Eligibility rules vary by county.

Getting the Money: Applying for Fees

Compensation is never automatic in Ohio. Even when the local schedule would clearly entitle a guardian to a specific amount, the guardian has to apply and receive court approval before taking any payment from the ward’s assets.¹ Most courts allow estate guardian fee applications no more than once per year.²

The application uses the county’s official form, attaches an itemized statement, and includes supporting records. For an estate guardian on a percentage schedule, that means showing the income received, expenditures made, and principal value for the period along with the percentages applied. For a person-only guardian, it means time entries in tenths of an hour, with each entry describing the specific task. Interested parties, including the ward and close family, may need notice. If nobody objects and the request looks reasonable, the judge can approve it without a hearing; otherwise the court schedules one. The judgment entry states the exact amount approved.

Taxes on Guardian Pay

Guardian compensation is taxable income. Whether self-employment tax also applies depends on whether the guardian is in the business of providing guardianship services. A family member caring for one relative who is not otherwise in the caregiving trade does not owe self-employment tax on the pay. A professional guardian managing multiple wards as a business does.⁴

A professional guardian reports the income on Schedule C and Schedule SE with Form 1040. A family guardian not in the caregiving trade reports it as other income on the 1040 without a Schedule SE. Whoever pays the guardian, usually the ward’s estate, should issue a Form 1099-NEC when compensation reaches $600 or more in a calendar year.⁵ Keep copies of the court’s approved fee entries; those are the proof that the income was court-ordered.

1
Supreme Court of Ohio. Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio – Rule 73 Guardian’s Compensation
2
Brown County Probate and Juvenile Court. Rule 73.1 Guardian’s Compensation
3
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Code 5905-13 – Compensation of Guardian
4
Internal Revenue Service. Family Caregivers and Self-Employment Tax
5
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1099-NEC, Nonemployee Compensation