How Much Does an Executor Get Paid in New York?

In New York, an executor is paid a statutory commission on a sliding scale: 5% of the first $100,000 the estate handles, 4% of the next $200,000, 3% of the next $700,000, 2.5% of the next $4 million, and 2% of anything above $5 million. So how much does an executor get paid in New York on, say, a $600,000 estate? The math comes to $5,000 plus $8,000 plus $9,000, or $22,000 total. The rates are set by Section 2307 of the Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act and apply to the value of assets the executor actually collects and pays out.¹

Technically the statute splits each tier into two half-rates: one for receiving assets, one for paying them out. An executor who does both jobs gets the full percentage. If someone only collects or only distributes a portion, they get only the corresponding half.¹

What Counts Toward the Commission

The percentages don’t apply to everything the deceased owned. They apply to what actually passes through the executor’s hands. Bank accounts, brokerage portfolios, and personal property like jewelry or artwork count. If the executor sells real estate, the sale proceeds enter the commissionable base. An executor who collects rent on estate real property earns an additional 5% of gross rents collected, on top of the regular commission.¹

Several categories are excluded. Anything that passes directly to a beneficiary outside the will never enters the executor’s hands and is not commissionable. Life insurance with a named beneficiary, joint accounts with rights of survivorship, and assets already held in trust all fall in this category. Specific bequests are also excluded. If the will leaves a particular car or painting to a named person, ownership vests in that beneficiary at death and the executor is just handing it over. That transfer does not generate a commission.¹

When More Than One Executor Serves

Sharing changes the individual payout, and the rules depend on estate size. For estates of $300,000 or more, each co-executor can receive a full statutory commission, but only up to three. Name four or more executors and they divide the equivalent of three full commissions among themselves.

Smaller estates get less. Estates from $100,000 to $299,999 support two full commissions total. Estates under $100,000 allow only a single commission, no matter how many people are named. Co-executors can agree on how to split a shared commission. If they can’t, the Surrogate’s Court apportions the money based on the work each one actually did.²

When the Will Sets Different Compensation

A will can override the statute by naming a specific dollar amount or a different rate. When that happens, you have a choice: accept the will’s terms or reject them and take the statutory commission instead. But there is a deadline. To renounce the will’s compensation and claim the statutory rate, you must file a written renunciation with the Surrogate’s Court within four months of receiving letters testamentary. Miss that window and you are stuck with what the will provides.¹

Executors who are also major beneficiaries sometimes waive the commission entirely. An inheritance isn’t taxable income; an executor’s commission is. Taking a commission when you are inheriting most of the estate converts tax-free money into taxable earnings. Waiving keeps more in your pocket after taxes, though it also means giving up pay for real work.

The Half-Commission Rule for Attorney-Executors

If you drafted the will and are now serving as executor, watch this one carefully. New York cuts the attorney-executor’s commission in half unless specific disclosure requirements were met before the will was signed. The same reduction reaches the attorney’s employees and affiliated attorneys.³

To earn the full commission, the attorney must have informed the testator, before signing, that anyone can serve as executor, that the statutory commission is available to any executor, and that the attorney will only receive half unless the testator signs a separate written acknowledgment. That acknowledgment has to be signed in the presence of at least one witness who is not the attorney-executor, and it must be filed with the probate proceeding. Without it, the half-commission default kicks in automatically. An attorney-executor who also provides legal services to the estate can still bill reasonable attorney’s fees separately.³

Extra Pay for Extraordinary Services

The statutory commission covers routine administration: collecting assets, paying debts, filing tax returns, distributing property. When duties go well beyond that, the court can award additional compensation for what New York calls extraordinary services. It isn’t automatic. You have to petition the Surrogate’s Court, explain what extra work was required, and show that it fell outside normal executor responsibilities. Running a business the deceased owned, managing contested litigation, and dealing with unusually complex tax matters are common examples. The court decides whether the amount requested is reasonable for the effort.¹

Reimbursement for Out-of-Pocket Costs

Commissions pay for your time. Money you spend from your own pocket comes back separately and doesn’t reduce the commission. The statute entitles executors to recover “reasonable and necessary expenses actually paid.”¹

Typical reimbursable costs include court filing fees, appraiser fees, accountant fees for estate tax returns, storage and maintenance for estate property, and brokerage fees on asset sales. Each expense has to have been actually necessary. Keep every receipt. The final accounting lists every disbursement, and beneficiaries or the court will look hard at anything that seems personal or inflated.

Taxes on What You Take Home

Executor commissions are taxable income, and every personal representative has to report them on a federal income tax return.⁴

How you report depends on whether this is your line of work. Serving as executor for a relative or friend, as a one-off, is ordinary income: you owe income tax but not self-employment tax. Professional fiduciaries who regularly handle estates report commissions as self-employment income, which triggers both. The same applies to a nonprofessional executor who actively operates a business that was part of the estate: the portion of fees tied to running that business counts as self-employment income.⁵

When You Actually Get Paid

Executors don’t pay themselves as they go. The commission is paid at the end of administration, after assets are collected, debts and taxes settled, and a final accounting prepared. That accounting shows every dollar in and out, including the proposed commission. If all beneficiaries are competent adults and agree, they can approve it informally. Otherwise, or if you want a formal discharge from liability, the accounting goes to the Surrogate’s Court for judicial settlement.⁶

Waiting months or years is a real hardship when you are spending your own time and money on estate work. New York allows an executor to petition the court for a partial advance on commissions during administration. The petition has to show the current state of the estate and what commissions would be due if you were filing the final accounting that day. The court notifies affected beneficiaries and, if it approves, generally limits the advance to the receiving half of the commission. You will usually need to post a bond guaranteeing repayment if the advance is later disallowed, though the court can waive the bond in some cases. One trap: the cost of filing the advance petition comes out of your commission, not the estate. If the court denies the petition outright, you pay those costs personally.⁷

1
Justia Law. New York Code SCP 2307 – Commissions of Fiduciaries Other Than Trustees
2
Justia Law. New York Code SCP 2313 – Multiple Commissions of Executors or Trustees
3
New York State Senate. New York Surrogates Court Procedure Act SCP 2307-a – Commissions of Attorney-Executor
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 559 (2025), Survivors, Executors, and Administrators
5
Social Security Administration. SSR 63-46 – Self-Employment, Trade or Business, Administrator or Executor
6
New York City Bar Association. What Is an Executor?
7
New York State Senate. New York Surrogates Court Procedure Act SCP 2310 – Payment on Account of Commissions