PrettyGood Asked July 2014
As far as charging a fee for your duties as executor, is there any guidelines for what that fee is?
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Shouldn't it be included in the person's will, something like "maximum fee to settle estate shall not exceed 3 percent".
Or can the executor literally charge half of the remaining estate?
I am expecting my parents will get down below $100,000. It's conceivable that my sister will spend a great portion of that on their airfare & hotel bills.
We have a meeting with the attorney coming up, and I want to know how to make a motion to include language to limit the expenses.
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But yes, there is usually a statement about executor fees in the Will. We just ignored it.
Unfortunately, my Sis believes she can write checks at will. Based on her past behavior, I believe she will charge an exhorbitant fee to do simple paperwork, plus travel fees (she never does anything over the internet, saying it is going to be pirated, so she charges up a travel fee to do "family business". Ridiculous!)
I have an appointment with an actual Elder Care Attorney to review my parents' will (and POA and trust). See my other posts. There may be a light at the end of this really crappy tunnel.
First of all make sure that Sissy can serve as executrix who can fully do whatever..….some states will require that they are a resident of the state so if Sissy is not then there HAS to be an attorney of record for the proceedings & everything first & foremost goes to the attorney. (My mom's will has me as executrix but I live in LA & mom is in TX, and TX law now requires this) So if could be the situation for you and you live in state, you could be the better one to serve as executor & control the purse.
When you speak with the attorney ask how probate fees are structure for both themselves and for the court. Those possible costs need to be removed from the pool of money off the top before any distribution too. Both of the estates I did were a % of the estate on fees for the attorney's, which is more uncommon. About 8% plus expenses (like filings). Now a lot of the paralegal running around I did. The attorney for the more complicated aunt's estate said something like you can do it and get paid for administration or me & my paralegals will and you pay those fees. My administrative fee was 15% of the initial known estate (and paid evenly over time for 2 years as that is what we thought it would take and it actually ran out to almost the full 4 years so that was nothing but fun but nothing had to be done in a hurry so it was OK for my timing). The known estate would be whatever liquid assets are there @ death plus the most current tax assessor value on real property. Basically what you for sure know is out there to include in the estate. Then when the estate was really truly final, final, final I got paid an additional 5% of the assets of the estate. Which actually ended up being pretty good as there was stuff out there that everybody was unaware of but it could have gone the other way with almost nothing left after all settlements. So administrative fee 20% & between this and probate attorneys fees, was about 1/4 of the estate but it was not a simple estate as had foreign will issues (land in another state) and she had been married before and never probated for those deaths. FUN!
Also ask if probate is even needed. Some states allow for small estates affidavit to be done and the costs &time for those is pretty minimal & simple. No need for Sissy to travel in for it either! Other states allow for a "muniment of title" to be done and that too bypasses doing full probate. Muniment runs maybe $ 500 - 800 dollars and is 2 - 4 courthouse runs which are paperwork submission and only 1 real before a judge hearing. Really if you just don't have to do full probate, don't.
Good luck with Sissy too.
Surely my parents have NO IDEA what is going to happen to their estate. Perhaps because neither of them has handled anybody's estate.
Worst of all, in our state there is a law that even if the will specified an amount to settle things, the law allows for whatever reasonable wages (paraphrasing here) can be paid, so there is considerable wiggle room.
Again, the deck seems totally stacked in favor of the Executor, and the decedent has no say in the matter, which doesn't seem right to me, but perhaps there is a way to make it right (will ask the Elder lawyer).
THIS slippery slope is exactly why my Sis is so excited and chomping at the bit to get paid gobs of money to be the Executor! And my Mom can't believe it will be so.....
but in my parents' case, I can walk there (do so nearly every day, to take care of them!) and it's utterly ridiculous for Sis to be paid to hop a plane, rent a car at airport, reserve a nice hotel, etc etc....in other words take a Vacation, just to pursue her idea of what mom & dad should be doing with their money.