Florida personal representative compensation
Florida presumes a percentage schedule is reasonable. The base is the compensable value of the estate, meaning the inventory value of the probate assets plus income the estate earned during administration, so it is not the same as the gross probate estate. A court may adjust compensation, and extraordinary services are paid separately.
Sources reviewed August 7, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
In Florida, the personal representative (executor) is the person the court appoints, or the will nominates, to administer the estate. Florida compensation is governed by state statute and, where the statute permits, by the terms of the will or a court order, so the lawful Florida fee is whatever those authorities set — not a national rule of thumb.
The calculator above applies Florida's reviewed statutory rule to the compensable estate value you enter. The Florida figure does not include extraordinary fees — services beyond routine administration (such as litigation, tax elections, or real-property management) that the court may approve separately on top of the ordinary compensation.
In Florida, the compensable amount is measured against the figures shown in the estate's court accounting, so two Florida estates with the same headline size can produce different lawful fees when what they are made of differs. Enter the figure that matches that basis rather than the gross number on the first account statement, or the Florida result will not reflect the rule the statute actually applies.
If the Florida will names a specific compensation amount or formula, that term controls unless a beneficiary or the representative petitions the court for modification. When no will exists, or the will is silent on the point, the Florida statutory rule becomes the presumptive measure of reasonable compensation for the work.
Fla. Stat. § 733.617(1) entitles a personal representative to a commission "payable from the estate assets without court order as compensation for ordinary services." The base is defined rather than assumed: the compensable value of the estate is "the inventory value of the probate estate assets and the income earned by the estate during administration."
Subsection (2) sets the schedule that is "presumed to be reasonable" in formal administration: 3 percent of the first $1 million; 2.5 percent above $1 million up to $5 million; 2 percent above $5 million up to $10 million; and 1.5 percent above $10 million.
Extraordinary services are compensated separately under subsection (3), which lists the sale of real or personal property, conducting litigation for or against the estate, involvement in proceedings to adjust or pay taxes, carrying on the decedent’s business, dealing with protected homestead, and "any other special services which may be necessary."
Where a will fixes compensation by specific criteria, subsection (4) makes that provision govern — but if there is no written contract with the decedent about compensation, the personal representative "may renounce the provisions contained in the will and be entitled to compensation under this section," and may also renounce all or part of the compensation outright.
Source: Fla. Stat. § 733.617, read from the enacting state’s own published code on 2026-09-17. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.
Florida compensation map
A percentage is not a fee answer until its base is known. This Florida map identifies the compensation standard and the accounting figure it uses, while keeping court approval and extraordinary work outside an invented total.
| Question | Recorded Florida answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Summary administration | Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route. |
| What property and basis count? | probate property within the rule's stated scope; gross value with statutory exemptions not classified by this worksheet. | Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately. |
| What is the amount screen? | $150,000 | Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | No universal waiting period stated; No deadline is recorded here: The creditor-notice and claim-bar deadlines have not been verified to this site's primary-source standard, so no number is published. | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | 2 published schedules; the proceeding and value basis control the total. | Ask the Circuit Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | Florida presumes a percentage schedule is reasonable. The base is the compensable value of the estate, meaning the inventory value of the probate assets plus income the estate earned during administration, so it is not the same as the gross probate estate. A court may adjust compensation, and extraordinary services are paid separately. The relevant base is the estate accounting. | Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate. |
Compensation record
This is the registry view of the compensation rule, separate from the calculator result. It shows whether a rate schedule exists and what accounting base the schedule names. A blank band is not permission to borrow a percentage from another state.
| Compensation band | Rate | Read with |
|---|---|---|
| Up to $1,000,000 | 3% | the estate accounting |
| The next band through $5,000,000 | 2.5% | the estate accounting |
| The next band through $10,000,000 | 2% | the estate accounting |
| Above the prior band | 1.5% | the estate accounting |
Case-file context
A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed Florida descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.
Florida uses summary administration for qualifying estates. The route can depend on both estate value and how long ago the person died.
The probate estate, after exempt property, may qualify at $150,000 or less. An estate may also qualify regardless of value when the decedent has been dead for more than two years.
Summary administration is $230 below $1,000 and $340 at $1,000 or more, and formal administration is $395. Section 28.2401(3) adds a mandatory $4 service charge to each of these petitions.
2 published schedules; the proceeding and value basis control the total.
No deadline is recorded here: The creditor-notice and claim-bar deadlines have not been verified to this site's primary-source standard, so no number is published.
Court-material note: Florida publishes no statewide summary-administration form. The petition is prepared for the circuit court in the county where the decedent lived, and requirements differ by circuit. The statewide court system publishes one probate page; county clerk sites carry the operative local instructions.
Arithmetic illustration
The recorded Florida ceiling is $150,000, and it is tested against probate property within the rule's stated scope, on a basis this site records as gross value with statutory exemptions not classified by this worksheet. Counted that way, $112,500 sits below the Florida figure and $187,500 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Florida counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the Florida ceiling | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|
| $112,500 | Below $150,000 | Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties |
| $187,500 | Above $150,000 | Whether another statutory route or court process applies |
Next evidence to collect
Official material
Florida publishes no statewide summary-administration form. The petition is prepared for the circuit court in the county where the decedent lived, and requirements differ by circuit.
The statewide court system publishes one probate page; county clerk sites carry the operative local instructions.
Source trail
The rate is only half of the answer; the other half is the number the rate is applied to, and in Florida that number is specific. The reviewed rule measures compensation against the Compensable value of the estate. Fla. Stat. s 733.617(1) applies the whole schedule to this one figure: the inventory value of the probate assets plus income the estate earned during administration. It is not the gross probate estate, and it comes from the estate accounting rather than from the asset list above.
Entering a different figure — the gross value on a bank statement, the net estate after debts, or the total that passed to the heirs — produces a Florida number the rule does not support, even when the percentage is applied correctly. The base is the part most often got wrong.
Each band applies its own rate to its own slice of the Compensable value of the estate, and the compensation is the sum of the slices — not a single rate on the whole figure. Worked at two representative amounts, the Florida schedule breaks down as follows.
| Band of the base | Rate | Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| on the first $1,000,000 | 3% | $9,000 |
| Total on this base | $9,000 | |
| Band of the base | Rate | Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| on the first $1,000,000 | 3% | $24,000 |
| Total on this base | $24,000 | |
These figures are illustrations of the schedule at two round numbers, not a quote for any real estate: the operative amount depends on the actual Compensable value of the estate the Florida accounting establishes, and a court may allow more for extraordinary services or less where a will or agreement fixes a different figure.
Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.
Reviewed source note: (2) A commission computed on the compensable value of the estate is presumed to be reasonable compensation for a personal representative in formal administration as follows: (a) At the rate of 3 percent for the first $1 million. (b) At the rate of 2.5 percent for all above $1 million and not exceeding $5 million. (c) At the rate of 2 percent for all above $5 million and not exceeding $10 million. (d) At the rate of 1.5 percent for all above $10 million.