Hawaii executor fees

In Hawaii the representative fixes the fee first, and the court reviews it when someone asks

HRS § 560:3-719 gives a personal representative “reasonable compensation for the personal representative’s services” and sets no percentage. Where a will provides for compensation and there is no contract with the decedent about it, the representative “may renounce the provision before qualifying and be entitled to reasonable compensation,” and may renounce all or part of the fee; a written renunciation may be filed with the court.

The check on the amount is a separate section. Under § 560:3-721, “the reasonableness of the compensation determined by the personal representative for the personal representative’s own services” may be reviewed by the court after notice to all interested persons, on the petition of an interested person, or on motion where the administration is supervised. The wording assumes the representative sets the figure; the court looks at it when an heir, a beneficiary or a creditor puts it in issue.

The same review reaches everyone the representative hires: the court may examine whether employing an attorney, auditor, investment adviser or other agent was proper and whether that person’s pay was reasonable, and “any person who has received excessive compensation from an estate for services rendered may be ordered to make appropriate refunds.” A fee already paid is therefore not final in Hawaii until the time to challenge it has passed.

For a representative, the practical consequence is a record. Reasonableness is judged on the work actually done, so time spent, the tasks performed and the estate’s complexity are what a court reviewing a fee under § 560:3-721 would weigh. Both sections carry the same enactment history, L 1996, c 288.

Source: HRS §§ 560:3-719, 560:3-721, read from the enacting state’s own official publication on 2026-10-13. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.