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Illinois personal representative compensation

Illinois executor fee calculator

755 ILCS 5/27-1 entitles the representative to reasonable compensation for services. Illinois has NO statutory percentage schedule; the amount is what the court finds reasonable in the circumstances.

Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.

1. Where and when
Private by design: entries stay in this browser.
2. Compensation base

Ownership determines whether an asset usually enters probate. Choose “Not sure” when title or beneficiary status has not been confirmed.

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Your working estimate

Illinois estate snapshot

Gross probate propertyNot yet counted
Court chargeSet locallyIllinois has no single statewide probate filing fee. The circuit clerk in each county sets fees under the Clerks of Courts Act, with amounts varying by county class, so the opening cost is county-specific.
Scheduled executor compensationMore information needed2 asset entries have no value entered.755 ILCS 5/27-1 entitles the representative to reasonable compensation for services. Illinois has NO statutory percentage schedule; the amount is what the court finds reasonable in the circumstances.

This route check is general information, not legal advice. It does not test every eligibility condition, creditor issue, will provision, local fee, or asset-title fact.

How Illinois executor compensation works

In Illinois, the personal representative (executor) is the person the court appoints, or the will nominates, to administer the estate. Illinois compensation is governed by state statute and, where the statute permits, by the terms of the will or a court order, so the lawful Illinois fee is whatever those authorities set — not a national rule of thumb.

Illinois does not set a statewide percentage schedule.

The amount is not computable from estate value alone. This page therefore publishes no percentage result; it reports the reasonable-compensation standard the reviewed record supports instead.

What this state does not set

Illinois does not set one statutory percentage to multiply by the estate. Do not substitute a neighboring state's rate or an informal fee table. The amount depends on the services and accounting in the particular administration, and the will may affect the compensation analysis where the governing rule allows it.

The governing compensation standard

Sec. 27-1. Fees of representative. A representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for his services,

How the amount is fixed

755 ILCS 5/27-1 entitles the representative to reasonable compensation for services. Illinois has NO statutory percentage schedule; the amount is what the court finds reasonable in the circumstances.

Keep the estate accounting, time and task log, receipts, and any will or compensation agreement together. Before taking a fee, ask the Circuit Court how compensation is presented for review in this estate and whether an order or account approval is required. This page cannot decide what a court will consider reasonable.

Illinois sets no rate, but it does name people who may not be paid at all

755 ILCS 5/27-1 opens with the familiar standard — "A representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for his services" — and then spends the rest of the section on exclusions rather than on amounts.

No fees, charges or other compensation may be allowed a public administrator "for services performed in administering that part of the estate of any United States war veteran which consists of compensation, insurance or other monies due or payable from the United States because of the veteran’s war service." The same section bars compensation to an employee of the Department of Human Services or the Department of Children and Family Services designated under paragraph (b) of Section 11-3 who serves as guardian of the estate of a patient or resident in a State facility.

Where a fee is allowed, its rank is fixed: "Fees awarded under this Section shall be considered as a first-class claim for administrative expenses and paid from the guardianship estate or from the probate estate pursuant to Section 18-10." That is what makes an Illinois representative’s fee collectable ahead of ordinary creditors when the estate is short.

The attorney’s fee is a separate entitlement under 755 ILCS 5/27-2, with its own deadline: an attorney who withdraws "must file a petition for fees and costs within 30 days after the withdrawal is approved by the court." The section was last touched by P.A. 102-72, effective January 1, 2022.

Source: 755 ILCS 5/27-1, 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.

Illinois compensation map

Which figure the Illinois fee rule actually measures

A percentage is not a fee answer until its base is known. This Illinois map identifies the compensation standard and the accounting figure it uses, while keeping court approval and extraordinary work outside an invented total.

QuestionRecorded Illinois answerCarry into the case
What route is being screened?Small estate affidavit (755 ILCS 5/25-1)Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route.
What property and basis count?personal probate property only; gross value for this route.Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately.
What is the amount screen?$150,000Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut.
What is the time or deadline record?No waiting-period number verified; Illinois combines a notice-based bar date (755 ILCS 5/18-3: at least 6 months from first publication or 3 months from mailing) with an independent 2-year outer nonclaim bar from the date of death (755 ILCS 5/18-12). These run from different triggers and cannot honestly collapse into a single day count.Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number.
What does the cost record establish?No single statewide amount is published here; confirm the receiving court's current schedule.Ask the Circuit Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
What does compensation use?755 ILCS 5/27-1 entitles the representative to reasonable compensation for services. Illinois has NO statutory percentage schedule; the amount is what the court finds reasonable in the circumstances. The relevant base is the estate accounting.Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate.

Compensation record

The Illinois fee record, band by band

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.

Illinois has no tier table this site can price from the accepted record. The controlling record is 755 ILCS 5/27-1; read its quoted standard and ask the court how the fee is presented for approval.

Prepare a reasonable-compensation request

Because Illinois does not publish a percentage table here, the useful output is a record of the work and the accounting figure the court can review. Keep the will or appointment order, the the estate accounting the rule names, a dated task log, receipts, and a separate list of extraordinary work. This worksheet does not predict what the Circuit Court will approve.

Sec. 27-1. Fees of representative. A representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for his services,

Record to assembleWhy it matters to the Illinois review
Will, appointment, or compensation agreementShows whether a document states a fee or leaves the amount to the reviewed standard.
Accounting baseSeparates the estate accounting from the gross asset list.
Dated task and time recordConnects the requested amount to the administration work actually performed.
Receipts and extraordinary-work listKeeps expenses and separately reviewable services out of an unexplained round number.

Case-file context

Keep the Illinois answer with its neighboring conditions

A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed Illinois descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.

Route context

In Illinois, decedents' estates are administered in the Circuit Court of the county of residence. Personal estates of $150,000 or less (excluding SoS-registered motor vehicles) can be handled with a small estate affidavit instead of full probate. Filing fees are set by each county's circuit clerk.

The small estate affidavit is available where no letters of office are outstanding and the decedent's personal estate passing by intestacy or will is limited to tangible and intangible personal property not exceeding $150,000 (excluding motor vehicles registered with the Secretary of State) plus SoS-registered motor vehicles. Real property is not transferred by the affidavit.

Cost context

Illinois has no single statewide probate filing fee. The circuit clerk in each county sets fees under the Clerks of Courts Act, with amounts varying by county class, so the opening cost is county-specific.

No single statewide amount is published here; confirm the receiving court's current schedule.

Deadline context

Illinois combines a notice-based bar date (755 ILCS 5/18-3: at least 6 months from first publication or 3 months from mailing) with an independent 2-year outer nonclaim bar from the date of death (755 ILCS 5/18-12). These run from different triggers and cannot honestly collapse into a single day count.

Court-material note: Illinois probate is heard in the Circuit Court of the county where the decedent lived; the small estate affidavit under 755 ILCS 5/25-1 avoids opening a probate estate. Filing fees are set by each circuit clerk.

Arithmetic illustration

See the Illinois amount screen without mistaking it for a result

The recorded Illinois ceiling is $150,000, and it is tested against personal probate property only, on a basis this site records as gross value for this route. Counted that way, $112,500 sits below the Illinois 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 Illinois counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.

Illustrative counted amountComparison to the Illinois ceilingWhat it does not decide
$112,500Below $150,000Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties
$187,500Above $150,000Whether another statutory route or court process applies

Next evidence to collect

Bring the stated accounting base and the will or court instructions to the compensation discussion.

  1. Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
  2. Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
  3. Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
  4. Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.

Official material

Illinois probate is heard in the Circuit Court of the county where the decedent lived; the small estate affidavit under 755 ILCS 5/25-1 avoids opening a probate estate. Filing fees are set by each circuit clerk.

Source trail

Records used by this Illinois map

  • 755 ILCS 5/25-1755 ILCS 5/25-1 - Small estate affidavit; reviewed August 9, 2026
  • 755 ILCS 5/27-1755 ILCS 5/27-1 - Fees of representative; reviewed August 9, 2026
  • 755 ILCS 5/18-3755 ILCS 5/18-3 - Notice - Publication; reviewed August 9, 2026
  • 755 ILCS 5/18-12755 ILCS 5/18-12 - Limitations on payment of claims; reviewed August 9, 2026

Compensation source

Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.

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