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Maine personal representative compensation

Maine executor fee calculator

A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation, not a statutory percentage. A will compensation provision may be renounced before qualification when there is no compensation contract with the decedent; the representative may also renounce all or part of the fee.

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

Maine estate snapshot

Gross probate propertyNot yet counted
Court chargeSet locallyThe opening fee is county-specific. Do not substitute one county’s schedule or an average for a statewide amount.
Scheduled executor compensationMore information needed2 asset entries have no value entered.A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation, not a statutory percentage. A will compensation provision may be renounced before qualification when there is no compensation contract with the decedent; the representative may also renounce all or part of the fee.

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 Maine executor compensation works

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

Maine 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

Maine 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

A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for the personal representative's services. If a will provides for compensation of the personal representative and there is no contract with the decedent regarding compensation, the personal representative may renounce the provision before qualifying and be entitled to reasonable compensation. A personal representative also may renounce the personal representative's right to all or any part of the compensation. A written renunciation of fee may be filed with the court.

How the amount is fixed

A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation, not a statutory percentage. A will compensation provision may be renounced before qualification when there is no compensation contract with the decedent; the representative may also renounce all or part of the fee.

Keep the estate accounting, time and task log, receipts, and any will or compensation agreement together. Before taking a fee, ask the Probate Court (county) 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.

Maine compensation map

Which figure the Maine fee rule actually measures

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

QuestionRecorded Maine answerCarry into the case
What route is being screened?Collection of personal property by affidavitConfirm 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; net of enforceable liens and encumbrances.Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately.
What is the amount screen?No numeric ceiling verifiedUse the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut.
What is the time or deadline record?30 days after death; Maine combines a four-month publication bar, the later of four months after publication or 60 days after actual notice, and a nine-month-from-death outer limit for predeath claims. These independent triggers cannot be reduced to one honest days value.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 Probate Court (county) about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
What does compensation use?A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation, not a statutory percentage. A will compensation provision may be renounced before qualification when there is no compensation contract with the decedent; the representative may also renounce all or part of the fee. The relevant base is the estate accounting.Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate.

Compensation record

The Maine 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.

Maine has no tier table this site can price from the accepted record. The controlling record is 18-C M.R.S. § 3-719; read its quoted standard and ask the court how the fee is presented for approval.

Prepare a reasonable-compensation request

Because Maine 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 Probate Court (county) will approve.

A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for the personal representative's services. If a will provides for compensation of the personal representative and there is no contract with the decedent regarding compensation, the personal representative may renounce the provision before qualifying and be entitled to reasonable compensation. A personal representative also may renounce the personal representative's right to all or any part of the compensation. A written renunciation of fee may be filed with the court.

Record to assembleWhy it matters to the Maine 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 Maine 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 Maine 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

Maine’s county Probate Courts administer estates. The small-estate affidavit counts the entire net estate but collects personal property, and its statutory base ceiling is adjusted for inflation annually rather than remaining a fixed $40,000.

After 30 days, a successor may collect personal property when the entire estate, wherever located and less liens and encumbrances, is within the inflation-adjusted § 3-1201 ceiling and no personal-representative case is pending or granted. The current annual adjusted ceiling must be obtained from the county Probate Court; the affidavit does not transfer real property.

Cost context

The opening fee is county-specific. Do not substitute one county’s schedule or an average for a statewide amount.

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

Deadline context

Maine combines a four-month publication bar, the later of four months after publication or 60 days after actual notice, and a nine-month-from-death outer limit for predeath claims. These independent triggers cannot be reduced to one honest days value.

  • The operative affidavit cap changes with the year of death and is not the unadjusted $40,000 printed in § 3-1201.
  • County fee schedules and annual adjusted-value postings were not available from a single statewide official publication.

Court-material note: Maine’s Probate Courts are county courts rather than a division of the Maine Judicial Branch; statewide court resources do not supply one operative county fee. Section 3-1201(3) requires each county Probate Court to publish the inflation-adjusted affidavit value annually. Maine's probate courts are county courts and sit outside the state Judicial Branch, so their shared portal at maineprobate.net -- not a state judiciary domain -- is the official statewide entry point. The shared portal at maineprobate.net refuses automated requests, so it is named here rather than linked: this site publishes only court links it has proven reachable. Search for it directly, or contact the Probate Court of the county where the decedent lived.

No numeric shortcut is available for Maine

This registry does not establish a numeric Maine ceiling from an accepted primary source. The safe next step is to follow the reason and source lane on this page, then ask the Probate Court (county) for the current rule rather than importing a neighboring state\'s amount.

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

Maine publishes no court artifact in this registry. Maine’s Probate Courts are county courts rather than a division of the Maine Judicial Branch; statewide court resources do not supply one operative county fee.

Maine’s Probate Courts are county courts rather than a division of the Maine Judicial Branch; statewide court resources do not supply one operative county fee.

Section 3-1201(3) requires each county Probate Court to publish the inflation-adjusted affidavit value annually.

Source trail

Records used by this Maine map

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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