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New Jersey personal representative compensation

New Jersey executor fee calculator

N.J.S.A. 3B:18-14 permits 5% of the first $200,000 of corpus received, 3.5% of the excess through $1 million, and 2% above $1 million. Each additional fiduciary receives 1% subject to the statutory cap, and a court may reduce materially excessive commissions. The separate income commission under 3B:18-13 remains UNKNOWN because no current official machine-fetchable text was obtained.

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.

Asset 1

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Your working estimate

New Jersey estate snapshot

Gross probate propertyNot yet counted
Court chargeSet locallyCounty-specific and filing-detail-dependent. Obtain the current probate/administration fee directly from the Surrogate in the county of venue; no statewide total is asserted.
Scheduled executor compensation$0N.J.S.A. 3B:18-14 permits 5% of the first $200,000 of corpus received, 3.5% of the excess through $1 million, and 2% above $1 million. Each additional fiduciary receives 1% subject to the statutory cap, and a court may reduce materially excessive commissions. The separate income commission under 3B:18-13 remains UNKNOWN because no current official machine-fetchable text was obtained.

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 New Jersey executor compensation works

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

The calculator above applies New Jersey's reviewed statutory rule to the compensable estate value you enter. The New Jersey 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 New Jersey, the compensable amount is measured against the gross value of the probate estate, so two New Jersey 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 New Jersey result will not reflect the rule the statute actually applies.

If the New Jersey 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 New Jersey statutory rule becomes the presumptive measure of reasonable compensation for the work.

New Jersey is one of the few states that prints the commission rates

N.J.S. 3B:18-14 sets corpus commissions on a declining scale: 5% on the first $200,000 of all corpus received by the fiduciary; 3.5% on the excess over $200,000 up to $1,000,000; 2% on the excess over $1,000,000; and 1% of all corpus for each additional fiduciary — "provided that no one fiduciary shall be entitled to any greater commission than that which would be allowed if there were but one fiduciary involved."

The statute is unusually protective of the fiduciary on the way down. Commissions "may be reduced by the court having jurisdiction over the estate only upon application by a beneficiary adversely affected," and only on "an affirmative showing that the services rendered were materially deficient or that the actual pains, trouble and risk of the fiduciary in settling the estate were substantially less than generally required for estates of comparable size." A general objection that the fee looks large is not that showing.

Extra work is compensated separately. N.J.S. 3B:18-16 lets the court, on an intermediate or final settlement of accounts, allow corpus commissions in addition to the schedule "on a showing that unusual or extraordinary services have been rendered."

Long administrations can draw commissions as they go. Under N.J.S. 3B:18-17 a fiduciary may take, annually and without court allowance, one-fifth of 1% of the value of the corpus where there is a single fiduciary, with an increment for each additional fiduciary. N.J.S. 3B:18-18 lets the fiduciary value each item either at its "presumptive value" when received or, at the fiduciary’s option, at its value at the end of the period.

Source: N.J.S. 3B:18-14, 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.

New Jersey compensation map

Which figure the New Jersey fee rule actually measures

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

QuestionRecorded New Jersey answerCarry into the case
What route is being screened?Affidavit for assets without administration (intestate estate)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 for this route.Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately.
What is the amount screen?$20,000Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut.
What is the time or deadline record?No waiting-period number verified; Verified: written sworn claims are to be presented within nine months from death. This is a death-trigger presentation/protection rule, not a publication or appointment deadline, and the act protects distributions made before late presentation rather than stating a simple extinction rule. No separate publication-trigger, actual-notice-trigger, or appointment-trigger deadline was verified.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 Surrogate's Court / Superior Court Chancery Division, Probate Part about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
What does compensation use?N.J.S.A. 3B:18-14 permits 5% of the first $200,000 of corpus received, 3.5% of the excess through $1 million, and 2% above $1 million. Each additional fiduciary receives 1% subject to the statutory cap, and a court may reduce materially excessive commissions. The separate income commission under 3B:18-13 remains UNKNOWN because no current official machine-fetchable text was obtained. The relevant base is gross probate property.Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate.

Compensation record

The New Jersey 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.

Compensation bandRateRead with
Up to $200,0005%gross probate property
The next band through $1,000,0003.5%gross probate property
Above the prior band2%gross probate property

Case-file context

Keep the New Jersey 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 New Jersey 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

New Jersey's county Surrogates handle uncontested probate and intestate affidavits; contested probate matters proceed in the Superior Court, Chancery Division, Probate Part.

For an intestate estate, a surviving spouse/civil-union partner/domestic partner may use the affidavit when total real and personal assets do not exceed $50,000. If none survives, one heir may proceed for all heirs at $20,000 or less with the other heirs’ written consent. The enacted text states no waiting period.

Cost context

County-specific and filing-detail-dependent. Obtain the current probate/administration fee directly from the Surrogate in the county of venue; no statewide total is asserted.

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

Deadline context

Verified: written sworn claims are to be presented within nine months from death. This is a death-trigger presentation/protection rule, not a publication or appointment deadline, and the act protects distributions made before late presentation rather than stating a simple extinction rule. No separate publication-trigger, actual-notice-trigger, or appointment-trigger deadline was verified.

  • N.J.S.A. 3B:18-13 income commission is UNKNOWN.
  • Current county Surrogate filing total is variable/UNKNOWN.
  • No machine-fetchable statewide Surrogate directory or statewide form was available; NJ Courts blocks automated access.
  • No separate creditor actual-notice, publication, or appointment deadline was verified.

Court-material note: No machine-fetchable statewide Surrogate directory or statewide small-estate form was found. NJ Courts returned HTTP 403 on every tested path, so the dossier supplies an HTTP-200 official county Surrogate entry point and instructs the user to select the county of venue. Probate is filed with the Surrogate of the county where the decedent lived, and each Surrogate sets its own filing charges, so the statewide directory is the starting point rather than a single county page. New Jersey Courts serves its deeper probate and Surrogate pages only to interactive browsers, so this site links the self-help centre and leaves the reader to navigate from there rather than publishing a link it cannot prove reachable. The New Jersey Legislature's Chapter Laws page (https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/chapter-laws) is the official enacted-law entry point, not a court self-help or forms directory, so it is described here rather than listed as a court resource; the court-owned material is the NJ Courts self-help centre linked above.

Arithmetic illustration

See the New Jersey amount screen without mistaking it for a result

The recorded New Jersey ceiling is $20,000, and it is tested against probate property within the rule's stated scope, on a basis this site records as gross value for this route. Counted that way, $15,000 sits below the New Jersey figure and $25,000 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 New Jersey counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.

Illustrative counted amountComparison to the New Jersey ceilingWhat it does not decide
$15,000Below $20,000Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties
$25,000Above $20,000Whether 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

No machine-fetchable statewide Surrogate directory or statewide small-estate form was found. NJ Courts returned HTTP 403 on every tested path, so the dossier supplies an HTTP-200 official county Surrogate entry point and instructs the user to select the county of venue.

Probate is filed with the Surrogate of the county where the decedent lived, and each Surrogate sets its own filing charges, so the statewide directory is the starting point rather than a single county page.

Source trail

Records used by this New Jersey map

The figure the New Jersey schedule is applied to

The rate is only half of the answer; the other half is the number the rate is applied to, and in New Jersey that number is specific. The reviewed rule measures compensation against the All corpus received by the fiduciary. The enacted schedule applies to corpus received; income compensation is separate and is not modeled.

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 New Jersey number the rule does not support, even when the percentage is applied correctly. The base is the part most often got wrong.

How the New Jersey schedule composes, worked through

Each band applies its own rate to its own slice of the All corpus received by the fiduciary, and the compensation is the sum of the slices — not a single rate on the whole figure. Worked at two representative amounts, the New Jersey schedule breaks down as follows.

$300,000 All corpus received by the fiduciary
Band of the baseRateCompensation
on the first $200,0005%$10,000
on the next $800,0003.5%$3,500
Total on this base$13,500
$800,000 All corpus received by the fiduciary
Band of the baseRateCompensation
on the first $200,0005%$10,000
on the next $800,0003.5%$21,000
Total on this base$31,000

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 All corpus received by the fiduciary the New Jersey accounting establishes, and a court may allow more for extraordinary services or less where a will or agreement fixes a different figure.

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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