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New Mexico personal representative compensation

New Mexico executor fee calculator

A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation, not a percentage schedule. If a will provides compensation and no contract with the decedent controls, the representative may renounce the will provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation, or 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.

Asset 1

Asset 2

Your working estimate

New Mexico estate snapshot

Gross probate propertyNot yet counted
Court chargeMore information neededInformal probate and appointment in county Probate Court (NMSA 1978 § 34-7-14)2 asset entries have no value entered. A blank amount is not treated as zero, so the charge cannot be computed.More information neededFormal or contested estate proceeding in District Court (NMSA 1978 § 34-6-40)2 asset entries have no value entered. A blank amount is not treated as zero, so the charge cannot be computed.Court charges only, for the proceeding named beside each figure. That proceeding is not always the route screened above.
Scheduled executor compensationMore information needed2 asset entries have no value entered.A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation, not a percentage schedule. If a will provides compensation and no contract with the decedent controls, the representative may renounce the will provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation, or 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 New Mexico executor compensation works

In New Mexico, the personal representative (executor) is the person the court appoints, or the will nominates, to administer the estate. New Mexico 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 Mexico fee is whatever those authorities set — not a national rule of thumb.

New Mexico 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

New Mexico 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

45-3-719. Compensation for personal representatives. A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for his services. If a will provides for compensation of the personal representative and there is no contract with the decedent regarding compensation, he may renounce the provision before qualifying and be entitled to reasonable compensation. A personal representative also may renounce his right to all or any part of the compensation. A written renunciation of the fee may be filed with the court.

How the amount is fixed

A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation, not a percentage schedule. If a will provides compensation and no contract with the decedent controls, the representative may renounce the will provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation, or 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 (informal) / District Court (formal) 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.

New Mexico compensation map

Which figure the New Mexico fee rule actually measures

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

QuestionRecorded New Mexico 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?$50,000Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut.
What is the time or deadline record?30 days after death; New Mexico has separate four-month publication, later-of-publication-or-60-day actual-notice, and one-year-from-death outer limits. A single days field would misstate the trigger framework.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 Probate Court (informal) / District Court (formal) about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
What does compensation use?A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation, not a percentage schedule. If a will provides compensation and no contract with the decedent controls, the representative may renounce the will provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation, or 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 New Mexico 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.

New Mexico has no tier table this site can price from the accepted record. The controlling record is NMSA 1978 § 45-3-719; read its quoted standard and ask the court how the fee is presented for approval.

Prepare a reasonable-compensation request

Because New Mexico 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 (informal) / District Court (formal) will approve.

45-3-719. Compensation for personal representatives. A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for his services. If a will provides for compensation of the personal representative and there is no contract with the decedent regarding compensation, he may renounce the provision before qualifying and be entitled to reasonable compensation. A personal representative also may renounce his right to all or any part of the compensation. A written renunciation of the fee may be filed with the court.

Record to assembleWhy it matters to the New Mexico 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 New Mexico 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 Mexico 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 Mexico divides probate between county Probate Courts and state District Courts. Informal probate and appointment may begin in either, at a $30 statewide Probate Court fee (§ 34-7-14); formal estate proceedings are exclusively in District Court, at the $117 civil docket fee (§ 34-6-40). The $50,000 successor affidavit itself does not perfect real-estate title.

After 30 days, a successor may use an affidavit if the entire estate, wherever located and less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $50,000 and no personal-representative application is pending or granted. The affidavit collects tangible personal property and cannot perfect title to real estate. Section 45-3-1203 separately permits summary distribution when the net estate does not exceed enumerated allowances and administration, last-illness, and funeral expenses.

Cost context

New Mexico splits the opening fee by court. Informal probate and appointment filed in the county Probate Court cost $30 (NMSA 1978 § 34-7-14, "a filing fee of thirty dollars ($30.00) for each probate case"). A formal or contested estate proceeding — which District Court has exclusive original jurisdiction over — costs the $117 district-court civil docket fee (NMSA 1978 § 34-6-40). If a case properly filed in Probate Court is later transferred to District Court, no additional District Court filing fee is charged (§ 34-7-10(B)).

2 published schedules; the proceeding and value basis control the total.

Deadline context

New Mexico has separate four-month publication, later-of-publication-or-60-day actual-notice, and one-year-from-death outer limits. A single days field would misstate the trigger framework.

  • NMOneSource’s HTML item is a shell and the official PDF text has highly spaced extraction; assertions must match the harvested spacing exactly.
  • The official PDF exposes no edition-level currentness marker; per-section amendment histories are pinned instead (34-7-14 reenacted 2023; 34-6-40 last amended 2009).
  • District Court's $117 fee is the base civil docket fee; judicial districts running an ADR program add a $15 surcharge (§ 34-6-45) and rule-set electronic-services fees (§ 34-6-48) may also attach, so the delivered total in some districts exceeds $117.

Court-material note: New Mexico has a dual track: county Probate Courts and District Courts share original jurisdiction over informal probate/appointment, while District Court has exclusive original jurisdiction over formal estate proceedings. The opening fee is set statewide by statute for each court: $30 in the county Probate Court (NMSA 1978 § 34-7-14) and a $117 civil docket fee in District Court (NMSA 1978 § 34-6-40). Use the state directory to reach the correct court.

Arithmetic illustration

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

The recorded New Mexico ceiling is $50,000, and it is tested against probate property within the rule's stated scope, on a basis this site records as net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. Counted that way, $37,500 sits below the New Mexico figure and $62,500 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 New Mexico counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.

Illustrative counted amountComparison to the New Mexico ceilingWhat it does not decide
$37,500Below $50,000Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties
$62,500Above $50,000Whether 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

New Mexico has a dual track: county Probate Courts and District Courts share original jurisdiction over informal probate/appointment, while District Court has exclusive original jurisdiction over formal estate proceedings.

The opening fee is set statewide by statute for each court: $30 in the county Probate Court (NMSA 1978 § 34-7-14) and a $117 civil docket fee in District Court (NMSA 1978 § 34-6-40). Use the state directory to reach the correct court.

Source trail

Records used by this New Mexico 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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