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Pennsylvania personal representative compensation

Pennsylvania executor fee calculator

20 Pa.C.S. § 3537 provides that the court shall allow the personal representative such compensation as is, in the circumstances, reasonable and just, and may calculate it on a graduated percentage. There is NO statutory percentage schedule; courts commonly reference informal fee guides (e.g., the Johnson estate schedule) but the statute states only a reasonableness standard.

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

Pennsylvania estate snapshot

Gross probate propertyNot yet counted
Court chargeSet locallyPennsylvania has no statewide probate filing fee. Each county's Register of Wills sets its own fee schedule (commonly graduated by estate value), so the opening cost varies by county.
Scheduled executor compensationMore information needed2 asset entries have no value entered.20 Pa.C.S. § 3537 provides that the court shall allow the personal representative such compensation as is, in the circumstances, reasonable and just, and may calculate it on a graduated percentage. There is NO statutory percentage schedule; courts commonly reference informal fee guides (e.g., the Johnson estate schedule) but the statute states only a reasonableness standard.

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 Pennsylvania executor compensation works

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

Pennsylvania 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

Pennsylvania 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

The court shall allow such compensation to the personal representative as shall in the circumstances be reasonable and just, and may calculate such compensation on a graduated percentage.

How the amount is fixed

20 Pa.C.S. § 3537 provides that the court shall allow the personal representative such compensation as is, in the circumstances, reasonable and just, and may calculate it on a graduated percentage. There is NO statutory percentage schedule; courts commonly reference informal fee guides (e.g., the Johnson estate schedule) but the statute states only a reasonableness standard.

Keep the estate accounting, time and task log, receipts, and any will or compensation agreement together. Before taking a fee, ask the Orphans' Court Division (Register of Wills) 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.

Pennsylvania leaves the percentage to the court, and says so in one sentence

20 Pa.C.S. § 3537 is titled simply "Compensation," and reads in full: "The court shall allow such compensation to the personal representative as shall in the circumstances be reasonable and just, and may calculate such compensation on a graduated percentage."

Two things follow from that wording. First, there is no statutory rate in Pennsylvania — the commonly circulated graduated tables are customary schedules that a court may find persuasive, not figures the Commonwealth has enacted. Second, the graduated approach is permissive: the statute says the court "may" calculate compensation that way, which leaves room for a flat or time-based allowance when that is the reasonable and just answer.

Because the test is "in the circumstances," the evidence that supports a Pennsylvania fee is the record of what the estate actually required: the accounting base, the time and responsibility assumed, and the results obtained. A personal representative who keeps a contemporaneous task log is arguing from the statute; one who quotes a percentage table is arguing from custom.

Source: 20 Pa.C.S. § 3537, 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.

Pennsylvania compensation map

Which figure the Pennsylvania fee rule actually measures

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

QuestionRecorded Pennsylvania answerCarry into the case
What route is being screened?Settlement of small estates on petition (20 Pa.C.S. § 3102)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 with statutory exemptions not classified by this worksheet.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?No waiting-period number verified; The Pennsylvania framework combines the personal representative's one-year at-risk period after the first complete advertisement of the grant of letters (20 Pa.C.S. § 3532) with separate provisions on claims against distributed property; there is no single statutory day count that safely summarizes creditor exposure.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 Orphans' Court Division (Register of Wills) about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
What does compensation use?20 Pa.C.S. § 3537 provides that the court shall allow the personal representative such compensation as is, in the circumstances, reasonable and just, and may calculate it on a graduated percentage. There is NO statutory percentage schedule; courts commonly reference informal fee guides (e.g., the Johnson estate schedule) but the statute states only a reasonableness standard. The relevant base is the estate accounting.Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate.

Compensation record

The Pennsylvania 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.

Pennsylvania has no tier table this site can price from the accepted record. The controlling record is 20 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 3537; read its quoted standard and ask the court how the fee is presented for approval.

Prepare a reasonable-compensation request

Because Pennsylvania 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 Orphans' Court Division (Register of Wills) will approve.

The court shall allow such compensation to the personal representative as shall in the circumstances be reasonable and just, and may calculate such compensation on a graduated percentage.

Record to assembleWhy it matters to the Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania, a will is probated and letters are granted by the county Register of Wills, with the Orphans' Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas handling disputes and small-estate petitions. Estates of $50,000 or less in personal property may be settled on petition; filing fees are set by each county.

On petition, the Orphans' Court Division may settle a small estate where the property (exclusive of real estate and of § 3101 property payable to family/funeral directors, but including personal property claimed as the family exemption) has a gross value not exceeding $50,000. Real property is excluded.

Cost context

Pennsylvania has no statewide probate filing fee. Each county's Register of Wills sets its own fee schedule (commonly graduated by estate value), so the opening cost varies by county.

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

Deadline context

The Pennsylvania framework combines the personal representative's one-year at-risk period after the first complete advertisement of the grant of letters (20 Pa.C.S. § 3532) with separate provisions on claims against distributed property; there is no single statutory day count that safely summarizes creditor exposure.

Court-material note: Pennsylvania probate is opened at the county Register of Wills; contested matters go to the Orphans' Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas. Filing fees and many forms are county-specific and not published statewide.

Arithmetic illustration

See the Pennsylvania amount screen without mistaking it for a result

The recorded Pennsylvania ceiling is $50,000, and it is tested against personal probate property only, on a basis this site records as gross value with statutory exemptions not classified by this worksheet. Counted that way, $37,500 sits below the Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.

Illustrative counted amountComparison to the Pennsylvania 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

Pennsylvania probate is opened at the county Register of Wills; contested matters go to the Orphans' Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas. Filing fees and many forms are county-specific and not published statewide.

Source trail

Records used by this Pennsylvania 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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