Route context
Virginia permits successors to collect a qualifying personal probate estate by affidavit after 60 days.
The entire personal probate estate must not exceed $75,000, and no personal representative application may be pending or granted.
Virginia personal representative compensation
Virginia executor fee calculator
Virginia uses a reasonable-compensation standard rather than a fixed statutory percentage.
Sources reviewed August 7, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.
How Virginia executor compensation works
In Virginia, the personal representative (executor) is the person the court appoints, or the will nominates, to administer the estate. Virginia compensation is governed by state statute and, where the statute permits, by the terms of the will or a court order, so the lawful Virginia fee is whatever those authorities set — not a national rule of thumb.
Virginia 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
Virginia 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. In stating and settling the account, the commissioner of accounts shall allow the fiduciary any reasonable expenses incurred by him and, except in cases in which it is otherwise provided, a reasonable compensation in the form of a commission on receipts or otherwise.
How the amount is fixed
Virginia uses a reasonable-compensation standard rather than a fixed statutory percentage.
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.
Virginia compensation map
Which figure the Virginia fee rule actually measures
A percentage is not a fee answer until its base is known. This Virginia map identifies the compensation standard and the accounting figure it uses, while keeping court approval and extraordinary work outside an invented total.
| Question | Recorded Virginia answer | Carry into the case |
|---|---|---|
| What route is being screened? | Small asset affidavit | 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? | $75,000 | Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut. |
| What is the time or deadline record? | 60 days after death; When a Virginia personal representative publishes notice to creditors, claims must be presented by the later of six months from first publication or 90 days after actual notice is mailed to a known disputed claimant (Va. Code § 64.2-508.1). The publication and actual-notice clocks run from different events, so they are stated separately, and Virginia fixes no single nonclaim bar running from death. | Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number. |
| What does the cost record establish? | 1 published schedule; the proceeding and value basis control the total. | Ask the Circuit Court about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings. |
| What does compensation use? | Virginia uses a reasonable-compensation standard rather than a fixed statutory percentage. The relevant base is the estate accounting. | Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate. |
Compensation record
The Virginia 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.
Virginia has no tier table this site can price from the accepted record. The controlling record is Va. Code § 64.2-1208(A); read its quoted standard and ask the court how the fee is presented for approval.
Prepare a reasonable-compensation request
Because Virginia 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.
A. In stating and settling the account, the commissioner of accounts shall allow the fiduciary any reasonable expenses incurred by him and, except in cases in which it is otherwise provided, a reasonable compensation in the form of a commission on receipts or otherwise.
| Record to assemble | Why it matters to the Virginia review |
|---|---|
| Will, appointment, or compensation agreement | Shows whether a document states a fee or leaves the amount to the reviewed standard. |
| Accounting base | Separates the estate accounting from the gross asset list. |
| Dated task and time record | Connects the requested amount to the administration work actually performed. |
| Receipts and extraordinary-work list | Keeps expenses and separately reviewable services out of an unexplained round number. |
Case-file context
Keep the Virginia 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 Virginia descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.
Cost context
Qualifying a personal representative costs nothing at $5,000 or less, then $20, $25, or $30 by estate value. Separately, Virginia levies a state probate tax of 10¢ per $100 of estate value (Va. Code § 58.1-1712), with no tax on estates of $15,000 or less, and a locality may add an optional tax equal to one-third of the state tax (Va. Code § 58.1-3805).
1 published schedule; the proceeding and value basis control the total.
Deadline context
When a Virginia personal representative publishes notice to creditors, claims must be presented by the later of six months from first publication or 90 days after actual notice is mailed to a known disputed claimant (Va. Code § 64.2-508.1). The publication and actual-notice clocks run from different events, so they are stated separately, and Virginia fixes no single nonclaim bar running from death.
- The affidavit concerns personal probate property.
- A will must be duly probated when one exists.
- Virginia imposes a STATE probate tax of 10¢ per $100 of the estate's value under Va. Code § 58.1-1712 (value measured under § 58.1-1713). It does not apply to estates of $15,000 or less. This is a state charge, not merely a local or optional one.
- On top of the state tax, Va. Code § 58.1-3805 lets any county or city add an optional LOCAL probate tax equal to one-third of the state tax. The two taxes are separate, and both are distinct from the clerk's appointment fee shown above.
Court-material note: The small-asset affidavit is prescribed by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia and is reached through the self-help centre. Virginia's probate tax is two separate charges: a state tax of 10¢ per $100 of estate value (Va. Code § 58.1-1712, none at or below $15,000) and an optional local add-on equal to one-third of the state tax (Va. Code § 58.1-3805). Both are separate from the clerk's appointment fee.
Arithmetic illustration
See the Virginia amount screen without mistaking it for a result
The recorded Virginia ceiling is $75,000, and it is tested against personal probate property only, on a basis this site records as gross value for this route. Counted that way, $56,300 sits below the Virginia figure and $93,800 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 Virginia counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.
| Illustrative counted amount | Comparison to the Virginia ceiling | What it does not decide |
|---|---|---|
| $56,300 | Below $75,000 | Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties |
| $93,800 | Above $75,000 | Whether 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.
- Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
- Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
- Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
- Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.
Official material
- Probate in Virginia, self-help centreSupreme Court of Virginia
The small-asset affidavit is prescribed by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia and is reached through the self-help centre.
Virginia's probate tax is two separate charges: a state tax of 10¢ per $100 of estate value (Va. Code § 58.1-1712, none at or below $15,000) and an optional local add-on equal to one-third of the state tax (Va. Code § 58.1-3805). Both are separate from the clerk's appointment fee.
Source trail
Records used by this Virginia map
- Va. Code § 64.2-601Code of Virginia, Small Asset Affidavit; reviewed August 7, 2026
- Va. Code § 17.1-275(A)(3)Code of Virginia, Clerk Fees; reviewed August 7, 2026
- Va. Code § 64.2-1208(A)Code of Virginia, Fiduciary Compensation; reviewed August 7, 2026
- Va. Code § 58.1-1712Code of Virginia, State Probate Tax; reviewed August 7, 2026
- Va. Code § 58.1-3805Code of Virginia, Optional Local Probate Tax; reviewed August 7, 2026
- Va. Code § 64.2-508.1(C)(4)Code of Virginia, Notice to Creditors for Presentation of Claims; reviewed August 7, 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.
Va. Code § 64.2-1208(A)
Reviewed source note: A. In stating and settling the account, the commissioner of accounts shall allow the fiduciary any reasonable expenses incurred by him and, except in cases in which it is otherwise provided, a reasonable compensation in the form of a commission on receipts or otherwise.