Executor Compensation and Fees (GA)

In Georgia, the executor is known as a "personal representative".

Executor compensation for Georgia estates can be set by the will, a prior contract with the decedent, or an agreement with the executor and the estate heirs.

If none of those exist, Georgia statute sets compensation to:

• 2.5% of cash received
• 2.5% of cash disbursed
• a reasonable fee not to exceed 3% of the value of other assets disbursed
• 10% on all interest earned on money loaned to the estate by the executor

So, for example, a Georgia estate with $100K in cash and $300K in distributed assets would generate $14K in executor commissions.

A few points:

• Assets with named beneficiaries (such as IRAs) are not included in these calculations
• Money loaned by and repaid to the personal representative should not be included in the cash calculations above
• If taxes on income must be withheld, the amount withheld still counts as cash received
• In general, the larger the estate, the smaller the asset distribution fee percentage, with estates typically reaching into the $Ms before the percentage starts to drop
• If the will specifies a smaller amount, the executor can petition the court to receive the standard statutory amount instead

If there are multiple executors, the executor fee should be split according to services rendered. If there are successive executors, they should split the fee according to services rendered, except that the hand-off of cash and assets between executors is excluded from any calculations.

Finally, the court can also allow additional compensation for "extraordinary" services, such as the sale of real property, running a business, performing legal services yourself, preparing tax returns yourself, handling tax audits, and so on.

See Georgia Revised Probate Code § 53-6-60 and § 53-6-62.

EstateExec provides the following executor compensation estimator for GA estates, but please keep in mind that circumstances may vary, and that there may be special situations addressed by local custom or law. By using this estimator, you acknowledge that EstateExec provides any results as informational input only, not as legal advice, and cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies for, or misunderstandings about, any given estate.

You can use this calculator now, but if you use EstateExec to help you track the settlement process, it will automatically perform the calculations to provide inputs for the fields below (you can create an estate for free).