Expert: Kris Paden - 5/3/2006

Question
Hi. As an AllExperts volunteer myself, I really appreciate your help.

A friend of my wife just lost her mother. The friend and her sister and brother are trying to decide whether to have the brother be the executor or hire one. If they were to do that,what kind of executor fee should they expect? I do not know the exact size of the estate, but would estimate it being less than $200,000. The family lives here in Illinois.

Any guidance you can give me would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Answer
Peter, thank you for your question, and please give my condolences to your wife's friend and her family.  

I practice in California, and am not quite sure how Illinois law differs from California.  I will tell you how it works generally in CA, and then you can go to "findlaw.com" and follow the links for state statutes or codes for Illinois, and look under categories such as "decedents' estates" or "probate."

In CA, the deceased names the executor in their will.  If the named executor declines, then any other interested person can petition the court to be named executor.  The named executor has 30 days after notice of the death of the decedent or they can be deemed to have waived the right to appointment as personal representative.

If there is no will/executor, the public administrator in the county where the estate will be administered will petition the court to be named as the public administrator (i.e. executor).  The public administrator, as well as the attorney for the public admininstrator, is entitled to the same statutory fees as a private executor.  In CA the fees are set forth as a tiered percentage of the gross estate value.

For an estate valued at $200k, the percentage is 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, and 2% of the next $800,000.

As to whom to select, there are pros and cons as you probably guessed.  A family member may know the family better, and may know the deceased person's wishes better.  A family member may also keep administrative fees down.  But, a family member may not be experienced with handling estates, or may not be impartial.  A public adminstrator may not know the family as well, may incur higher administrative fees, but has experience in adminstering estates, and has no emotional bias.

I hope this helps your wife's friend.

Sincerely, Kris Paden, Esq.
krispaden@earthlink.net
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~krispaden/