Do You Get Paid To Be The Personal Representative Of An Estate?
Being the personal representative of a deceased person’s estate is work, and there are various reasons why someone might welcome the task or why someone might dread it. If the testator of the will named a family member as personal representative, the personal representative might see his or her role as personal representative as a familial duty, and if the task is challenging, the personal representative might hire a probate lawyer to help. By contrast, the decedent’s relatives might dread the job of the personal representative, because it might mean confronting long-standing family conflicts or the decedent’s troubled financial situation, which has now spilled over to affect the rest of the family. Whether you perceive your personal representative duties as an act of love or as a punishment, it is labor, and there are people who do it as their jobs. Whether you represent yourself in probate or hire a lawyer, you are entitled to financial compensation for your efforts, but there is some ambiguity about how much money you can take from the estate as your wages for your work as its personal representative. You may even have some money left to treat yourself after you pay part of your personal representative compensation to your Tampa probate lawyer.
How Much Does the Personal Representative of an Estate Get Paid?
Florida law sets guidelines for how much the personal representative can get paid, but these are maximum amounts, and it depends on the value of the estate:
- The personal representative can take three percent of an estate valued at less than $1 million. If the estate is worth more than $1 million, the personal representative can take $30,000 (three percent of $1 million), plus additional compensation for the additional value.
- The personal representative can take $2.5 percent of the first $4 million above $1 million. If the estate is worth $2 million, the personal representative gets $55,000, which is $30,000 for the first million and $25,000 for the second million.
- For the next $5 million above $5 million, the personal representative can take two percent. For any amount beyond $10 million, the personal representative can take $1.5 million.
What Happens When the Personal Representative Takes Too Much Money?
These are maximum amounts. Many personal representatives do not take this much, or else there would be little money left for the beneficiaries to inherit. If the beneficiaries believe that the personal representative is getting paid too much for his or her services, they have the right to raise this matter with the probate court, and the judge will decide how much the personal representative’s compensation should be.
Contact David Toback About Getting Paid for Probate
A Central Florida probate lawyer can help you get fair compensation for your work as personal representative of a deceased family member’s estate or stop the greedy family member who has taken on the role of personal representative from claiming too much of the estate. Contact David Toback in Tampa, Florida to set up a consultation.
Source:
estateexec.com/Docs/executor-fee-calculator/FL?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22195430635&gclid=CjwKCAjw2rrQBhBuEiwAarLWHSzgDVcugi-wlPJQZ5vA73CBvatTk3-bmjz5so_ZRDE9qP3JJAOLwRoCH9IQAvD_BwE
