New York Executor Commission Calculator

New York is one of the states that sets executor pay by formula rather than by “reasonableness,” and its word for that pay is commission. SCPA §2307 walks the estate’s value through tiers: 5% of the first $100,000, 4% of the next $200,000, 3% of the next $700,000, 2.5% of the next $2 million, and 2% of everything above $3 million. The tiers stack — a larger estate doesn’t re-rate the earlier dollars, it just adds thinner slices on top.

One honest wrinkle: the statute doesn’t actually quote those rates as single numbers. It computes commissions in two halves — one half-rate on the sums the executor receives into the estate, the other half on the sums paid out. For a normal estate that is fully administered, everything received is eventually paid out, so the two halves cover the same dollars and the combined rate works out to the tiers above. That is how practitioners and courts quote the schedule, and it is what this page applies. The split only starts to matter in unusual administrations where money comes in but doesn’t go out.

The base matters as much as the rates. Commissions are earned on the property the executor actually handles — so anything that passes outside the estate never enters the base: joint accounts that go to the surviving owner, life insurance and retirement accounts with named beneficiaries, living-trust assets. Specific bequests are excluded too — when the will says a particular item goes to a particular person (“I leave my ring to Alice”), the executor hands it over rather than earning commission on it. Both exclusions can make the commission much smaller than the size of everything the person owned.

A worked example

Take a $1,000,000 estate. The first $100,000 earns 5% = $5,000; the next $200,000 earns 4% = $8,000; the remaining $700,000 fills the 3% tier exactly = $21,000. The executor’s commission: $34,000, which is 3.4% of the estate. A $500,000 estate runs the same machine and stops sooner — $5,000 + $8,000 + $6,000 on the $200,000 that reaches the 3% tier — for $19,000, or 3.8%. The percentage falls as estates grow because the later tiers are thinner.

The commission pays for real work: marshaling accounts, selling property, paying debts and taxes, and accounting to beneficiaries over months or years. Whether it is taken is a separate decision — see the waiver question below — but the honest ledger of what came in and what went out is what the commission is computed on, and what the court and the beneficiaries will eventually want to see.

Common questions

Why do lawyers say the commission is half for receiving and half for paying out? Because that is literally how the statute writes it: one half-rate on sums received, the other half on sums paid out. For a fully administered estate the two halves cover the same dollars, so the combined rate matches the single schedule quoted above — and quoted by practitioners. The split can matter when significant sums are received but not paid out, which is a question for the estate’s attorney.

What property is excluded from the commission base? Anything that passes outside the estate — joint accounts, beneficiary designations, trust assets — and specific bequests, meaning property the will gives to a named person. The commission is earned on what the executor administers, not on everything the person owned.

Does the executor have to take the commission? No — it can be waived, wholly or partly, and family executors often do. The mechanics worth knowing: commissions are taxable income to the executor, while an inheritance generally isn’t, so an executor who is also a main beneficiary may keep more after tax by waiving and inheriting instead. The other side of the trade: the work is real, and an executor who isn’t a major beneficiary gives up genuine compensation by waiving. That’s a description of how the money moves, not a recommendation — a tax professional can run your actual numbers.

What if the will names more than one executor? On larger estates New York can allow each of multiple executors a full commission rather than a share of one — the estate’s size gates how many full commissions it supports, and co-executors of smaller estates split. Naming two or three executors can therefore multiply what the estate pays. If your will (or your parent’s) names co-executors, that is worth a specific conversation with the estate’s attorney.

This is the statutory arithmetic as of September 2026 — SCPA §2307, verified against the codes on Sep 2, 2026. It is mechanics, not legal or tax advice: courts approve commissions, statutes get amended, and your estate’s facts decide what applies.