Minnesota executor fees

Minnesota tells the court which three things it must consider

Minnesota Statutes § 524.3-719(a) is the uniform entitlement: reasonable compensation for services, renunciation of a will’s compensation provision before qualifying where no contract with the decedent governs it, renunciation of all or part of the fee, and a written renunciation that may be filed with the court.

Subsection (b) is Minnesota’s own addition, made by Laws 1979, ch. 137, § 3. It provides that in determining what is reasonable compensation “the court shall give consideration to the following factors: (1) the time and labor required; (2) the complexity and novelty of problems involved; and (3) the extent of the responsibilities assumed and the results obtained.”

Two details separate this from Nebraska’s longer list. Minnesota’s verb is “shall give consideration to,” which directs the court, where Nebraska’s § 30-2482(2) offers its seven items as “guides.” And Minnesota’s list leaves out the two market-facing factors Nebraska includes — the fee customarily charged in the locality, and the experience and reputation of the person doing the work. A Minnesota fee argument built on what other professionals in the county charge is arguing from something the statute did not list.

The section has not been amended since 1986, so the three factors have governed Minnesota reasonableness for four decades.

Source: Minn. Stat. § 524.3-719, read from the enacting state’s own published code on 2026-09-17. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.