New Jersey personal representative compensation
N.J.S.A. 3B:18-14 permits 5% of the first $200,000 of corpus received, 3.5% of the excess through $1 million, and 2% above $1 million.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch October 3, 2026.
Each additional fiduciary receives 1% subject to the statutory cap, and a court may reduce materially excessive commissions. The separate income commission under 3B:18-13 remains UNKNOWN because no current official machine-fetchable text was obtained.
The calculator applies the New Jersey schedule to the value you enter, measured against the gross value of the probate estate. Extraordinary services such as litigation, tax work or managing real property are approved separately on top, and a fee the will fixes controls unless the court is asked to change it.
N.J.S. 3B:18-14 sets corpus commissions on a declining scale: 5% on the first $200,000 of all corpus received by the fiduciary; 3.5% on the excess over $200,000 up to $1,000,000; 2% on the excess over $1,000,000; and 1% of all corpus for each additional fiduciary — "provided that no one fiduciary shall be entitled to any greater commission than that which would be allowed if there were but one fiduciary involved."
The statute is unusually protective of the fiduciary on the way down. Commissions "may be reduced by the court having jurisdiction over the estate only upon application by a beneficiary adversely affected," and only on "an affirmative showing that the services rendered were materially deficient or that the actual pains, trouble and risk of the fiduciary in settling the estate were substantially less than generally required for estates of comparable size." A general objection that the fee looks large is not that showing.
Extra work is compensated separately. N.J.S. 3B:18-16 lets the court, on an intermediate or final settlement of accounts, allow corpus commissions in addition to the schedule "on a showing that unusual or extraordinary services have been rendered."
Long administrations can draw commissions as they go. Under N.J.S. 3B:18-17 a fiduciary may take, annually and without court allowance, one-fifth of 1% of the value of the corpus where there is a single fiduciary, with an increment for each additional fiduciary. N.J.S. 3B:18-18 lets the fiduciary value each item either at its "presumptive value" when received or, at the fiduciary’s option, at its value at the end of the period.
Source: N.J.S. 3B:18-14, 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.
The rate is only half of the answer; the other half is the number the rate is applied to, and in New Jersey that number is specific. The reviewed rule measures compensation against the All corpus received by the fiduciary. The enacted schedule applies to corpus received; income compensation is separate and is not modeled.
Each band's rate applies only to its own slice; worked at two amounts:
| Band of the base | Rate | Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| on the first $200,000 | 5% | $10,000 |
| on the next $800,000 | 3.5% | $3,500 |
| Total on this base | $13,500 | |
| Band of the base | Rate | Compensation |
|---|---|---|
| on the first $200,000 | 5% | $10,000 |
| on the next $800,000 | 3.5% | $21,000 |
| Total on this base | $31,000 | |
Illustrations at round numbers, not a quote for a real estate.
Reviewed source note: Commissions on all corpus received by the fiduciary may be taken as follows: 5% on the first $200,000 of all corpus received by the fiduciary; 3.5% on the excess over $200,000 up to $1,000,000; 2% on the excess over $1,000,000; and 1% of all corpus for each additional fiduciary provided that no one fiduciary shall be entitled to any greater commission than that which would be allowed if there were but one fiduciary involved.
New Jersey record: 3/3 verified, 14 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction