17 Jan How much is the executor commission on this $3.24M estate?

Q. I am one of three executors of an estate that’s approximately $3.24 million. We are trying to determine the commissions to take for 2022. The first commission is the income commission of 6%, to be divided 2% to each of us. We understand this calculation. The second commission is the corpus commission, which says: 1) 5% on the first $200,000 of all corpus received by the executor; 2) 3.5% on the excess over $200,000 up to $1 million; 3) 2% on the excess over $1 million; and 4) 1% of all corpus for each additional executor provided that no one executor shall be entitled to any greater commission than that which would be allowed if there were but one executor involved. We don’t understand the calculation for the fourth point. Can you help?
— Needing help

A. Determining the correct executor commission, as you see, can be complex.

As you noted, this is laid out in state law.

According to N.J.S.A. 3B:18-14, if there is more than one executor, the total corpus commission is increased by 1% of the gross value of the estate for each additional executor, said Shirley Whitenack, an estate planning attorney with Schenck, Price, Smith & King in Florham Park.

However, she said, no executor may receive an amount greater than a single executor would receive.

“Calculating the corpus commission based on a gross estate valued at $3.24 million would result in a corpus commission of $147,600 split among the executors, but no executor can receive more than $82,800,” Whitenack.

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This story was originally published on Jan. 17, 2023.

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