Suffolk County Executor Fee

A Suffolk County executor fees lawyer is the person who advises you when you have questions about how an executor will be paid for the administration of an estate. New York state law recognizes that executors play numerous important roles in the management and closing out of an estate.

This is why executors are entitled to receive compensation. State laws in New York outline exactly how much an executor can be paid. The different services provided by an executor include:

• Having the will probated through which process the Surrogate Court determines if the will is valid.
• Collecting, identifying and inventorying property.
• Paying debts.
• Paying taxes.
• Distributing property.

Since this is a time consuming process and may vary depending on whether or not will challenges have been filed or other issues emerge, the executor is entitled to compensation. The New York Surrogate Court Procedure Act outlines how much an executor can be paid. If you have further questions about the compensation paid to an executor, you are not alone and should schedule a consultation with a Suffolk County executor fees attorney.

When a problem occurs, however, you have to be prepared to file a petition to ask for an accounting inside the case. Beneficiaries are allowed to ask for an accounting to be able to see where the money in the estate was spent. If this determines that the executor broke the law, then the beneficiary can file a request with the court to have the executor removed from his or her duties entirely.

A Suffolk County executor fees lawyer will advise you about what to do if you believe that the executor has acted inappropriately or negligently and can explain to you how the different fees paid out to the executor relate to the work he or she has done. Most beneficiaries have questions about how executors get paid and the monies paid to executors. Furthermore, if they identify instances of fraud, you can challenge the executor to have him or her removed.

An executor that steals and instances of executor theft are serious which is why you should retain a Suffolk County executor fees lawyer to assist you. The fees go from 2% and 5% of the total amount of the estate money that the executor gets and removes from the estate as distribution.

Executor fees are governed by state law and if you can find other instances of the executor inappropriately transferring funds or making sales to benefit themselves rather than the beneficiaries, this is an issue of malfeasance. It is not necessary for the testator of the will to have included the fee term in the will for the executor to be paid. By law, however, executors are entitled to receive reasonable fees for the work they do as fiduciaries. The Surrogate Court fees determine that a payment of 5% is due to executors paying out on money not exceeding $100,000, whereas an estate worth more than $2 million has a rate of 2%. If more than one executor is associated with the case, then the fees must be apportioned among the executors based on the services provided by two executors. The rules are slightly different for corporate executors and could be based on a fee included directly in the will. Certain assets do not pass through probate such as a life insurance policy or an annuity.

As a fiduciary of the estate, it is important that an executor recognize that the fee they charge is in line with statutory requirements, otherwise they open themselves up to the possibility of a lawsuit.