Estate Trustee Fees—How Much Does a Successor Trustee Get Paid?

Check the provisions of the revocable living trust if you're being asked to eventually serve as someone's successor trustee. Determine whether the grantor has made any mention of estate trustee fees.

Some grantors choose to limit the fees to a specific dollar amount, while others opt for allowing the payment of reasonable fees based on services rendered and applicable state law. Still others leave their successor trustee a specific bequest instead of a fee. This provides an income tax benefit for the successor trustee because bequests aren't taxable, but fees are taxed as ordinary income.

Applicable state law will take over if the revocable living trust is silent regarding fees, or if it provides for the payment of "reasonable" fees. Who's to say what's reasonable? The state's laws should provide guidance.  

A court might have to consider how complex the trust will be to administer or settle, whether the grantor's estate is likely subject to an estate tax, and whether the validity of the trust or the choice of successor trustee is likely to be challenged by trust beneficiaries. All these factors could result in more compensation under state law. 

State law will also dictate fees paid to each successor trustee if the grantor has named co-trustees to serve jointly, particularly if the revocable living trust is silent as to how much each individual is to be paid.

The laws in some states require that multiple fiduciaries divide the fee equally between them, while each fiduciary can collect the full fee that one fiduciary would be entitled in other jurisdictions. 

Some grantors name banks or investment firms to step in as their successor trustees, and this can further complicate the matter.

Find out if the revocable living trust specifies that an institutional fiduciary is entitled to receive compensation in accordance with its published fee schedule. These fee schedules are similar to the state laws that calculate an executor's or personal representative's fee as a percentage of the value of the gross estate.

State law will dictate the institution's fee if the revocable living trust is silent on this issue.

Some revocable living trusts appoint both a successor trustee and an attorney...or they'll appoint the same individual to both roles. 

Check to find out if the trust addresses the fees that are to be paid to an attorney who's also acting as the successor trustee. Sometimes the grantor and the attorney will enter into a written agreement as to what compensation the attorney will be entitled to receive in this case. 

Again, state law will dictate whether the attorney can collect fees as both the successor trustee and as the attorney for the trust if the revocable living trust is silent on this issue.

The successor trustee is entitled to be reimbursed for any expenses she's paid out of her own pocket, in addition to being paid for her services. These might include expenses that had to be paid before the successor trustee could take over the trust assets, such as doctor and funeral bills, utilities, property taxes, insurance, and storage fees.

Aside from this, travel expenses, mileage, and office supplies are all considered necessary expenses for administering the trust, and they'll be reimbursed to the successor trustee as well if she pays for them herself. 

Out of pocket expenses and reasonable trustee fees are typically paid periodically throughout the course of the trust administration.