Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in New York

Re: executor payment

You are entitled to two types of commissions, corpus and income. Corpus commissions are a sliding percentage of the probate assets (those covered and passing by the Will, not by asset registration or beneficiary designation). The rate is available at the NY Surrogate's web site. Assets passing by registration include jointly registered assets or accounts listed as POD or in trust for, and those passing by designation are like insurance proceeds where the policy names a beneficiary or a retirement account that names a beneficiary. In addition, you are entitled to an income commission on all income coming into the estate, at a flat rate of 6%. Be aware that commissions are income, reportable in your personal income tax return, but are not subject to social security taxes. You are also allowed to be reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses, like filing fees you pay, travel to NY, copies of death certificates, etc. Finally, if you are also a beneficiary of the estate, keep in mind that most assets you will get are not considered income, so it is better to take the distribution of assets, rather than be paid a commission. Whether or not you take a commission also takes into account the possible estate or inheritance taxes, so you need to compare tax rates. If you need more information, contact me directly.