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Arizona Co-Personal Representatives: How Is the Fee Split?

There's no commission pool to split in Arizona — each co-personal representative is paid for their own reasonable hours, not a share of one total.

A.R.S. § 14-3719 · A.C.J.A. § 3-303 FigureMyTax Editorial Team

By the FigureMyTax Editorial Team · How we calculate

Quick answer: Arizona doesn't work like states with a percentage-of-estate commission, so there's no single pool for co-personal representatives to divide. Because A.R.S. § 14-3719 ties compensation to each person's own actual, reasonable hours, each co-personal representative is separately entitled to reasonable compensation for the work they personally performed — evaluated on their own hours, skill, and rate, not a percentage split of one total. Estimate one person's share first with the Arizona executor fee calculator.

Why there's no pool to split

A.C.J.A. § 3-303 governs "compensation and reimbursement for services rendered by Professionals" — plural, individually. When two or more people serve as co-personal representatives, each is a separate fiduciary whose hours, skill level, and reasonable rate the court evaluates on their own merits under the same statewide factors (usual market rate, expertise, difficulty of the work, results achieved, and more). This is a structural difference from states like Georgia, North Carolina, or Ohio, where a single statutory commission is calculated for the estate and then divided among co-executors by contribution — Arizona never calculates a single total to divide in the first place.

One real limit: no double-billing the same event

A.C.J.A. § 3-303(D)(3)(e): "Each fiduciary... shall not bill for more than one person to attend hearings, depositions, and other court proceedings on behalf of an Estate, absent good cause." So while co-personal representatives each bill their own genuinely separate work, the guidelines specifically prevent both of them from separately charging the estate for attending the same single hearing or proceeding — that's treated as one billable event, not two.

Unequal contributions are normal, and expected

Because each co-personal representative's compensation tracks their own actual hours, it's entirely ordinary for one to end up with meaningfully more than the other — there's no assumption of an even split the way there might be with a percentage pool. A co-personal representative who did the bulk of the paperwork, asset marshaling, and court filings should reasonably bill more hours than one who mainly co-signed documents.

This differs from percentage-based states

In Georgia, North Carolina, and Ohio, the statute (or court practice) sizes one commission for the estate and then apportions it among co-executors by services rendered. Arizona skips that step entirely — there's no total to apportion, because compensation was never a percentage of the estate to begin with. The practical result is similar (more work generally means more pay), but the mechanism is different: division of a shared pool versus independent evaluation of each person's own hours.

Worked example

Two siblings serve as co-personal representatives of an Arizona estate. One handles most of the administrative work; the other contributes occasionally.

Co-personal representativeHoursRateCompensation
Sibling A (primary administrator)60 hrs$40/hr$2,400
Sibling B (occasional support)10 hrs$40/hr$400

Each figure is independently reasonable compensation for that person's own hours — there's no combined "total pool" being split 6-to-1; both amounts are simply what each sibling separately earned.

Facing probate in Arizona?

A local probate attorney can review your estate — many offer a free consultation.

Talk to an Arizona attorney

Arizona co-personal representatives — frequently asked questions

Do co-personal representatives in Arizona split one fee?

No, not the way percentage-of-estate states do. Because compensation is tied to each person's own actual hours, there is no single pool — each is separately entitled to reasonable compensation.

Can each Arizona co-personal representative bill their own hourly rate?

Yes, each is evaluated independently under the same A.C.J.A. § 3-303 factors — their own hours, skill level, and rate.

Can Arizona co-personal representatives both bill for attending the same hearing?

Generally no — absent good cause, only one fiduciary may bill for attending a given hearing or proceeding.

Is it normal for Arizona co-personal representatives to receive very different amounts?

Yes — since compensation tracks each person's own hours, unequal amounts are expected, unlike a pool-split state's assumed even division.

Does Arizona's approach require more paperwork than a pool-split state?

Each fiduciary keeps their own separate itemized time records — a different administrative shape than one shared accounting, though not necessarily more work overall.

Keep going

Arizona Executor Fee CalculatorYour estimate + PDF Arizona Executor Fee: How Much Is It?Reasonable compensation explained Arizona Executor Fee: Taxable? Can You Waive It?IRS rules + waiver Arizona Probate Cost CalculatorThe full cost picture

Estimate for general guidance only, not legal advice. Based on A.R.S. § 14-3719 and A.C.J.A. § 3-303. Each co-personal representative's compensation is evaluated independently on their own reasonable hours; there is no statutory pool divided by headcount. Duplicate billing for the same hearing or proceeding by more than one fiduciary is generally not permitted absent good cause. Consult an Arizona probate attorney to resolve a specific dispute over compensation between co-personal representatives.