Quick answer: Massachusetts sets no statutory percentage. Under M.G.L. c.190B, § 3-719, a personal representative is entitled to "reasonable compensation for services," and courts apply the seven-factor test from McMahon v. Krapf, 323 Mass. 118 (1948) — still cited today by Massachusetts appellate courts. Get an illustrative estimate with the Massachusetts executor fee calculator.
Reasonable compensation, no formula
M.G.L. c.190B, § 3-719: "A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for services." That's the operative language — no dollar table, no percentage, no cap.
The McMahon v. Krapf test: seven specific factors
McMahon v. Krapf, 323 Mass. 118, 123 (1948), confirmed across multiple later appellate decisions citing it verbatim (Corcoran v. Thomas, Grimes v. Perkins School for the Blind, Sullivan v. Sullivan): reasonableness turns on "the size of the estate, the marketable nature of the assets, the factual and legal questions involved in administering the estate, the time reasonably required to do the work, the skill and ability employed, the amounts usually paid others for similar work, and the results accomplished." None of these factors is decisive by itself — a court weighs them together.
What can go wrong: unnecessary work and misconduct
McMahon v. Krapf, 323 Mass. at 123: a personal representative "is not entitled to compensation for services rendered which were unnecessary." A later case, Sullivan v. Sullivan (1957), added that "a fiduciary who commits a breach of his fiduciary duty imperils his compensation" — though Massachusetts courts have said that rule "is not inflexible," so a single misstep doesn't automatically wipe out the entire fee.
A will-condition works differently from ordinary stated compensation
Official comment to § 3-719: ordinarily, if a will states the personal representative's compensation and there's no separate contract with the decedent, the personal representative can renounce that provision before qualifying and get reasonable compensation instead. But if the will's fee provision is "framed as a condition on the nomination as personal representative, it could not be renounced" that way — a real, specific distinction worth understanding before assuming a will's stated fee is always optional.
Serving as both personal representative and attorney
Official comment to § 3-719: the statute "has no bearing on the question of whether a personal representative who also serves as attorney for the estate may receive compensation in both capacities" — that's a separate question, governed elsewhere, not resolved by the compensation statute itself.
The unpaid alternative: voluntary personal representative
M.G.L. c.190B, § 3-1201: a "voluntary personal representative" — a simplified role for smaller estates — must handle the necessary funeral, last-sickness, and administration expenses, then pay the deceased's debts, "without fee for his services." This is a genuinely distinct role from the standard personal representative under § 3-719, and it comes with no compensation at all.
A sense of typical figures
Because there's no statutory number, hourly rates for a family personal representative's own time in Massachusetts vary by county and complexity; illustrative estimates commonly fall in the $30-$60/hr range for non-professional, family-member administration, with professional fiduciaries charging considerably more. These aren't statutory figures — only the reasonableness standard and the McMahon v. Krapf factors are.
Estimate for general guidance only, not legal advice. Based on M.G.L. c.190B § 3-719, § 3-1201, and McMahon v. Krapf, 323 Mass. 118 (1948). Massachusetts sets no statutory percentage or fixed hourly rate; illustrative rate ranges are not set by law. Verify with the probate court or a licensed Massachusetts attorney.