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

Quick answer: No, Montana co-personal representatives don't automatically each collect their own full compensation with a combined total that grows by headcount. Mont. Code Ann. § 72-3-631 contains no separate provision for multiple personal representatives — the same "reasonable compensation" standard governs, and the value of each co-personal representative's actual services determines what they're individually owed. Estimate the underlying reasonable range first with the Montana executor fee calculator.

No statutory split, before or after the 2019 reform

Oversight applies to each person's own share

Each co-personal representative's work is assessed on its own

Because reasonableness under § 72-3-631 turns on the value of services actually rendered, a court dividing compensation among co-personal representatives (in a contested case) would naturally look at what each person individually contributed — not an automatic even split, and not a separate full fee multiplied by however many people are serving.

Real coordination costs, same as anywhere

Co-personal representatives in Montana share fiduciary duties, and disagreements about pace, priorities, or how to divide tasks can slow administration or invite disputes — a practical consideration independent of how compensation eventually gets assessed.

Worked example

Two siblings serve as co-personal representatives of a Montana estate. One handles the bulk of the administrative work; the other contributes occasionally. A sole personal representative doing all the work might reasonably bill 40 hours at $40/hr, or $1,600.

Each figure reflects that person's own reasonable compensation for their own time, combining to roughly the same total a sole personal representative's full administration would have reasonably cost.

Montana co-personal representatives — frequently asked questions