How the New Jersey executor commission actually works
Almost every summary online only mentions half of the story. New Jersey pays two separate statutory commissions, calculated completely independently.
1. The corpus commission — a tiered schedule
N.J.S.A. 3B:18-14: commissions on all corpus received by the fiduciary may be taken as 5% on the first $200,000, 3.5% on the excess over $200,000 up to $1,000,000, and 2% on the excess over $1,000,000. Corpus generally means the estate's principal assets — bank accounts, vehicles, business interests, life insurance payable to the estate, retirement accounts with no named beneficiary, and real estate owned by the decedent. Assets that pass outside probate (life insurance or retirement accounts with a named beneficiary, property held jointly with survivorship rights) generally aren't included.
2. A separate 6% commission on income — no court approval needed
N.J.S.A. 3B:18-13: "Commissions in the amount of 6% may be taken without court allowance on all income received by the fiduciary." This is genuinely separate from the corpus commission — interest, dividends, rents, and similar income the estate earns during administration generate their own 6% commission, on top of whatever the corpus commission produces. Income withheld for tax purposes still counts as "received" for this calculation.
3. Multiple fiduciaries: an additive allowance, capped per person
§ 3B:18-14: "1% of all corpus for each additional fiduciary provided that no one fiduciary shall be entitled to any greater commission than that which would be allowed if there were but one fiduciary involved." Each extra fiduciary beyond the first adds 1% of corpus to the aggregate commission pool — but no single fiduciary can walk away with more than a sole fiduciary would have received.
4. Reducing the commission: a real burden on the objecting beneficiary
§ 3B:18-14: the court may reduce the corpus commission "only upon application by a beneficiary adversely affected upon an affirmative showing that the services rendered were materially deficient or that the actual pains, trouble and risk of the fiduciary in settling the estate were substantially less than generally required for estates of comparable size." This isn't a general reasonableness review — the burden is specifically on the objecting beneficiary to prove one of these two things.
| Component | Rate |
|---|---|
| Corpus: first $200,000 | 5% |
| Corpus: next $800,000 | 3.5% |
| Corpus: above $1,000,000 | 2% |
| Income received | 6% (no court approval needed) |
| Each additional fiduciary | +1% of corpus (aggregate, capped per person) |