Yes. In general, estate trustees are entitled to reasonable compensation for administering the estate. Several factors should be considered to determine what compensation is reasonable: instructions in the will, the size and complexity of the estate, the Trustee Act, input from the beneficiaries, and more. As a rule of thumb, estate trustees are usually entitled to 2 – 3% of the value of the estate.
Often, an estate trustee is also a beneficiary. For example, the deceased leaves everything in equal shares to their three children, but only one child is appointed as estate trustee. The child who is the estate trustee will receive compensation for administering the estate before the remaining assets are divided equally between all three children. Practically, this means the child who is estate trustee must take care to ensure their compensation is reasonable or else the other two children may contest the amount. This has the potential to result in an expensive dispute between the three children. The best approach is to have all beneficiaries agree to the amount of the estate trustee’s compensation.
