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A lay (non-professional) executor has no right to charge the estate for their time unless the will expressly authorises it with a “charging clause.” Professional executors — solicitors, accountants, and banks — are entitled to charge reasonable fees under the Trustee Act 2000 when acting in a professional capacity. Where there is no charging clause and the executor is not a professional, the only route to payment is a unanimous voluntary agreement by all adult beneficiaries who are together absolutely entitled to the estate. This guide describes the law of England and Wales.
Administering an estate can take hundreds of hours of work — dealing with banks, HMRC, solicitors, property sales, and beneficiary queries. Many lay executors are surprised to discover that despite this effort, they have no automatic legal right to charge. This guide explains the rules clearly, including how to ensure payment is legally sound if the family wants to compensate a lay executor.
The default position in English and Welsh law is that the office of executor is a gratuitous one. An executor appointed under a will is expected to carry out their duties without payment, unless the will itself authorises remuneration. This has been the legal position for centuries and is reinforced by case law.
The rationale is that the executor is usually a trusted friend or family member of the deceased, who chose them for personal reasons rather than professional expertise. The law therefore does not presume that payment was intended — that must be expressed clearly in the will.
This does not mean an executor receives nothing from the estate. Executors are entitled to be reimbursed for all reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred in administering the estate — postage, travel to meet solicitors or visit properties, court fees, publication costs for the section 27 notice, and so on. Expenses reimbursement is different from remuneration for time.
An executor who unilaterally deducts a fee from the estate without authority could face a claim by the beneficiaries for the return of that amount, plus interest. Every authorised payment for time traces back to one of three things: a charging clause in the will, section 29 of the Trustee Act 2000, or the written agreement of beneficiaries who are together absolutely entitled.
The position is different for professional executors — typically solicitors, accountants, banks, and trust corporations. Part V of the Trustee Act 2000 applies to personal representatives as it does to trustees, by virtue of section 35. Section 29 gives a right to reasonable remuneration, but read section 29(5) first: the section does not apply at all if any provision about entitlement to remuneration has been made by the will or by an enactment. It is the fallback for a will that is silent, not an addition to a charging clause.
Where it does apply, it splits in two:
"Acts in a professional capacity" is defined by section 28(5): acting in the course of a profession or business that includes providing services in connection with the management or administration of trusts, where the services actually provided fall within that description. Section 29(4) is explicit that remuneration is payable even where the work could have been done by a lay trustee — so the test is who the executor is, not how specialised the task was.
In practice, solicitors and banks appointed as executor will always have a written fee agreement in place — either through a charging clause in the will or through a separate retainer letter. Their fees are charged at their normal professional rates and are payable as an expense of the estate, before distribution to beneficiaries.
The SRA Transparency Rules cover this work by name. Rule 1.3(b) applies them to “the collection and distribution of assets belonging to a person following their death, where these are within the UK and the matters are not contested”, and rule 1.5 requires the firm to publish the total cost or, where that is not practicable, the average cost or range of costs, the basis of charges, the disbursements, and whether VAT applies. If you are a beneficiary concerned about professional executor fees, ask for the breakdown and for the basis on which the fee is charged.
Expenses vs. remuneration: an important distinction
Any executor — lay or professional — is entitled to claim reimbursement of genuine out-of-pocket expenses from the estate. This is not the same as charging for time. Expenses include travel costs, postage, court fees, professional valuations instructed on behalf of the estate, and similar direct costs. Keep receipts for all expenses claimed.
A will can expressly authorise an executor to charge for their time. Such a provision is called a charging clause. A typical charging clause reads something like:
“Any executor or trustee of this will who is engaged in a profession or business may charge and be paid all reasonable fees and expenses for work done by them or their firm in connection with the administration of my estate, even if that work could have been done by a lay person.”
Some charging clauses are broader — authorising any executor (not just a professional) to charge at a specified rate or on a time basis. Whether a lay executor can charge depends on the precise wording.
Key questions when interpreting a charging clause:
A charging clause is construed on its own wording. If it does not cover the charge, section 29 does not fill the gap: section 29(5) shuts the section out as soon as the will has made any provision about remuneration at all.
Where there is no charging clause in the will and the executor is not a professional, the beneficiaries can unanimously agree to pay the executor a voluntary payment — known as an ex gratia payment. For this to be valid:
No executor fee of any kind reduces the inheritance tax bill, and this is misunderstood in both directions. Section 4(1) of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 charges tax on the value of the estate immediately before death, so a cost incurred afterwards does not come off it; the one post-death expense the Act expressly allows is reasonable funeral expenses, under section 172. Professional executor fees are still a proper expense of the estate and are paid out of it ahead of beneficiaries — they reduce what beneficiaries receive, not the taxable estate. An ex gratia payment to a lay executor is not an estate expense at all: it comes out of what the beneficiaries have agreed to give up.
The tax treatment of executor fees depends on whether the executor is acting in a professional or personal capacity:
HMRC decides these questions on the substance of the arrangement rather than the label put on it, so the safe assumption is that a payment for work done is reportable until you have established otherwise. Failure to report taxable income carries penalties.
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