How Much Does a Trustee Get Paid in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut?

The short answer: a trustee is entitled to be paid, and in New Jersey and New York the amount is set by statute unless the trust says otherwise. A New Jersey trustee may take 6 percent of the trust’s income each year plus an annual commission on principal of 5 dollars per thousand on the first 400,000 dollars and 3 dollars per thousand above that, with a further commission when principal is distributed. A New York trustee may take annual commissions of 10.50 dollars per thousand on the first 400,000 dollars, 4.50 dollars per thousand on the next 600,000, and 3 dollars per thousand above a million, plus 1 percent of principal paid out. Connecticut sets no schedule and allows “compensation that is reasonable under the circumstances.” Corporate trustees charge their own published fee schedules, and family trustees often serve for less or for nothing.

This article sets out the rules in each state, explains how the statutory figures translate into dollars, describes what professional trustees actually charge, and addresses the questions families ask most: whether a family member should take a fee, how co-trustees share it, and what a beneficiary can do about a fee that seems too high.

FREE WEBINAR

5 Things to Know About

Estate Planning

When You Turn Sixty-Five

Save the Date

Friday, Oct 9^th at 2:30pm

Does a Trustee Have to Be Paid?

No, but a trustee is entitled to be. Every state recognizes that administering a trust is work: managing investments, keeping records, filing fiduciary income tax returns, evaluating distribution requests, and answering to beneficiaries, sometimes for decades. A trustee who does that work may be compensated from the trust, and may also be reimbursed for expenses properly incurred. A trustee may also waive compensation, and family members frequently do.

The first place to look is the trust instrument. A trust that sets the trustee’s compensation, whether as a percentage, an hourly rate, a fixed amount, or by reference to a corporate trustee’s published schedule, governs. A trust that says the trustee serves without compensation governs too. Only when the document is silent do the statutory rules described below apply, and even then a court can adjust the result.

What Does New Jersey Allow?

New Jersey sets trustee commissions by statute in N.J.S.A. 3B:18-24 through 3B:18-29, and the trustee may take them annually without a court order.

Income commissions. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:18-24, “commissions in the amount of 6% may be taken without court allowance on all income received by the fiduciary.” On a trust earning 30,000 dollars a year in interest and dividends, that is 1,800 dollars.

Annual corpus commissions. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:18-25, the trustee may take each year “$5.00 per thousand dollars of corpus value on the first $400,000.00 of value of corpus and $3.00 per thousand dollars of the corpus value in excess of $400,000.00,” with a minimum of 100 dollars, computed on the trust’s value at the start of the period or, at the trustee’s option, at the end. On a 1 million dollar trust, that is 2,000 dollars on the first 400,000 plus 1,800 dollars on the remaining 600,000, or 3,800 dollars a year. Banks and trust companies are entitled instead to “such commissions as may be reasonable.”

Multiple trustees. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:18-25.1, when there are two or more trustees the total annual corpus commission may equal the single-trustee amount “plus one-fifth of the commissions for each fiduciary more than one,” and no single trustee may take more than a sole trustee would. Two trustees of the 1 million dollar trust may take 4,560 dollars between them, not 7,600.

Commissions on distribution. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:18-28, when the trust terminates or principal is distributed, the trustee may take an additional commission on the corpus distributed, on a schedule that depends on how long the trust held the assets and what annual commissions were already taken.

Court adjustment. Under N.J.S.A. 3B:18-25(e), any interested person may ask the court to review the reasonableness of the commissions, though the trustee is entitled to at least the statutory minimums; and under N.J.S.A. 3B:18-29 the court may allow additional corpus commissions “on a showing that unusual or extraordinary services have been rendered.” A trustee who skips commissions in one year does not waive them under N.J.S.A. 3B:18-26.

What Does New York Allow?

New York’s schedule is in Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act section 2309 and is more generous.

Annual commissions on principal. The trustee may take each year “$10.50 per $1,000 or major fraction thereof on the first $400,000 of principal,” “$4.50 per $1,000” on the next 600,000, and “$3.00 per $1,000” on all principal above 1 million. On a 1 million dollar trust, that is 4,200 dollars plus 2,700 dollars, or 6,900 dollars a year, ordinarily taken one-third from income and two-thirds from principal.

Commission on paying out principal. The trustee also receives “1 per cent” of principal paid out, at termination or on interim distributions.

Multiple trustees. Where principal is 400,000 dollars or more, each trustee receives a full commission, up to three trustees; if there are more than three, three full commissions are apportioned among them. Where principal is between 100,000 and 400,000 dollars, two full commissions are available. Below 100,000 dollars, a single commission is apportioned among the trustees according to services rendered. Two individual trustees of a 1 million dollar New York trust may therefore take 13,800 dollars a year between them, more than triple the New Jersey figure.

New York courts retain authority over commissions on an accounting, and a trustee who has neglected duties or mishandled the trust can be denied them.

What Does Connecticut Allow?

Connecticut adopted the Uniform Trust Code approach. Under General Statutes section 45a-499yy, “if the terms of a trust do not specify the trustee’s compensation, a trustee is entitled to compensation that is reasonable under the circumstances.” If the trust does specify compensation, the trustee is paid as specified, but “the court may allow more or less compensation if the duties of the trustee are substantially different from those contemplated when the trust was created” or “the compensation specified by the terms of the trust would be unreasonably low or high.” Under section 45a-499zz, the trustee is reimbursed for expenses properly incurred.

What is reasonable in Connecticut is decided case by case, with reference to the size and complexity of the trust, the time and skill required, the customary charges of corporate trustees in the area, and the results achieved. In practice, Connecticut individual trustees often use corporate fee schedules or an hourly rate as a benchmark, and the Probate Court reviews the fee if a beneficiary objects.

What Do Corporate Trustees Charge?

Banks and trust companies publish fee schedules, usually a percentage of assets under management on a sliding scale, with higher percentages on the first several hundred thousand dollars and lower percentages above a few million, plus minimum annual fees that make them uneconomical for small trusts. The percentage covers investment management as well as administration, and the trust may pay separate fees for tax preparation, real estate, or closely held business interests. New Jersey’s statute recognizes this by allowing banks “such commissions as may be reasonable” rather than the individual schedule. A family comparing an individual trustee to a corporate one should compare the corporate fee to the individual trustee’s commission plus the cost of an investment adviser the individual would hire.

Should a Family Member Take the Fee?

It depends on the family and on taxes. Trustee commissions are ordinary income to the trustee, reported on the trustee’s return and often subject to self-employment tax, while a distribution to a beneficiary is generally not taxable to the beneficiary. A child who is both trustee and a beneficiary of an equal share usually comes out ahead by waiving the commission and taking the money as inheritance. A child who is trustee but not a beneficiary, or whose share is small relative to the work, is entitled to be paid and should be. A trustee who does take a fee should document the time and work, take it on the statutory schedule or a written agreement with the beneficiaries, and report it as income.

Two cautions. A trustee who is also a beneficiary and takes an excessive fee is effectively taking from the other beneficiaries, and courts treat that as a breach of the duty of impartiality. And a trustee should never simply transfer money to themselves without a record; a trustee’s fee should appear in the trust’s books and on its accounting like every other transaction.

How Do Co-Trustees Share Compensation?

Under the statutes described above, New Jersey allows an extra fifth of the corpus commission for each additional trustee, to be divided among them, and New York allows a full commission for each trustee of a larger trust. A trust document can provide differently, and one that pairs a corporate trustee with a family member commonly provides that the corporate trustee takes its schedule and the family trustee takes a fixed sum or nothing. Our article on whether a trust can have two trustees covers how co-trustees divide the work.

What Can a Beneficiary Do About an Excessive Fee?

Ask for an accounting first. In all three states the trustee must keep records and account to the beneficiaries, and the accounting shows what was taken and when. If the fee exceeds the statutory schedule in New Jersey or New York without court approval, or is unreasonable in Connecticut, the beneficiary may object in the accounting proceeding or petition the court, which can reduce the fee, order repayment, and in serious cases remove the trustee. A trustee who took commissions properly under the statute or the document will usually be sustained; one who took them in a year the trust lost money through the trustee’s neglect, or who did little of the work, may not be.

Plan Well. Live Better.

Trustee compensation is easiest when the trust document decides it in advance, in terms the family understands. At Milvidskiy Law Group, we draft trusts that say who will be paid and how much, advise family trustees on what they may take and how to document it, and represent beneficiaries when a fee needs a second look. Learn more about our estate planning services.

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Trustee compensation depends on the trust instrument, the state whose law governs the trust, and the facts. The statutes and examples described were verified in September 2026 against the New Jersey Statutes, the New York Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act, and the Connecticut General Statutes and should be confirmed before relying on them.