Does the Personal Representative of an Estate Receive Compensation?

If you are putting together an estate plan, one of the most important decisions you need to make is who should be your personal representative -- the person who will implement the instructions you are creating. If you have recently lost a family member or friend, you might have been nominated to be their personal representative, or you might be considering applying for the job.

Being a personal representative can be a pain in the best circumstances, and a lot of work in more challenging circumstances. You may be wondering if the personal representative can be compensated for the time and effort put into the job. In Colorado, the answer is yes. In this video, Denver estate planning attorney Dan McKenzie of The McKenzie Law Firm, LLC (303-578-2745, www.themckenziefirm.com) discusses the factors that go into determining how much compensation a personal representative can receive.

Disclaimer: In this video, Dan reviews a statute. Sometimes statutes change, and that may have happened since this video was made. If you are serving as a personal representative, you are in a fiduciary position, meaning that you have to be extremely careful about doing anything that would benefit you at the expense of the estate's beneficiaries. You should strongly consider talking to a lawyer before compensating yourself.