How Much Can a Trustee Charge in Texas?
Texas law entitles a trustee to reasonable compensation and leaves the number to the trust instrument. Market custom runs 0.5% to 1.0% of trust assets per year.
Texas trustee fee at a glance
Fee basis
Reasonable compensation (no statutory schedule)
Customary range
0.5% – 1.0% of trust assets per year
Court involvement
No pre-approval; court reviews on dispute
- $250,000 trust$1,250 – $2,500
- $750,000 trusttypical$3,750 – $7,500
- $2,000,000 trust$10,000 – $20,000
- $5,000,000 trust$25,000 – $50,000
TX rates preloaded — free, no login.
Three people land here. A successor trustee deciding what they may take from a trust nobody asked them to run. A family member wondering whether the fee their sibling-trustee drew is fair, another checking the arithmetic before signing. One Texas rule answers all three. This page walks through it in plain terms, starting with what are trust minutes and why the record matters.
Texas law in one paragraph
Subsection (a): unless the terms of the trust provide otherwise, the trustee is entitled to reasonable compensation from the trust for acting as trustee. Subsection (b): if the trustee commits a breach of trust, the court may in its discretion deny him all or part of his compensation. That is all of it.
The governing law is Tex. Prop. Code § 114.061. Read the first clause carefully, because it flips who is in charge. The statute is a default, not a rule the trustee obeys. Your trust instrument sits above it, whether it sets a fee or says the trustee serves without compensation (yes, even the zero). Only a silent trust gets the § 114.061 fallback. There is no percentage, no formula, and no definition of “reasonable” anywhere in the Texas Trust Code.
For family trusts, the people running the trust decide what “reasonable” looks like. And since nothing was filed with a court in advance, an objection lands in front of a judge after the fact. Which argues for settling the number while everyone is still on speaking terms.
Putting the fee in writing, with the beneficiaries’ signature
Texas gives families a second lever, and almost nobody uses it. Section 114.001(a) counts a writing delivered to the trustee and signed by all beneficiaries with full legal capacity as a valid source of compensation. In plain terms, a short signed agreement can set the fee.
That is a remarkably practical tool. Trustee proposes the fee, beneficiaries sign off, the signed writing fixes the arrangement. No court. No amendment. Every beneficiary with full legal capacity must sign it. An email chain where half the siblings stay silent does not cut it.
Where does a signed fee agreement live? With the trustee’s records, next to the record-keeping file. Most trustees attach the fee discussion to trust meeting minutes recording who proposed the fee and when the writing was delivered.
The minutes do not replace the signature under Texas law. They are the evidence trail: proposed, reviewed, delivered.
Four Texas trusts and their annual fees
No statute fixes a number, so Texas trustees and beneficiaries settle on one. Customary practice for routine administration runs about 0.5% to 1.0% of trust assets per year:
One rental property held for two grandkids.
Brokerage account and annual filings. Many Texas family trusts land here.
Multiple properties or complex holdings.
These bands are market practice, not law. Hourly or flat is just as legitimate.
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So what does “reasonable” actually mean here?
Nobody defines it. The Texas Trust Code never says, that is the honest answer. What practice has settled on is reasonableness judged the way you would judge a professional bill. Services performed count, customs count, quality of the work counts. A trustee with clean records is in a stronger position than one with the same fee and no paperwork. In practice the whole thing comes down to judgement.
Any fee structure can fit inside that judgement. Some trustees bill hourly, legitimate here because the reasonable total is the ceiling, not the method. Others take a percentage of assets, or a flat annual amount. The fee structures differ, the test does not.
One more wrinkle. The review is not a single event. Beneficiaries who signed a fee agreement rarely reopen it. Beneficiaries who never agreed can raise it years later. Agree on paper early, because documenting the decision makes the number stick.
Four things Texans get wrong about trustee fees
“The law says 5%.”
The most persistent myth in Texas estate law. The 5% commission comes from Estates Code § 352.002, probate’s personal representatives, not trustees. Wrong number, wrong statute.
“The statute overrides my trust’s fee terms.”
Backwards. Section 114.061(a) applies only “unless the terms of the trust provide otherwise.” The instrument controls, and the statute fills in when it is silent. Read the instrument first, always.
“The trustee can lose the fee.”
For cause, yes. Under § 114.061(b), a trustee who commits a breach of trust can have part or all of the fee denied by a court. An after-the-fact remedy, not a cutoff, but the fee is contingent on clean administration.
“Expenses need pre-approval.”
No. Section 114.063 makes expense reimbursement self-executing. The trustee pays ordinary expenses from the trust without a court order. Litigation and other contested items go under § 114.064.
When co-trustees serve, the combined fee splits by the relative value of each one’s services, and it stays reasonable. Heading to court over a fee? WingPoint’s trust litigation course covers what Texas courts weigh.
If you’re the family trustee
Texas families usually handle trustee compensation the informal way. A number floated at the kitchen table, a nod from everybody, done. There’s nothing wrong with the kitchen table, the risk is what never got written down.
The fix is the one this page keeps circling. Put the fee in a writing, deliver it to the trustee, get every beneficiary with full legal capacity to sign. Section 114.001(a) makes that binding. Where the signatures won’t come, record the meeting in trust minutes drafted for Texas requirements. And a trustee charging nothing should document that too. The waived fee recorded is the cleanest evidence there was never a duty to charge.
Written sign-off from beneficiaries is the strongest position a Texas family trustee can occupy. Short of that, minutes beat a memory contest.
Run your numbers right here
Enter the trust's approximate size — this page uses Texas's customary annual range (TX rates locked).
Estimated annual fee in Texas
$1,250 – $2,500
Texas: Tex. Prop. Code § 114.061. Reasonable compensation unless the trust terms provide otherwise. No statutory schedule (the 5% figure applies to probate executors, Est. Code § 352.002). Customary 0.5–1% of assets.
Texas trustee fee questions
Does Texas law set a percentage for trustee fees?▾
No. Tex. Prop. Code § 114.061(a) entitles the trustee to reasonable compensation unless the trust terms provide otherwise, and Texas prescribes no percentage or schedule for trustees. The 5% commission belongs to probate executors under Estates Code § 352.002, a different role. Market custom runs 0.5% to 1.0% of assets yearly. The trustee fee calculator shows the band in dollars.
Who decides what “reasonable” means?▾
Ordinarily the trustee and beneficiaries settle it by agreement. A writing delivered to the trustee and signed by all beneficiaries with full legal capacity can set or confirm the compensation (§ 114.001(a)). When nobody agrees, a court decides after the fact. Recording the agreement in minutes keeps the sequence straight. How to write trust minutes has the mechanics.
Can the trustee lose the fee?▾
Yes, for cause. Under Tex. Prop. Code § 114.061(b), a trustee who commits a breach of trust can have all or part of the fee denied. Forfeiture is an after-the-fact court remedy, not a cutoff. A trustee who documents fee decisions has an easier time showing the fee was earned.
Do two co-trustees each charge a full fee?▾
Not if the aggregate would be unreasonable. Texas practice treats their combined compensation as one reasonable pool, divided by the relative value of services each performed. If the instrument specifies the split, that controls. The state fee comparison is a reality check.
Does the trustee need court approval before taking expenses?▾
No. Section 114.063 makes expense reimbursement self-executing. The trustee pays ordinary costs without asking a court first. Contested items go under § 114.064. Pre-approval is simply not part of the Texas scheme.
How Texas compares to other states
Trustee-fee law differs less than you’d guess, but the differences that exist are the kind that change conversations.
| State | Statute | Fee basis |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | Tex. Prop. Code § 114.061 | Reasonable compensation unless the trust provides otherwise (no schedule). |
| Florida trustee fees | Fla. Stat. § 736.0708 | Reasonable compensation, customary 0.5% to 1.0% of AUM. |
| California | Cal. Prob. Code §§ 15680–15681 | Reasonable compensation, no statutory percentage for private trusts. |
| New York | N.Y. SCPA § 2309 | Statutory commission schedule, two-thirds principal and one-third income. |
| Arizona | Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 14-10801 | Reasonable compensation under Arizona’s Uniform Trust Code. |
Paid a fee this year? Record it in the minutes.
The wizard produces Texas-ready trust minutes recording who approved the fee and the basis. That record is what a fee dispute under § 114.061(b) turns on, so let the machine hold the pen.
Start My Free DraftWhere TrustMinutes fits
Whatever fee you land on, the file should show how you got there. The record-keeping requirements cover the fee decision, and the state law sits in trust minutes requirements in Texas.
TrustMinutes drafts one meeting’s minutes free. For ongoing governance, TrustOffice is the paid platform at trustoffice.app.
When a fee ends up contested, our sister service WingPoint covers the litigation side at wingpointtrust.com.
This page is general information, not legal or tax advice for a specific trust. See our disclaimer and consult a Texas estate-planning attorney on a live matter.
Updated October 2026.
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