The §736.1007 attorney fee, explained

Where the number comes from

• §736.1007 borrows probate's attorney-fee schedule (§733.6171(3)) and applies 75% of it to ordinary services in the initial administration of a revocable Trust after the settlor's death.
• The schedule slides with the Trust's value. Worked example: on a $500,000 Trust, probate's schedule yields $15,000 — so the Trust-administration presumption is $11,250.
• It is a presumption of reasonableness, not a required fee. The Trustee and the attorney set the actual fee by agreement — a flat fee below the presumption is common, and extraordinary services are separate.
• The Trustee's own compensation is a different question — §736.0708 governs that, not §736.1007.

The written disclosures a fee agreement must make

An attorney who intends to charge based on the schedule must make these disclosures in writing to the Trustee — verbatim from the statute — and obtain the Trustee's timely signature acknowledging them:

1. There is not a mandatory statutory attorney fee for trust administration.
2. The attorney fee is not required to be based on the size of the trust, and the presumed reasonable fee provided in subsection (2) may not be appropriate in all trust administrations.
3. The fee is subject to negotiation between the trustee and the attorney.
4. The selection of the attorney is made at the discretion of the trustee, who is not required to select the attorney who prepared the trust.
5. The trustee shall be entitled to a summary of ordinary and extraordinary services rendered for the fees agreed upon at the conclusion of the representation. The summary shall be provided by counsel and shall consist of the total hours devoted to the representation or a detailed summary of the services performed during the representation.

The governing provisions

• Compensation of attorney for the personal representative

  § 733.6171 ↗