Oconto, WI asked in Estate Planning and Probate for Wisconsin

Q: Is it normal to pay yourself a wage for working on the estate?

To save on costs, us 4 siblings are doing the house clean up, painting, items inventory to be sold off. One sibling has been keeping track of the hours worked on the estate (but hasn’t asked us to do the same, but claims she has been keeping track for us) doing all this and wants to pay us all an hourly wage for all hours above and beyond what we’ve equally have worked. as this would be an administrative cost, then at the end, the remainder be divided equally. Problem is, me and one sibling work full time and can not dedicate as much time in the week as the other two can to do what needs to be done. The executor of the will is one who has time on their hands. Is this normal to do or is this some back door way at getting more money.

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1 Lawyer Answer
Nina Whitehurst
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Answered

A: You can do that if you all agree but keep in mind that by doing so you are converting tax free inheritance money into taxable ordinary income.

Tim Akpinar agrees with this answer

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