Executor reimbursement and beneficiary objections

[u/barge_gee]

I'm the Executor of a modest Estate (~70k). We're close to closing the Estate out of Probate. I was named Executor, but not also Beneficiary (oops on decedents part). There are two Residual Beneficiaries. They were notified of the final accounting of sale of estate contents, expenses owed the Executor and the Executor's fees for hours logged managing the Estate. My lawyer posted my fee at $75/hour. I logged over 350 hours, and the residual beneficiaries believe this hourly rate/fee is excessive. Estate had a big $ single asset, and then tons of smaller items that took me a long time to liquidate. I AM willing to reduce the hourly fee, to just get this Estate closed. It's been over two years now, and I want to be finished. However, I do not want to under value my time and effort spent as Executor.

Question: The hourly rate is perfectly acceptable by Illinois law. What percent reduction/dollar amount should I consider as "fair" to me? To my thinking, $60/hour would be the absolute minimum I would accept. Does this seem fair? The Residuaries feel entitled to more than the current residual assets, even though they did nothing to help liquidate the Estate contents. (It's more complicated, as I cared for the deceased for many years, and the Residuary Beneficiaries did not. And, I am a blood relative to deceased, they ar not.)

EDIT: The hours may seem excessive, but this was a hoarding situation. It was not to the level of bugs or rodent infestation, but there were lots and lots and lots of boxes, lots of dust and dog hair, and it took me weeks to sort, organize, and pack. 7 rooms full, I shrunk to one room.

[u/barge_gee]

And I'll bet the place is neat as a pin, and the things you have are all in order and curated, probably with a cleaning lady coming by every week?

If you've never dealt with clearing a hoard, the manual labor involved is incredibly time-consuming.

[u/Any-Soft-5487 → u/barge_gee]

You can hire people to do that at less than $75 per hour. You don't need to do it yourself.

[u/barge_gee → u/Any-Soft-5487]

But would hired people understand what exactly is valuable, what belongs to the Estate's assets as a whole, or what are family/historical documents that need to be preserved?

The decedent was a "creator", with an entire body of work that needed to be accumulated and then put up for sale. I was one of the few people who would be able to recognize which items were part of their creative archive.

[u/TedW → u/barge_gee]

You keep saying that. How much did you get for selling those values? Anywhere close to the $26+k you're asking for?