Fourth District, Division 2 Saw No Basis For Fee Reduction.
Although abuse of discretion is the guiding standard for fee amount reductions, it will not prevail where the record showed there was a lot of work, the fees were not out of proportion to trust assets, and no reason for the reduction was set forth.
Scott v. Key, Case No. E049906 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Jan. 20, 2011) (unpublished) is a situation where a lower court slashed
an attorney’s fee request by a trustee in an eighth accounting. However, it did so after observing that numerous court hearings were required and not indicating why fees should be cut. Aside from that, the trust assets were not insignificant.
Result on appeal? Reversed. The requested fees were not out of proportion to the size of the trust and the reduction was counterintuitive to the trial court’s own comments on the attorney needing to attend numerous hearings.
