However, Compensation For A Civil Proceeding Separate From The Conservatorship Could Not Be Compensated Under 1471; Rather Probate Code Section 2430 Requisites Had To Be Followed If Quasi-Contractual Recovery Was Being Sought For That Work.
The Probate Code has many provisions allowing for compensation to attorneys in different contexts; however, the strictures under some of those provisions need to be followed and other provisions need to be followed where the strictures in some provisions limit recovery. Conservatorship of Krueger, Case No. E084601 (4th Dist., Div. 2 Mar. 10, 2026) (unpublished) is a nicely reasoned unpublished opinion showing that to be the case where independent counsel was appointed to represent conservatee in conservatorship proceedings.
There, an attorney appointed to represent a conservatee was awarded attorney’s fees for services in the conservatorship proceeding, properly authorized under Probate Code section 1471. However, over the objections of a beneficiary (who was found to have standing to appeal as an aggrieved party based on inheritance rights vis-à-vis the conservatee), the trial court also awarded counsel fees in a separate civil litigation matter. That latter award was reversed as an abuse of discretion. The problem was that section 1471 has precise categories of what can be compensated for a conservatee’s attorney, with the civil litigation not falling into any of those categories. The attorney’s quasi-contractual recovery for work on the civil litigation had to be brought under Probate Code section 2430 as a debt owed by a conservatee, but it has specific procedures allowing the conservator to object and then obtain a court ruling on the propriety of the compensation—none of which happened. The matter had to be remanded accordingly. Finally, the “fees on fees” determination had to be revisited based on the reversal of the fee compensation for the civil litigation.