Cases: Probate

Arbitration/Probate/Sanctions: Trust Beneficiary Gets Hit With Settlement Agreement Fees/Costs And CCP § 128.7 Sanctions

Cases: Arbitration, Cases: Probate, Cases: Sanctions

Problem Was That Arbitrator Could Construe Settlement Agreement, While Probate Court Could Control Arbitrator Appointment Issues.             This is a case where a trust beneficiary in Estate of Buser Trust, Case No. Do63381 (4th Dist., Div. 1 July 3, 2014) (unpublished) somewhat stepped into litigation “goo,” especially where both a probate court and arbitrator were […]

Common Fund/Deadlines/Probate: Trust Beneficiaries Seeking Fees Under Common Fund Doctrine Should Have Been Allowed Something

Cases: Common Fund, Cases: Deadlines, Cases: Probate

CRC Rules on Filing Fee Motions Did Not Govern Probate Proceedings. ​The overall, convoluted probate dispute in Sheen v. Sheen, Case No. B243847 (2d Dist., Div. 8 July 1, 2014) (unpublished)—although colorful—does not involve extended discussion on the facts, although the appellate court did reverse lower court failures to award attorney’s fees to beneficiaries given

Probate/Special Fee Shifting Statute: $4,812 Venue Denial Order Properly Assessed Against Attorney In Probate Case

Cases: Probate, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

Bad Faith Not Required, But Found and Sustained On Appeal. ​The interesting thing about this blog is that we, the co-contributors, learn something each day. ​Here is what we learned in the probate dispute of McDonnell v. Jarvis, Case No. H037704 (6th Dist. June 30, 2014) (unpublished), after we briefly summarize the case. The probate

Probate: Disallowance Of Some Attorney’s Fees Affirmed, Except Mathematical Error Corrected By Appellate Court

Cases: Probate

  Trustee Was Reasonable in Fighting Beneficiaries’ Accounting Challenges, Though, Such That Fees Reimbursed To Beneficiaries Had To Be Reversed and Retried.      In the probate area, benefit to a trust is what justifies payment of attorney’s fees incurred by the trustee. (Donahue v. Donahue, 182 Cal.App.4th 259, 268 (2010).) Beneficiaries, in accounting challenges, usually

Probate: Attorney Winning Judgment For Fee Work Against Former Partner’s Estate Not Divested By Former Partner’s Wife Attempt To “Gift” Her Community Property Portion To Daughters Before Wife Died

Cases: Probate

  Daughters Did Not Defeat Winning Attorney’s Judgment.      In Estate of Goldstein, Case No. A137103 (1st Dist., Div. 2 May 23, 2014) (unpublished), attorney Dacey had obtained a $7.6 million judgment against the estate of his former partner for fee work which Dacey did while in partnership with his former partner. He collected $2.2

Lodestar/Probate/Section 1717/Substantiation Of Fees: Court Affirms Fee Award On Fiduciary Duty Claims As Arising On Contract, Denies Fee Request Against Trustee Whose Opposition Was Not Frivolous, And Remands Lodestar Calculation

Cases: Lodestar, Cases: Probate, Cases: Section 1717, Cases: Substantiation of Reasonableness of Fees

Looks Like Decades Trust Disputes Are Drawing To An End.      Holt v. Denholm, Case Nos. G045496 and G046293 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Apr. 28, 2014) (unpublished)—both authored by Presiding Justice O’Leary–are two appeals involving cross-over probate and Civil Code section 1717 issues in a long-running battle between different sides of a family trust—pitting a

Probate: Probate Judge’s Awarding Former Trustee Only $27,256 Of Requested $77,415.80 In Claimed Trustee/Attorney’s Fees Was No Abuse Of Discretion

Cases: Probate

  Much of Time Was On Behalf of the Trustee In His Individual Capacity.      In the probate area, a trustee’s recovery of reasonable counsel fees for defending against a beneficiary’s claims is reimbursable if they are incurred in good faith and if they are for the benefit of the trust rather than the trustee

Probate: Trustee Winning Trust Amendment Invalidity Battle Not Entitled To Fees Under Probate Code Section 21351(a) Or Under CCP Section 2033.420 Costs-Of-Proof Sanctions

Cases: Probate

  Trustee Had Sought About $1 Million Under Both Statutes.      In a lot of cases where pure or predominantly legal issues are involved, the lower court’s determinations on factual issues win the day. That is also the case in the fee proceeding area, where factual findings determine who actually prevailed if the record demonstrated

Probate: Attorney Performing Work For Future Income Beneficiary Before Trustor/Trustee/Beneficiary Of Revocable Trust Died Had No Standing To Seek Fees Because Future Income Beneficiary Had No Rights To Assert Against Trustee

Cases: Probate

  Amended Petition for Fees Successfully Defeated on Demurrer.      Attorneys doing probate work need to be careful about the clients they are representing to make sure there is some basis for fee entitlement. The next case illustrates one attorney losing a bid to obtain fees through an amended probate petition.      An attorney in

Probate/Prevailing Party/Section 1717/Settlement: Voluntary Dismissal Of Probate Petition To Confirm Settlement Properly Supported Denial Of Attorney’s Fees To Opposing Parties

Cases: Prevailing Party, Cases: Probate, Cases: Section 1717, Cases: Settlement

  Santisas Drove the Result in this One.      In Berry v. Berry, Case No. D062914 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Mar. 18, 2014) (unpublished), one co-trustee/aligned other parties were not happy when a probate court denied their request for attorney’s fees under a settlement agreement fees clause after another co-trustee (a brother, of course) voluntarily

Scroll to Top