Cases: Probate – Page 18 – Cal Attorneys Fees

Probate: Personal Representative’s Prior Counsel Did Not Demonstrate That Fees To Successor Counsel Should Be Apportioned For Work Performed

March 9, 2012

Probate Code, § 10814 Allows For Apportionment, But Prior Counsel Did Not Prove Why Allocation Was Warranted. Probate Code section 10810 allows an attorney representing the executor of a probate estate to obtain compensation for ordinary services, calculated as a percentage of the estate. Section 10811 allows the attorney additional compensation for extraordinary […]

Probate/Reasonableness Of Fees: 40% Contingency For Successful Settlement For Disabled Worker Sustained By Appellate Court

March 8, 2012

Intermediate Court Actually Reverses Trial Court Cut in Fee Award to Attorney, Citing Excellent Result and Extraordinary Work of Attorney. Here is one that we do not see that often. At the lower court level, an attorney had a 40% contingency fee agreement to represent a disabled, mentally incompetent worker who suffered

Probate/Special Fee Shifting Statute: Elder Abuse Fee Entitlement Unclear Based On Murky Statement Of Decision Denying Fee Award

Cases: Probate, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

December 10, 2011

Independent Tort versus Statutory Violation Didn’t Need to be Addressed Here. Estate of Hazewinkel, Case No. D058282 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Dec. 9, 2011) (unpublished) is interesting in its discussion of potential fee entitlement under California’s Elder Abuse Act statute, Welfare and Institutions Code section 15657.5(a). Although it reversed the denial of

Probate: Contentious Trust Administration Litigation Results In Removed Trustee Father Having To Pay Winning Beneficiary Son Fees Incurred In Removal Petition Litigation/Related Jewelry, Joint Tenancy Litigation And Results In Father Having To Reimburse E

Cases: Probate

December 9, 2011

No Abuse of Discretion in Acrimonious Probate Proceedings. Probate proceedings are another area where emotions run high as well as attorney’s fees for the combatants. Losing combatants can be hit with fees/costs for the winner’s efforts, and trustees may have to restore fees/costs paid from a trust where the court determines that these

Probate: Temporary Conservator’s Attorney Entitled To Fees Even If No Permanent Conservator Ever Appointed

Cases: Probate

November 15, 2011

Crucial Inquiry Is Whether Temporary Conserator Acted In Good Faith and in Best Interest of Conservatee. Strange procedural cases actually produce new law, which is what happened in Conservatorship of Cornelius, Case No. A131495 (1st Dist., Div. 4 Nov. 15, 2011) (certified for publication). In this one, a 73-year old widower, who

Probate: $38,000 Fee Award Against Holographic Will Executor Reversed Based On Lack Of Statutory Basis

Cases: Probate

October 4, 2011

Gotta Have a Basis, Or Else Fee Recovery is Toast. [Above: April 1942. Ann Rosener, photographer. Library of Congress.] In Estate of Brown, Case No. G043780 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Oct. 4, 2011) (unpublished), a lower court awarded $38,000 in attorney’s fees to respondents in a bitter probate petition battle in which appellant

Probate: Executor Could Not Obtain Estate Distribution Without Honoring Estate Attorney’s Lien

Cases: Probate

September 26, 2011

Distribution Allowed, But Subject to Attorney’s Lien. Just to show you that trial and appellate courts do seriously consider attorney’s interests, here is one in the probate context that highlights this in spades. In Middleton v. Roos, Case No. A130329 (1st Dist., Div. 5 Sept. 26, 2011) (unpublished), among other issues, executor

Probate: Trustee Causing Trust To Expend Money In Bad Faith Can Be Assessed With Attorney’s Fees

Cases: Probate

July 20, 2011

Equitable Powers Are Broad in Probate Court. Watson v. Watson, Case No. B214891 (2d Dist., Div. 6 July 19, 2011) (unpublished) confirms the broad powers granted to probate courts to award attorney’s fees against trustees that take bad faith actions against a trust. Here, trustee conveyed property to himself out of the trust

Probate/Conservatorship: Dueling Conservatorship Candidates Got Much Reduced Attorney’s Fees For Battling, But Winning Conservatorship Candidate Only Gets 25% Of Requested Fees

Cases: Probate

July 19, 2011

Having 70% of Settlement Funds Go to Attorney’s Fees Not Digestible. Okay, for all of you probate and conservatorship practitioners, here is an interesting one involving dueling attorney’s fees requests by conservatorship candidates. The winning conservator got his requested fees whacked down by 75%, while the losing conservatorship–who also got a big

Probate: Lower Court Decision To Charge Beneficiary’s Trust Account For Attorney’s Fees Was No Abuse Of Discretion

Cases: Probate

July 12, 2011

Ranting and Raving Does Not Help on Appeal. Although we cannot say that it was definitive, appellant’s ranting and raving below and on appeal certainly did not help him overturn a probate court’s award of fees against his trust account. It didn’t come close. In McBride v. Hall, Case No. H035399 (6th