Cases: Probate – Page 19 – Cal Attorneys Fees

Ethics/Probate: Attorney’s Fees Awards To Conservatee”s And Conservator’s Lawyers Affirmed On Appeal

July 8, 2011

Conservatee’s Daughter’s Appeals Sadly End Contentious Conservatorship Fee Proceedings. In a bitterly contested conservatorship proceeding, Conservatorship of Gdowski, Case Nos. G043583 & G044070 (4th Dist., Div. 3 July 7, 2011) (both unpublished), two appeals resolved awards of attorney’s fees to the lawyers for both conservatee and conservator resulting from conservatee’s daughter’s objections to […]

Probate: Extraordinary Fees For Services Rendered To Trustee Not Justified

Cases: Probate

June 24, 2011

They Only Benefitted the Trustee, Not the Trust, Justifying Fee Request Denial. The Second District, Division 6, in Waters v. Conkle, Case No. B225166 (2d Dist., Div. 6 June 23, 2011) (unpublished), reminds all of you probate practitioners that extraordinary fees will only be awarded where the attorney’s actions had some benefit for

Probate: $8,500 Fee Award Reversed Because Probate Code Section 17211(b) Requisites Not Met

Cases: Probate

May 23, 2011

Neither the Conditions of the Trust Nor Fee-Shifting Statute Were Met Here. In our March 24, 2010 post, we discussed the fee-shifting parameters of Probate Code section 17211(b) in the context of Leader v. Cords, 182 Cal.App.4th 1588 (2010). Leader has been discussed in other posts, namely, our March 24, 2010 post on Leach

Probate: $70,000 Fee Award In $241,000 Elder Abuse/Negligence Case Settlement Sustained On Appeal

Cases: Probate

April 15, 2011

Retainer Agreement, Even If Void, Could Be Considered in Deciding upon Fee Award. Here is an interesting one from our local Santa Ana court in the “Probate” category. Lanzone v. Santilli, Case No. G043586 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Apr. 14, 2011) (unpublished) involved a situation where an attorney helped garner an elderly

Probate: Probate Volunteer Panel Counsel Entitled To Fee Award From Conservatee’s Estate Under Probate Code Section 1470(c)

Cases: Probate

April 11, 2011

Second District, Division 3 Upholds Fee Award In Second Appeal. In our January 8, 2010 post, we explored the appeal in Conservatorship of Davis, where the Second District, Division 3 held that Probate Code section 1470(c) did authorize the probate court to order that attorney’s fees for work by an appointed Probate Volunteer

Probate: Second District, Division Three Concludes That Res Judicata Prevented Respondents from Relitigating Probate Dispute, and Also Deprived Trial Court of Grounds to Determine that Appellant Had to Pay Fees and Costs

Cases: Estoppel, Cases: Probate

April 5, 2011

Probate Case Has Nice Summary of Principles of Res Judicata/Collateral Estoppel The Court of Appeals early on telegraphed the train wreck that is this case with the understated observation, “The relationship between the siblings was not optimal.” Estate of Redfield, Case No. B216190 (2nd Dist. Div. 3 4/5/11) (certified for publication).

Probate: Litigant Winning Creditor’s Claim Against Unreasonable Advances Of Opponent Entitled To Fee Award

Cases: Probate

March 28, 2011

$9,000 Attorney’s Fees Award Charged Against Probate Distribution to Losing Party. Probate is certainly an equitably driven area, as the next case shows in how one losing party was denied a fee award and another party was awarded fees to be charged against losing party’s next probate estate distribution. In Estate of Jagar,

Probate Two-Fer: Fees Allowable To Executor/Heir As A Party Assisting Court And Beneficiary Properly Awarded Fees As A Surcharge Against Trust For Trustee‘s Breach of Fiduciary Duties

Cases: Probate

March 23, 2011

Wow, March 22 was a busy, busy day for attorney’s fees topics in both state and federal courts. Here come a lot of posts, starting with our category “Probate.” Probate Code section 11704(b) at Issue in Estate of Bartsch, Case No. A126925 (1st Dist., Div. 1 Mar. 22, 2011) (certified for publication).

Probate/Substantiation Of Fees: Fee Denial Based On Failure To Allow Further Submissions Of Detailed Fee Substantiation Deemed An Abuse of Discretion

Cases: Probate, Cases: Substantiation of Reasonableness of Fees

March 9, 2011

$101,178.62 in Attorney Work Must Be Reconsidered For Beneficial Result. In the past, we have discussed many cases which hold that billing records must be presented to the court (as well as the trustee) when an attorney is seeking reimbursement for probate court litigation work. This stems from the trial court’s “special responsibility” to

Probate: Attorney’s Fee Reduction In Accounting Reversed Because Fees Did Have To Be Spent And Not Out Of Proportion to Trust Assets

Cases: Probate

January 20, 2011

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