Cases: Probate

Probate: Court Of Appeal Interprets Fee-Shifting Provision As Remedial, Reversing Denial Of Fees To Beneficiaries Under Probate Code Section 17211(b)

Cases: Probate

  Appellate Court Faces First Impression Issue of Construing “Contests the Trustee’s Account” Language in Statute.      Probate Code section 17211(b) gives discretion to award attorney’s fees to a trust beneficiary who “contests the trustee’s account,” if the court determines the trustee’s opposition to the contest was “without reasonable cause and in bad faith.” The […]

Probate: Court Of Appeal Reverses $5.2 Million Fee Awards To Former Trustee And His Attorneys in Beneficiary Self-Dealing/Conflict Litigation

Cases: Probate, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees, Cases: Substantiation of Reasonableness of Fees

Fourth District, Division 3 Finds That Fee Recordkeeping and Trust Litigation Expenses Must Be Scrutinzed Closely to Determine if Fees Were Reasonable and Appropriate From a Trust Benefitting Perspective.      Donahue v. Donahue, Case Nos. G040628/G041503 (4th Dist., Div. 3 Feb. 24, 2010) (certified for publication), is sure to be a widely cited opinion when

Probate: Court-Appointed Attorney For Conservatee Can Be Paid Out Of Conservatorship Estate, But Fee Payment Order Reversed On Due Process Grounds

Cases: Probate

  Second District, Division 3 Finds Lack of Hearing Notice and Failure to Stipulate to a Temporary Judge Required As Bases For Overturning Order.      A commissioner awarded a court-appointed conservatee’s attorney fees of $9,170 payable out of the estate. Conservatee’s husband appealed the fee order, obtaining a reversal in Conservatorship of Davis, Case No.

Marc And Mike’s Top Twenty Decisions For 2009

Cases: Bankruptcy Efforts, Cases: Consumer Statutes, Cases: Family Law, Cases: Private Attorney General (CCP 1021.5), Cases: Probate, Cases: Sanctions, Cases: SLAPP, Cases: Social Security, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

Part 1 of 2: First Ten Grouping—Nos. 11-20.      As noted in an earlier post, we have accumulated our “top 20” attorney’s fees decisions, recognizing that we limit the list to published decisions and that the order reflects nothing about the importance of the decision. Rather, we try to survey decisions of interest in different

Probate: Another Holiday Two-Fer

Cases: Probate

Only One-Third in Extraordinary Compensation Granted to Attorney Under Probate Code Section 10811.      Attorney for personal estate representatives was only awarded $20,912.50 out of a requested $62,737.50 in extraordinary compensation under Probate Code section 10811(a), which allows for such an award “in an amount the court determines is just and reasonable.” Unhappy, he appealed

Probate: A Two-Fer From The Fourth District, Division Two

Cases: Probate, Cases: Sanctions

  Court of Appeal Examines Various Provisions on Awarding Probate Fees and on Having Trust Pay the Fee Awards.      In two somewhat companion cases, the Fourth District, Division 2 has done a nice job of examining various Probate Code statutes relating to the award of attorney’s fees and where they should be paid from.

Probate: Probate Courts Can Award Fees Against Losing Beneficiaries’ Future Trust Distributions When Their Actions Found To Be In Bad Faith

Cases: Costs, Cases: Probate, Cases: Reasonableness of Fees

Fifth District, in Published Decision, Supports Broad Equitable Powers of Probate Courts.      Probate contests are often donnybrooks between different beneficiaries or relatives. This next one was certainly that. However, the losing minority beneficiaries caused the trustee to expend lots of attorney’s fees, which were recouped when the probate court ruled they could be obtained

Probate: Attorneys For Trustee Erroneously Denied Fees Based On Incorrect Interpretation of Probate Code Sections 18000-18005 and 15684

Cases: Probate

Second District, Division 8 Reverses Probate Court’s Denial of Fees.      In Rutter Hobbs & Davidoff Inc. v. Bessemer Trust Co. of Calif., N.A., Case No. B209835 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Nov. 24, 2009) (unpublished), a probate judge denied trustee’s attorneys petitions for payment of attorney’s fees and costs based on their representation of the

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