Cases: Probate

Probate: Trustee Entitled To Interim Attorney’s Fees Award To Cover Accounting And To A Return Of Trust Distributions To Cover Future Administrative Fees

Cases: Probate

  Second District, Division 6’s Holding Designed to Promote Trust Administration by Trustees.      Probate practitioners, pay attention—we have a recent unpublished case that should be of interest in your area of expertise.      In Kasperbauer v. Fairfield, Case No. B200076 (2d Dist., Div. 6 Jan. 26, 2009) (unpublished), trust beneficiaries obtained orders substituting a […]

Ellen Peck’s January 2009 Article In California Bar Journal Has Nice Tips For Recovering Fees in Contingency, Limited Partner, Executor, and Client Fee Sharing Representations

Cases: Ethics, Cases: Probate, Cases: Quantum Meruit, Cases: Referral Agreements, Cases: Retainer Agreements, CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION

  Ms. Peck Reviews Stroud, Shimko, Miller, and Strong Decisions.      Ellen R. Peck, a former State Bar Court judge and Encino solo practitioner, has written a fine article in the January 2009 edition of the California Bar Journal with astute tips of upfront, prophylactic actions that can be taken for successfully recovering fees in

Probate Court Properly Awards Attorney’s Fees Against Trustee For Bad Faith Opposition To Accounting Challenge And For Failing To Provide Notice Of Change Of Trustee

Cases: Probate

Probate Code sections 17211(b) and 16061.9(b) Are Proper Statutory Predicates For Fee Awards.             Attorney’s fees awards in probate actions must have a statutory basis.  (Estate of Trynan, 49 Cal.3d 868, 874 (1989).  Two bases for awards were at issue in the next case we discuss.             In Matthews

Successful Plaintiff Who Protects, Preserves Or Increases A Fund In A Probate Proceeding May Be Entitled To Compensation Under Equitable “Common Fund” Principles

Cases: Probate

First District, Division One Discusses This Equitable Doctrine.             In our September 16, 2008 post, we discussed Estate of Daley, which summarized the normal compensation principles applicable in probate proceedings.  Usually, the court awards compensation as either “ordinary” or “extraordinary” in categorical nature.  “Extraordinary compensation” includes attorney’s fees that the probate court,

Probate Compensation To Administrator’s Attorney Upheld By First District

Cases: Probate

Division One Notes the Difference Between "Ordinary" and "Extraordinary" Compensation From An Estate.             In a case that apparently has generated roundelays of appeals, the First District, Division One did a nice job of distinguishing "ordinary" and "extraordinary" compensation from the probate estate.  The Court of Appeal, in Estate of Daley, Case

Court of Appeal Sustains Award Of Extraordinary Fees To Estate Administrator’s Attorney Under Probate Code Section 10811

Cases: Probate

Appellate Panel Rejects Beneficiaries’ Challenge Under Probate Code Section 11003 As Inapt.             We would like to welcome probate practitioners to our blog.  This is one of our inaugural posts on the discretion probate courts possess to award extraordinary fees to attorneys.  Given this discretion, we would surmise that few appeals are

Real Estate Brokerage Proprietor Who Ratified Employee Conduct Liable For Attorney’s Fees Under Elder Abuse Act Fee-Shifting Provision

Cases: Appealability, Cases: Probate, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

Proprietor’s Ratification Triggered Fee Liability to Conservator When House Sold For Less Than Its Fair Market Value.             Welfare and Institutions Code section 15657.5 has a mandatory fee-shifting provision that authorizes an award of reasonable attorney’s fees and costs (including conservator’s fees devoted to litigation) when a defendant is proven liable for

Conservatorship Attorney’s Fees: Comply With California Rules Of Court Or Suffer The Consequences

Cases: Cases Under Review, Cases: Probate, Cases: Special Fee Shifting Statutes

Second District Awards About Only a Tenth of Requested Fees Based on Failure to Segregate Services and Comply With California Rules of Court.             Here is a new area that we have not yet addressed—attorney’s fees awarded in a conservatorship.  As in other substantive areas, it is necessary to provide proper substantiation

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