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In Matthews v. Righetti, Case No. B196745 (2d Dist., Div. 6 Sept. 30, 2008) (unpublished), trustees were ordered to pay a sibling/trust beneficiary $50.955 in attorney’s fees incurred in an accounting proceeding. Trustees appealed to no avail.
Two statutory provisions justified the award.
First, Probate Code section 17211(b) provides that a trustee who opposes a contest to the trustee’s account without reasonable cause and in bad faith may be liable to pay a contestant’s costs of litigation, including attorney’s fees. The lower court expressly found bad faith, a factual finding affirmed on appeal.
Second, Probate Code section 16061.9(b) provides that a trustee who fails to give advance notice of a change in trustees (a mandate under section 16061.7) may be responsible for all damages, attorney’s fees, and costs caused by that failure. This, too, occurred in the midst of the heated accounting proceeding between siblings, triggering the basis for a fee award.