Shnell v. Brunton
Shnell v. Brunton
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from a judgment settling an amended and supplemental first and final account rendered by the legal representative of a deceased trustee of a testamentary trust; awarding a “lump sum” fee to A. W. Brunton “for services as attorney and administrator of the estate” of the deceased trustee; and distributing the trust estate to the remainder-beneficiaries. Although the notice of appeal states that the appeal is from the whole judgment, the brief of appellant states that the appeal is directed only to the following portion thereof: “It is further Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed, that the said A. W. Brunton be and he is hereby allowed the sum of $800.00 for his services as attorney and as Administrator of the Estate of John W. Lair, rendered in the above entitled matter, and that the said A. W. Brunton have a lien upon all of the assets of said trust estate to secure the payment of said sum of $800.00. ’ ’
Appellants contend in part that the court was without
The appellants are the husband, son and daughter of a deceased sister of the trustor, Nancy Ray Lair, deceased, which sister was one of four remainder-beneficiaries of the corpus of the trust. The appellants were the objectors to the account herein. The other beneficiaries have not appealed.
In 1936 John W. Lair became the trustee of the testamentary trust of his deceased wife, Nancy Ray Lair. Under the provisions of the trust he was to receive the income from the trust during his life and upon his death the corpus of the trust was to be distributed to her brother and three sisters. In 1939 he filed his first account as such trustee. The remainder-beneficiaries objected to the account upon the ground, among others, that the trustee should be charged personally with $850 which had been made a lien upon the corpus of the estate during the administration and before distribution to the trustee. That objection was sustained, but the order was reversed on appeal. (Estate of Lair, 38 Cal.App.2d 737 [102 P.2d 436].) Upon a rehearing of the account after the reversal, the trial court found that an item of $55.11 (which the trustee had listed as income) was a part of the corpus, and ordered that said sum should be charged against the trustee personally; and further ordered that no expenses should be charged against the corpus of the estate. Those orders were reversed on appeal. (Estate of Lair, 52 Cal.App.2d 222 [126 P.2d 133].) Soon after the trial court in 1939 had ordered that the trustee be charged personally with the $850, the remainder-beneficiaries filed a complaint, designated a bill in equity, to remove the trustee. That action was tried and submitted on January 20, 1941. On February 6, 1941, before the decision therein was rendered, the trustee John W. Lair died. While the first appeal, above mentioned, was pending the trustee filed a second account, and after the reversal on that appeal he filed an amended and supplemental second account which was set for hearing on February 7, 1941. Mr. Lair having died prior to the date for that hearing, the matter
On November 20, 1942, Mr. Brunton, as such administrator of the deceased trustee’s estate, filed the amended and supplemental first and final account, petition for fees, and petition to determine ownership of corpus, which are involved herein.
In the petition for fees the administrator asked that fees in the sum of $50 be allowed A. W. Brunton as administrator for services rendered by the deceased trustee, and that fees in the sum of $3,000 “be allowed A. W. Brunton as attorney for said trustee and as Administrator” of his estate for services rendered as such administrator. The petition alleged that, in connection with the action to remove the trustee, Mr. Brunton rendered sixty-nine hours of services as attorney for the trustee prior to the death of the trustee, and that after the death of the trustee Mr. Brunton rendered fifty-five hours “appearing in pro. per.” as administrator of the estate of the deceased trustee; that he spent five hours in preparing the first account and ten additional hours in preparing a first account rendered by himself as administrator (not the one now before the court); that he had spent ten hours in preparing the account now before the court and he would spend ten additional hours in the hearing of the account and preparing the findings and decree; and that he spent more than one hundred hours in connection with the first account . filed by the trustee, including the appeals involved therein. Mr. Brunton submitted evidence in support of those allegations.
It therefore appears that the petitioner sought an allowance for the services of the deceased trustee, and sought an allowance for the services of himself as attorney rendered
Appellants assert, as above stated, that the court was without jurisdiction to award attorney’s fees direct to the attorney for the trustee. Their argument is that there is no statutory provision authorizing the court to award attorney’s fees in such manner; that section 1122 of the Probate Code, which provides that “the court shall allow the trustee his proper expenses,” is the only statute providing for the payment of fees for the services of the trustee’s attorney and, by reason of that provision, such fees must be awarded to the trustee and not direct to the attorney; that the only exception to the requirement that such fees be awarded to the trustee is that when the trustee is without funds of the estate in his possession he may by agreement require the attorney to look solely to the trust estate for his fees, and under such circumstances the attorney could proceed in equity to satisfy his claim from the trust estate; that such an exception does not exist herein; that the provisions of section 911 of the Probate Code, whereby the court is authorized to award attorney’s fees direct to an attorney who has rendered services to an executor or administrator, do not apply in the matter of awarding fees for services of an attorney for a trustee; that amending section 1616 of the Code of Civil Procedure (from which § 911 of the Probate Code was taken) to allow the court to award payment direct to an attorney for an executor or administrator, and the failure to amend section 1700 of the Code of Civil Procedure (from which § 1122 of the Probate Code was taken) in such manner as to allow the court to award payment direct to an attorney for a trustee, and the failure to so amend section 1122 of the Probate Code, show that it was not the intention of the Legislature that such an award be made direct to an attorney for a trustee. Section 1120 of the Probate Code provides that “When a trust created by a will continues after distribution, the superior court shall not lose jurisdiction of the estate by final distribution, but shall retain jurisdiction for the purpose of . . . settling the accounts ... of the trustee. ...” In the Estate of Smead,
The respondent, A. W. Brunton, as administrator with the will annexed of the estate of John W. Lair, deceased, contends in his supplemental brief that since the Smead estate decision determines that an award of attorney’s fees may be direct to the attorney for the trustee, the court should also have power to award fees for services of the administrator of the estate of the deceased trustee direct to the administrator. His argument in that behalf is that the services he performed as administrator were for the testamentary trust created by Mrs. Lair and were not for the estate of Mr. Lair. Mr. Brunton, in presenting the account of the deceased trustee, was acting in a representative capacity as administrator of the estate of the deceased trustee, and the fees for his services as such representative should be awarded to him in his representative capacity and not to him individually. As an individual he was a stranger to the proceeding. An award to him individually would be a direct judgment for money in favor of a person not a party to the proceeding and would be void. In Garra v. Superior Court, 58 Cal.App.2d 588 [137 P.2d 31], which was a proceeding to prohibit the trial court from enforcing an order that attorney’s fees be paid direct to the attorney for a guardian, it was said at pages 590-91: . . the decree ... in so far as
Appellants’ further contention, that a testamentary trustee who acts as attorney for himself cannot be given compensation for his services as such attorney, is sustained. In Estate of Parker (1926), 200 Cal. 132 [251 P. 907, 49 A.L.R. 1025], it was said at page 135: “An executor, administrator, or testamentary trustee who is himself an. attorney at law may properly employ another attorney to render the necessary legal services for the estate. . . . But if the executor, administrator, or testamentary trustee, being himself a practicing lawyer, elects to act as his own attorney . . . the general rule is that he will not be entitled to an allowance against the estate for his professional services, in the absence of some statutory provision entitling him thereto.” That rule is one of public policy forbidding one who acts in a fiduciary capacity to become his own employer. (Estate of Parker, supra, p. 136.) Respondent asserts that the circumstances herein, bring him within the exception to that rule, which exception is stated in the Estate of Lankershim, 6 Cal. 2d 568, 572-574 [58 P.2d 1282]. In that matter an attorney and a bank were appointed special administrators with the apparent consent of all parties in interest. The attorney, by reason of his previous relations with the decedent and the appellants therein, was completely familiar with the affairs of the estate. It was apparent to all parties therein and to the court at the time of the appointment that the bank should perform the principal part of the routine duties of administration and that it would be greatly to the interest of ■ the estate to have the duties of legal counsel performed by that attorney. Although it was openly stated to all the parties that the attorney proposed to waive fees as special administrator and look only to such allowance as might be made for his legal services, the appellants therein made no objection to the arrangement until the services had been performed. The
Another contention of appellants is that since the allowance for fees is based partly upon services for which the court had no power to order payment, and since the fees were awarded in a lump sum and the condition of the record is such that the improperly allowed fees cannot be segregated from the total allowance, that the whole order for fees should be reversed. This contention is sustained. As above mentioned, it cannot be determined from the record what portion of the total award, if any, was awarded for legal services
Respondent asserts that the decision in the Estate of Scherer, 58 Cal.App.2d 133 [136 P.2d 103], is applicable here. In that matter, wherein an executor asked for $20,850 as executor’s fees and attorney’s fees for himself and was allowed $8,000—the items not being segregated, the court held that it was apparent that when all the services which might be characterized as “legal” were eliminated there would remain within the sphere of executor’s services a sufficient amount of work for which an award of $8,000 could not be considered unreasonable. In the present case it appears that the legal services were much more extensive than the services as administrator, and it should not be concluded from the record on this appeal that if the legal services were eliminated the $800 allowed would be a reasonable sum for the services as administrator.
Another contention of appellants is that the trustee and the administrator of the deceased trustee’s estate sought to destroy the trust and therefore attorney’s fees should not be allowed. The assertion that they sought to destroy the trust is based upon an allegation, in the petition herein to determine ownership of the corpus of the estate, to the effect that all of the remainder-beneficiaries had forfeited their interests in the trust because they had attacked the will of Nancy Ray Lair in violation of a contest provision in the will. The alleged violation was based upon their effort to charge the trustee personally with the $850 lien against the estate, and their efforts to remove him as trustee. The court had stated in the Estate of Lair (1942), 52 Cal.App.2d 222, at page 225 [126 P.2d 133, at page 134], that the action, designated a bill in equity, to cancel the $850 lien and to remove the trustee was “an unfounded action” and “clearly
The portion of the judgment wherein A. W. Brunton was allowed “$800.00 for his services as attorney and as Administrator,” which portion is the third paragraph of the judgment appealed from, is reversed; and the superior court is directed to fix and separately state and to secure by a lien on the assets of the trust estate, the fees, if any, properly payable: (1) for services rendered by John W. Lair as trustee; (2) for legal services rendered by A. W. Brunton as attorney for John W. Lair while Mr. Lair was trustee; and (3) for services rendered by A. W. Brunton as administrator with the will annexed of the estate of John W. Lair, deceased, in connection with said trust matters. The fees, if any, for items (1) and (3) just referred to should be awarded to A. W. Brunton, administrator with the will annexed of the estate of John W. Lair, deceased. The fees, if any, for item (2) for legal services rendered by A. W. Brunton as attorney for John W. Lair while Mr. Lair was trustee may be awarded direct to A. W. Brunton. The judgment as to all portions other than the third paragraph is affirmed.
Desmond, P. J., and Shinn, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Estate of NANCY RAY LAIR, JOHN W. SHNELL v. A. W. BRUNTON, Individually and as Administrator With the Will Annexed, etc.
- Cited By
- 1 case
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- Published