Glover v. Martin
Glover v. Martin
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal of a grant of summary judgment awarding
Appellant Glover contends the superior court erred in applying OCGA § 53-7-10 to the case instead of OCGA § 53-3-23.
OCGA § 53-7-10 provides: “An administrator or executor is authorized to provide competent legal counsel for the estate, according to the needs of the estate he represents. Either the administrator or executor or the attorney employed may, by petition to the judge of the probate court duly served on the other, obtain a judgment fixing the attorney’s fees and expenses.” (Emphasis supplied.)
Appellant contends this case is controlled by OCGA § 53-3-23, which provides: “[EJxecutors in purported wills of decedents shall be entitled to recover expenses [and] reasonable attorney’s fees [incurred in] offering wills for probate . . . even if the will is subsequently determined not to be the valid will of the testator. However, such person shall not be entitled to recover from the estate the expenses and attorney’s fees . . . unless the person proceeds in good faith.” (Emphasis supplied.) Appellant thus contends OCGA § 53-3-23 does not give the right to the attorney to file an application for attorney fees. She further contends OCGA § 53-7-10, on which the superior court granted judgment to the attorney, is inapplicable because his petition was not “served on” “[e]ither the administrator or executor,” as the case may be. The attorney rejoins that he served appellant with his petition for fees, that no one objected thereto, and that this was sufficient. Appellant contends that under our recent holding in Holland v. Farmer, 217 Ga. App. 546 (458 SE2d 175), the question of the attorney’s good faith should be decided by a jury. Held-.
The superior court did not err in sustaining the probate court’s award of attorney fees under OCGA § 53-7-10. No material issue of “service” of his petition arises to prevent application of OCGA § 53-7-10. OCGA § 53-7-10 provides that the executor, administrator or the attorney may make such application. The issue of good faith under OCGA § 53-3-23 does not arise because the superior court held there is no evidence in the record indicating Lester acted in bad faith in representing the estate at the request of the executrix, even though
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.