Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Maine

Paying a Debt to an Estate

My ex-husband died recently. I owed him money in the amount of $12,000 as part of our divorce agreement. It was due by September 2000. He and I had a verbal agreement that I would pay him when I sold the house. After he died, his girlfriend became the PR of his estate and quickly demanded that I pay the money I owed to the estate. The estate owes my daughter $7000 in exempt property that has not yet been paid. I proposed that I pay $7000 of the $12000 to my daughter, the sole heir of the estate, and the remaining $5000 to the estate itself. She agreed on the condition that I pay her legal fees in the amount of $1400. When I asked for an itemized bill for these charges, I was denied by her lawyer, who told me that he did not need to disclose this information.

My question is this: does the girlfriend/PR have any legal right to charge me for her legal fees associated with the business of collecting this debt for the estate? If she does, do I have a right to an itemized bill?

It is worth mentioning that this girlfriend/PR is hateful towards both myself and my daughter and has done everything possible to make our lives difficult concerning the legal aspects of my ex-husband's death. She wants my daughter to get nothing.


Asked on 3/23/07, 8:27 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jerome Gamache Ainsworth Thelin & Raftice, P.A.

Re: Paying a Debt to an Estate

There is no "right" for the estate to charge you legal fees, or to charge your daughter as beneficiary, either. You can negotiate to pay legal fees if you feel the benefit of controlling when/how your daughter gets the money is important. The legal fees can be a presumptive flat amount agreed to which would not involve you seeing a bill, or it could be an open-ended amount which you should see the bill and agree with before paying.

I have no idea if it is in your best interest to agree to pay some legal fees in this situation, but $1,400 seems high to me for the limited legal services needed to memoralize the agreement for the estate and account for it. You may just be better off paying the amount you owe in due course and allowing your daughter to get her proceeds in due course.

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Answered on 3/26/07, 8:19 am


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