Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
Probate Attorney's Fees
My sister is the executor of my mother's estate. There are 5 benefiaries, including the sister that is an executor. My sister retained an attorney to handle the estate, however, the attorney stated that she ONLY represented the executor and if the rest of us wanted an attorney, we would have to hire our own. If she is only representing the executor, why should she take her attorney's fees from the estate (which belongs to all of us) if she is only representing the executor? The executor will receive executor's fees as well as 20% of the estate. Shouldn't the executor pay the attorney's fees since she is the only one being represented?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Probate Attorney's Fees
It depends on whether the attorney is representing the executor (your sister) as a beneficiary or as the executor of the estate in her capacity as executor. My best guess is that the attorney is representing the executor to insure the executor carries out her fiduciary duties correctly and in order to help the executor properly handle the estate for everyone's benefit. In that case, the estate would pay the attorney just like the estate pays the executor for the necessary job. You can contact me directly if you would like to discuss further.
Re: Probate Attorney's Fees
I agree that this does sound strange. Generally, the executor hires an attorney to protect the best interests of the estate, but it sounds like she hired the attorney to protect only her best interests. If this is the case, then she should be paying the fees on her own. If the attorney is protecting the interests of all the beneficiaries, then the fees would come out of the estate.
Do you know if there is a Probate for the estate? This might be the difference between who the attorney is representing. If the attorney is representing the estate in Probate, then he s representing all the parties to the estate and the fees would come from the estate.
Is there only a will or is there a trust also? If there is a trust, then there will not be a Probate and you will need to look to what the attorney is actually doing to know what and who they are representing.
If you would like to discuss this matter further in a more private forum, please feel free to contact me directly at the email address provided by LawGuru or through our firm�s website located at PasadenaEstatePlanning.com
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