Arizona Probate court asked to sanction attorneys in Marie Long case
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Arizona Probate court asked to sanction attorneys in Marie Long case. For more on this see Laurie Robert's Columns and Blogs at azcentral.com.
Attorney's Fees and Bad Faith Don't Mix
Here is a topic that should interest everyone -- Attorney's Fees and Bad Faith. The moral of this story is that bad faith is a bad thing!
The Arizona Court of Appeals recently, in Estate of Ann M. Friedlander, decided that the probate court is not required to make an express finding of bad faith when it denies a fee application made by a nominated personal representative pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes ("ARS") Section 14-3720.
What happened in Estate of Ann M. Friedlander?
In this case, the decedent died leaving a will with various amendments. The will nominated decedent's son and two of her seven adult grandchildren as co-personal representatives. Pursuant to the will, all decisions concerning the estate were to be made by a majority vote. One of the nominated adult grandchildren, Amy, filed a petition to be appointed special administrator of the estate alleging the decedent’s son’s unwillingness and/or inability to serve in a fiduciary capacity. The other adult nominated grandchild and decedent’s son both filed objections to the petition, as did three other grandchildren. Amy subsequently filed an alternative petition for appointment of an independent special administrator/personal representative.
The court denied Amy's petitions and appointed the other adult nominated grandchild and decedent’s son as co-personal representatives. Thereafter, Amy filed an application for estate litigation expenses pursuant to A.R.S. § 14-3720, requesting approximately $45,000 in attorneys' fees and costs from the estate. Appellees objected alleging Amy did not act in good faith, no benefit was conferred to the estate, and Amy's fees and costs were unreasonable. The court denied Amy's application. Amy subsequently filed a motion for reconsideration, which was also denied.
Read what happened on appeal after the jump.
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