Reviewing Court Felt That Sister Also Breached Her Fiduciary Duties And Did Not Get All She Wanted, So It Was An Abuse Of Discretion To Award Her Fees Out Of Trust Property.
In what the parties themselves and the appellate court described as a dysfunctional relationship between a brother and sister who were at one point co-trustees of a trust, the trial judge awarded sister $88,000 out of a requested $106,880.52 in attorney’s fees payable out of the trust.
The appellate court found this to be an abuse of discretion in Winter v. Winter, Case Nos. D070847/D072017 (4th Dist., Div. 1 Feb. 26, 2018) (unpublished). The primary reason was that sister did not obtain all of her litigation objectives in terms of forcing a sale of some real property and that she herself breached fiduciary duties to the trust such that it was unfair to award fees based on these and other circumstances.
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