Probate: Brother Properly Denied Fees In Failing To Obtain Conservatorship Over Mother

His Anger Over Another Probate Dispute Was The Driving Cause So That Claimed Conservatorship Fees Were Unreasonable.

            Probate is one of those areas where attorney’s fees recoveries are guided, overwhelming, by equitable principles. Reaume v. Reaume, Case No. G054759/G054864 (4^th Dist., Div. 3 March 12, 2019) (unpublished) well demonstrates this reality.

            There, one brother of a mother’s estate petitioned to invalidate a quitclaim deed executed by his mother to another brother, prior to her death, based on her incapacity and undue influence. The trial court rejected both theories, as well as denying one brother’s attorney’s fees incurred in unsuccessfully petitioning for a conservatorship in relation to his mother.

            Everything was affirmed on appeal, in an opinion authored by Justice Goethals. With respect to the fees award, the lower court rationally determined that the conservatorship request was an angry reaction by one brother to an estate sale by the other brother such that the fees were not tethered to any need for protection of the mother. The record showed mother’s needs were being met such that fees were not warranted for the unsuccessful conservatorship efforts.

Comments

[Houston Probate Attorney]

Perhaps more attention during lifetime--rather than after--would have prevented some of these issues.