POOF!, Probate: Four Successor Trustees’ Attorney’s Fees Of $74,824.50 Went POOF! Based Upon Failure To Show One Beneficiary Petition Was Prosecuted In Bad Faith And With No Differentiation Of Fees Between Two Petitions

Trustees Failure To File A Respondents’ Brief Sealed The Result!

            A beneficiary filing two petitions concerning two qualified personal residence trusts likely was shocked when a probate court granted $74,824.50 in attorney’s fees to four successor trustees after beneficiary voluntarily dismissed petitions after obtaining some desired results.  Beneficiary did well to appeal in Sterne v. Sterne, Case Nos. B289907/B290099 (2d Dist., Div. 2 Nov. 26, 2019) (unpublished).

            The appellate court reversed the fees award as a matter of law.  Beneficiary was successful in obtaining results via his first petition.  Trustees failed to apportion their fees between the two petitions, such that the success on the first petition meant the whole fees award had to fall.  Beyond that, the probate court imposed fees against beneficiary personally, not out of his share of the trust estates--an order beyond the equitable power of the probate court.  (Pizarro v. Reynoso, 10 Cal.App.5^th 172, 189 (2017).) 

            It also bears noting that trustees filed no Respondents’ Brief—bad idea, where the other side raises cognizable arguments for reversal on appeal.