ronald reader was a very unique man and he did have two wills one in ninety seven and one and five both of which i did he high functioning autistic as i learned later but he was totally able and competent client go quite different because of the high functioning autism he had electrical engineering degree from bradley and one hundred and sixty was interviewed by nasa dot in huntsville a heck of a mathematical mind what i'm focusing on is in both those wells ninety seven won his own plane wording he used the words in section for his face referring to the executor compulsive demand for me to serve as executor you'll see in that even in the nd will he took out the alternate executor because i don't think he was family ever work and a with banks and it's to take that role on that's how he solved it using his words we just use a common multiplier and having those unique characteristics and the extreme compulsive in much the same words but as an emphasis for as long as he is properly informed well brown was not an issue minister days ago at all in this appeal as to whether you can serve in both capacities pardon is that an issue in this appeal the question of whether you can serve in both capacities no i with that rule i think not i was writing like the background to the plain and ordinary language that it is the that it was enough same house since he was age three all that i stressed to show the unique situation and how compulsive he was to demand that i serve in both those roles disposing of some of the contents of his home gives me full discretion to dispose of the remainder as i see fit and then chooses independent administration which also makes his words assumably as attorney probating the if they aren't the issues with which were brought to bear by one of these what twenty seven charities you gave money to quickly found out were by a paralegal holding themselves out as attorneys we were already many months into the end of the state and it as we're closing the estate and i prepare a final repor one other one that denied taking the services of how the night was represented by in house counsel and retained local counsel it all appeared to be something that was not in vision by independent administration to the last minute their clients had notice from the from the get go all twenty seven of them no one contacted me other than make calls about when are we going to receive our independent ministration so i resisted those and it appears that one of those when they finally did put a licensed attorney on that issue stacey bird appears that she contacted the charitable trust bureau and then all i had three marked receipts all twenty six of the twenty seven dollars forwarded signed receipts an approval the remaining one has a pending objection proceeded then discovery ensued and we had we had a full hearing on fort before judge gorman on may the attorney general and multiple sclerosis wanted to see where where in these letters is detail and  really didn't vision much detail and those letters are and in the record an april th letter and then twenty three dollars charities responded with their approval letters and then for the other remaining  sent out an additional letter that broke down the morgan wells fargo expenses attorney's fees to arrive at a three million thirteen thousand dollars distribution c permit judge garment to just ignore that language to give effect to that language and i've fully testified why i had to do everything i had to do there because quite frankly the most glaring concern was its parents were both in their early twenty's during the depression ron had very compulsive behavior the house was as if r never touched anything of his parents including other than we both there will be more jury packets on their bed in their master bedroom so concern and financial records other than ron's that he didn't address day from that depression area leave cash hidden in the house so i wasn't going to let contractors go in there till i did that and  didn't do it was tremendous water problems in the basement i hired a guy to do the gutter i hired a guy to caulk the entire east side of the house that abuts the foundation  carpeting in the living room and dining room to expose some wood floors hired a locksmith early on because the house had a skeleton key and  finally we did get to the nd realtor and interest in the house and ultimately sold but it was was only after we were certain that there's nothing else other than  i in fact i had a drill i had to pay to drill the safety deposit box a commerce back bank because he hid the key to the so he did a boss box and one of the drawers in the knowing where they might have had things because i was haunted by an old state where the gentleman left a note in the borax can under the sink as i said in the brief and ran didn't have enough favorite nephew tell these little secrets to justice carter we did not find anything else and i was happy about that but it wasn't something that i felt this or any criticism for being thorough and diligent to make sure and how much time was spent doing that well in the record our thirteen pages of time records right to have two hundred and ninety eight total hours were spent  you can see cluster one is related to the funeral and burial and i don't know who else could have done that i wanted to give this man the same funeral that his parents had invited invited caretakers to come to his funeral man that's totally all in with three million dollars to twenty seven charities of his person choosing i wasn't going to just let him fall through the cracks or somebody give him some contacting all twenty seven charities that will help if the name given a proper name and address and phone number but after almost nine years i had individually verify each of those so just just garman had in those three clusters tells you where the time was spent and the right thirteen pages of statements itemizes just to varying degrees they weren't meant to grounding us in some legal and factual numerical matters to give context to what the appeal is of the cross appeal and there seems to be one key facts  here i think we need to keep in mind as we discuss everything and that's that the executor never registered this charitable state with our charitable trust and vision which is a requirement of the charitable trust act you heard him say a moment ago that he prepared two different versions of the will how do you follow that simple registration requirement and followed the steps that come into play under the act the trust that the people's intervention may not have been necessary and this case may never have arisen so with that in mind i want to talk a little bit about the different buckets of money how could you could you clarify where the violation occurred and that's what seemingly is appears to be a single account stay with a test directions that certain percentage of them as the honor twenty seven different charities right but what does the act require on this simple as they distribution so when there's a kind of state with charitable beneficiaries the trustee or the executor or terms are interchangeable under the act must upon the st distribution register the a state with the attorney general that's where our role comes in as as a monitor we have oversight of hundreds if not more states that where the legatee has left his or her  role when there is a distribution and there was one here in the summer of two thousand and fifteen when the executor paid himself three times a sum of fifty one thousand dollars for things that we don't even know because they've never been documented and he's never explained that based on the record appears to be the moment when registration would have been required and so twenty five so distribution means your interpretation means distribution of any monies side of the administered is correct regardless to whom those distributions are made i think the act allows for that honor that's a fair another interpretation is that the distribution is the absolute last point when registration would be made and there's nothing holding back an experienced  executor who's been doing this for decades who knows that there are twenty seven charities that the receiving and telling the attorney general's office that there's a charitable state to ensure that everything is properly done that didn't happen here and the executor paid himself one hundred and seventy thousand three hundred dollars on a net estate of three million dollars of that amount one hundred and nineteen thousand three hundred dollars were in attorney's fees and from that portion the circuit court ordered the executor to return thirty six thousand five hundred dollars leaving eighty two thousand eight hundred dollars in the executors hands now the thirty six thousand five hundred dollars is the focus of the main if you will the eighty two thousand dollars is the cross appeal and separately from that eighty two thousand dollars there is also what i just in that ledger what i referred to there is fifty one thousand dollars of self payment for something that he calls lifetime power of attorney fees never documented and explained so the final tab is this in these two buckets these pay themselves i'm sorry in this one bucket we have the one hundred and thirty three thousand eight hundred dollars that the executive pay to so eighty two thousand eight hundred dollars at four hundred dollars an hour that's two hundred and seven hours what remains and undocumented unexplained unexplained fifty one thousand dollars ok the eighty two thousand dollars is attorney fees is what the trial court came up with at the trial to make any finding that four hundred dollars an hour was reasonable and customary in the area for attorneys she did and were not challenging the rate of fees were the challenges that my colleagues in the trial court brought and which the circuit court ordered turning back to the thirty six thousand five hundred dollars was his over charges for a number of items and this this decision is reviewed for an abuse of discretion the sections of the illinois probate act at issue here are sections twenty seven one dollar twenty seven cents to which allow for reasonable fees but as the circuit court found in great detail  executor spent an inordinate amount of time on unnecessary tasks that include now we're talking about executor action duties and we have a contract arguably in th will that that set the four hundred dollars right there that's right that's right we're talking across the board about four hundred dollars and now i'm focused on extraneous charges that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in reducing his overall take so turn to talking about the funeral as you heard the executor say mr reeder wanted his spirit to be modeled on his parents service that was a template for that the executor charged over eight thousand dollars for more than twenty hours that he spent planning this funeral that was already that had been done twice apparently by if you nurul home and given the excessive charges the circuit court reduced the executors bill in this just one area by five thousand eight hundred dollars leaving him to claim two thousand four hundred dollars then moving to a separate area having mostly to do with the sale of the reader family home the circuit court identified another twenty six thousand three hundred dollars that the executor spent on areas deemed and i'm quoting from the circuit court decision not particularly for about i think two hundred dollars more i may have that number wrong was around thirty thousand dollars so these are some of the tasks of the circuit court identified as a necessary mopping a leak  showing the house when there was a realtor to realtors cleaning putting out recycling coughing and then driving to the treasurer's office and that's something reminiscent of this court's decision in in re state of miller where the court found that there was excessive an unwarranted driving to another clerk type office so in deciding the executor fee of the circuit court takes into account four main factors the good faith and efficiency of the work the work involved the skill evidence the work and the size of the state and when work in these realms doesn't provide value to the estate the circuit court is within its power to reduce fees executor fees attorneys fees however however there pre arranged and bill and this court affirmed just such a decision in it decision in re state of miller when the circuit court cut finis by about a rd because of a lack of complex complexity there was just such a lack of complexity here and the thirty six thousand five hundred dollars reduction from the total of one hundred and nineteen thousand three hundred dollars that the executive bill is around a thirty percent reduction travel don't know what fees are which are we talking about here attorney so your friends i don't i don't think there is a legal distinction your honor because the executor is an attorney and i'm talking at this point about the work that the executor billed at his attorney right to duties unnecessary things well there's i'm not there's i think there is a difference i think the if he did the realtors work i'm talking now about just a unique silo twenty six thousand three hundred dollars for non legal work in addition the circuit court found that he overbilled for his attorney were and that's that was around four thousand four hundred dollars that he had to refund because he spent too much time the circuit court found on routine matters like getting ready for its hearing and and then there's all this housework of twenty six thousand three hundred dollars which takes us to a total of thirty six thousand five hundred dollars and that's the amount of the circuit court in her discretion reduces fees by as this court found in a matter of do that state and sometimes the reduction of attorney's fees to nothing is warranted when the work billed does not benefit the state in this court held in re state of rearden but there's no authority for this theory that the executor puts forth that somehow the testator's will overrides all of these protections that are built in under the act and due to the attorney general's oversight role or the court's role in this process an executor is a special role in terms of charitable entities and here the executor did not kill his duties by overbilling and not documented many of his activities and so the circuit court was well within its discretion order thirty six thousand five hundred dollars respond and now i'm going to turn to the cross appeal my remaining time while the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in the thirty six five hundred dollars reduction it is expected explicitly overlook the additional one hundred thirty three thousand dollars that the executor paid him so much focus is going to be on the unexplained fifty one thousand dollars in the summer of humidifier but the st two almost fifty thousand dollars have never been explained why why a year after he passed away why these amounts we don't know and the circuit court made no findings on this issue she has she did not analyze the issue and there's no there's no decision for this court to review that in and of in and of itself can be an abuse of discretion when a circuit court exercises no discretion and we just she didn't focus on it she didn't explain why it was permissible for the executor to pay him so these mysterious amounts he's never explained what they're for so there are three real problems with it as a legal matter with what happened with this fifty one thousand dollars first as i mentioned and i and for the appeal in the main because we're not we're not interpreting here your honor statutory provision and we're certainly not interpreting statutory provision in the cross appeal because the circuit court made no  to be sure just very briefly when were interpreted the will provision did overall review applies but we're not in that situation here we have a mysterious fifty one thousand dollars unexplained payment that violates the basic tenants of being an executor and for the circuit court not to have addressed any of this is an abuse of discretion thank you can i ask did was that brought up again to  supplemental exhibits sixty two dollars exhibit twelve are the two billing statements for everything that mr siegel stalking about and they are itemized for that much the same extent as the thirteen pages for acting as an attorney and executor this is clearly a red herring justice carter because there are other exhibits it was dealt with in  the trial we testified about them and in argument in the trial court the trial the trial court a g quoted was going to section twenty eight of the of the twenty eight dash eight to judge garman i pointed out in my response you left out seven words and those seven words are specific reference in the opening seven isn't in this view the whole document has to be looked at but the discretion in the section to tangible personal property and dispose of the balance as he sees fit the is the overpowering intention of independent administration is not designed for a lemon our on demand audit by two paralegals in georgia and texas demanding that they  be given everything that they itemize it came down to a phone call with stacy byrd that i testify to she acknowledged that yeah they're charging for those being at that house this year the st murder and the city of peoria was next door and between the space between the next door  said old school nobody was safe in that house ron was wrapped in that backyard because he's such a affable person a homeless man in the backyard said can i see your wallet and took all the cash out of it but that's just something that ron would not pick a fight over and nor did i want anybody in that house alone the other thing  is the real or contract which i cited to the trial court listed all blame off the realtors of anything happened they didn't even get there to turn the heat on and someone are showing and there was no guarantee that they'd lock the door when they left plus when there were multiple listing service at a flat rate of two thousand five hundred hours i gave a very vivid example in my brief yeah i had judge  taken if the house was worth six hundred thousand and eight really was going to generate twenty or thirty thousand commission that might impose on got nowhere imposing on them especially the st real or because multiple listing was the concern the neighborhood was not inducive to surely letting one person may i ask one last question about the fifty one thousand there the argument is that  trial court was arguing that twenty eight dollars controls but he left out the words referencing the words of the testator's the words in the will the words in the will are independent administration and additional powers under the powers of paying paying claims and in my discretion so it's this case is so unique because of the individual involved and the  x can under the sink i have far less concern if any but again nothing was found nothing was found but that's so strange in a house that he's been in since age three never touched a drawer or a bedroom of his parents extensive cabinets in the dining room when we went into them never touched by him and at that point  the dementia had rolled in sometime after two thousand and ten when he came to my office unannounced saying gary i'm starting to forget the things you know i follow him down the elevator make sure he finds his car and  things start you know autism starts to be totally clouded over by the dementia sort of point where you have to and i my wife are called at seven hundred and thirty at night and he's eighteen miles south of because he went to the motor vehicle division to try and get his license which i had a police officer take from him when he could no after that event of him getting lost turning right in studying left and stirring haven't you so well there's all kind of things it's like i was in the blind in that house to know what if anything is happen with two depression age  and my own client who always communication is one way he doesn't disclose things to you like the to the nephew with the note and under the s thank you your honor the executor believe that he had a claim on readers the state in his power of attorney roles you just hear her charges before reader died but he did not pay her during reader's life time when reader would see those it requires outside of any will provision is when there is a potential for a conflict of interest when the executor is wearing two hats and is serving as power of attorney section two hundred and eighty eight iii says that section twenty eight section eighteen controls and i don't know what seven words the executor is talking about but i'm looking at the language of section two thousand eight hundred and eighty and it says but claims of the independent representative or i independent administrator when there is self dealing and for whatever reason with all of his experience and his rate of pay the executor did not invoke that and is incorrect in our view about what the statute requires did not did not go to the circuit court did not go to reader for permission to pay himself fifty one thousand dollars and the circuit court has not addressed this issue there's nothing there's no decision on this it's just it's just a blank now no reasonable person would reach that determination on these facts and that's the hallmarks of an abuse of discretion  and he never met his obligation to show why he was entitled to this payment that time has long passed these oversights by the executor and by the a there are two other problems with the self payment and fifty one thousand dollars as mentioned earlier the failure to report to register this charitable state with our office did not do that and then just more generically there's nothing in the probate act that allows for payment for power of attorney for things that happened before death yes the executor can settle claims but that's when again section eight hundred and eight kicks in to avoid this inherent conflict of interest so we stand on our brief on the separate eighty two thousand five hundred dollars that the executor has been unable to retain for his attorney's fees and his fees for spending a lot of time in what you just heard is dangerous  it's that and that therefore since it was not formalized into a claim within that time frame that claim should not have been addressed by the executors that identified as duties under a power of attorney that would perform is it not the case that it should have been formalized into a claim and under independent and ministration that the end of the analysis should have been formalized into a claim it wasn't and once it was formalized into a claim we have this inherent conflict of interest and it should have been up to the circuit court when but he should have gone to the circuit court with the claim and asked permission to pay himself a series we're saying is if it were formalized if there were a claim ok then that should have under that supplement exhibit are those two bills mr reader at the time of those pos services is totally engulfed by his dementia and in the nurse edington oaks nursing home i had nothing to show him  and as far as my powers under independent ministration i have the power to pay all bills including those incurred to his service under a power of attorney could have been anybody serving those pos services i did i paid the bill it came in after his death because other things were more urgent and that's how that got done and the stars twenty eight dollars a the exact words that were argued in the trial court were they left she left out the words the powers granted in the will and she just cut those seven words out when she's arguing this way to get to this present a claim of your of your own to the circuit court totally ignoring the powers under the will and the priority established in the st sentence of twenty eight dollars days eight because it does say i think the powers below that are inconsistent with the powers specifically stated in the will are ignored very good thank you counsel both for your arguments in this matter this morning it will be taken out of roofies month and the written disposition show issue