Opinion ID: 2331585
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 25

Heading: Elliott

Text: The July 31 will contains the following clause: Item XV: My Executor is entitled to receive compensation for daily expenses from time to time and any unusual costs deemed reasonable by the court. I ask that he serve for no Executor fee from anyone. On April 26, 1994, Elliott filed a request for compensation as Executor. The court (J. Long) denied this request on two bases on August 16, 1994 (the 1994 order). First, the court noted that Elliott's request did not comport with Superior Court Probate Rule 124. [16] Second, and more important, the court noted that Elliott was seeking payment for personal time rather than daily expenses or unusual costs, and that under Item XV of the will, Elliott was entitled to none of the customary fees paid for the services of personal representatives. The court then denied Elliott's request and ordered that he not file any such further petitions. Elliott did not appeal this order. Appellees assert that instead of appealing he received an advance from the $365,000 cash bequest to him set forth in Item V of the will. Elliott made a second request for compensation on October 12, 1999, to which he filed an addendum on November 14, 1999. In his 1999 request, Elliott acknowledged that the 1994 order controlled, but asserted that the 1999 claim was different because he was seeking reimbursement for litigation expenses as unusual costs. Specifically, Elliott was seeking expenses for work as a paralegal for the estate's tax attorney, Rosen. After a hearing on December 10, 1999, the trial court (J. Christian) issued an order denying Elliott's second request for compensation (the 1999 order). In so doing, the court first noted that Elliott had requested compensation for personal expenses, not unusual costs or expenses, and that Elliott could not seek payment for personal expenses under the will. The court then took note of the 1994 order and stated that it found the language of that order controlling as to its interpretation of Item XV of the will. The appeal before us now is from the 1999 order.