Opinion ID: 1161211
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Interest on Deferred Payment of Executor's Compensation

Text: In its order of September 28, 1970, settling the executor's account except as to issues raised by the contests, the probate court approved $8,210.50 as the remaining balance of the executor's statutory compensation (§ 901) and $7,750 as extraordinary compensation to the executor for services rendered on or before September 4, 1970, but provided that payment of these amounts should not be made until the contests were concluded. The judgment on the contests entered August 1, 1972, now before us, provides that interest in the sum of $1,955.17 computed at the rate of 7% per annum on the withheld balance of statutory compensation and extraordinary services for [the executor] pursuant to this court's order of September 28, 1970, which interest is computed from said date to the date hereof is allowed [the executor]. (15) This allowance of interest was error. It is settled that noncontractual interest on a creditor's claim against an estate does not begin to run when the claim is allowed but only when it is ordered paid. ( Palmer v. Gregg (1967) 65 Cal.2d 657, 661 [56 Cal. Rptr. 97, 422 P.2d 985]; Hilton v. McNitt (1957) 49 Cal.2d 79, 83 [315 P.2d 1].) An analogous principle precluded any award of interest on allowances of executor's compensation for a period during which payment had been expressly ordered deferred pending occurrence of a future event. The judgment of August 1, 1972, is modified by striking therefrom the provisions for (1) charging extraordinary compensation of the executor and its attorneys against the principal share of the Contestants' trusts and (2) allowing interest on the withheld amounts of executor's statutory and extraordinary compensation allowed in the order of September 28, 1970. As so modified, the judgment is affirmed. The order for payment of attorney's fees for extraordinary services, dated and filed on November 17, 1972, is affirmed. Each party shall bear its own costs on appeal.