Opinion ID: 1277322
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: count i: marr estate

Text: Count I involved the probate proceedings of the estate of Rose M. Marr. The evidence at the hearing showed that Widtfeldt entered into an agreement with the personal representatives of the estate to represent them and to receive attorney fees in the amount of 8 percent of the nonprobate and probate property. Widtfeldt later filed an inheritance tax worksheet with the county court, reflecting a gross estate value of $578,943.51 and an attorney fee of $46,434.22. The personal representatives paid Widtfeldt this amount from the estate assets, but the county court ultimately ordered the fees to be repaid to the estate. Widtfeldt complied with this order. Widtfeldt testified at that hearing that in the past, his standard fee for estate cases was 2 percent of the gross estate, plus extra sums for extraordinary work. He attempted to explain the 8-percent figure as compensation for conservatorship work at 1 percent per year for 7 years, plus 1 percent for the estate work. Widtfeldt admitted that a conservatorship was never actually filed and that the conservatorship work was done after Marr's death. This work involved double-checking all the canceled checks issued by Marr's attorneys in fact pursuant to Marr's powers of attorney. Widtfeldt described his work as compiling an account like a conservator. Widtfeldt testified that he did this pursuant to Marr's predeath wish that Widtfeldt conduct such a review informally, without court oversight, and that Widtfeldt wait to be paid out of the estate for such services. Widtfeldt did not have a formal written agreement with Marr to that effect. Widtfeldt was paid during Marr's lifetime for services such as the drafting of her will, and for a cancellation fee for not completing the guardianship-conservatorship which he had drafted for Marr. The allegation of misrepresentation in the Marr estate stemmed from the fact that the personal representatives were also each initially afforded, through Widtfeldt, 8 percent of the estate under a similar theory of compensation for their past services to Marr. However, when the petition for their appointment was filed, Widtfeldt stated therein that they were not creditors of the estate. Widtfeldt explained that neither of the personal representatives had a formal compensation arrangement with Marr and that they had told him they were not creditors of the estate. Instead, the compensation was as per Marr's expressed wishes to Widtfeldt that they in fact later be generously compensated. The referee found, by clear and convincing evidence, that Widtfeldt violated DR 2-106(A) by entering into an agreement for, charging, or collecting an illegal or clearly excessive fee. However, the referee concluded that he could not find by clear and convincing evidence that Widtfeldt had intentionally misled the county court in filing the personal representative applications as he did. The referee explained that the personal representatives' prior services were admittedly done partially out of friendship with Marr and that no terms of payment had been formally agreed upon. Thus, the referee did not find a creditor relationship.