Opinion ID: 2322617
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Orders Authorizing Payment of the Fees and Expenses

Text: Code (1957, 1969 Repl. Vol.) Art. 93, § 7-603 is applicable to estates of decedents dying after 1 January 1970 and provides: When any personal representative or person nominated as personal representative defends or prosecutes any proceeding in good faith and with just cause, whether successful or not, he shall be entitled to receive from the estate his necessary expenses and disbursements. It seems to us that the prior law, exemplified by Koenig v. Ward, 104 Md. 564, 566, 65 A. 345 (1906) on which the caveators rely, was first altered by Ch. 200 of the Laws of 1966, applicable to estates of persons dying after 1 June 1966: When any person designated as an executor in a will, or the administrator with the will annexed, defends the will or prosecutes any proceedings in good faith and with just cause for the purpose of having the will admitted to probate, whether successful or not, he shall be allowed out of the estate his necessary expenses and disbursements, including reasonable attorney's fees in such proceedings. Ch. 200, which was codified as Code (1957, 1964 Repl. Vol., 1966 Supp.) Art. 93, § 49 A, the statutory progenitor of § 7-603, made it clear that the defense of a will whether before or after probate was to be at the expense of the estate. It is quite apparent, too, that the Legislative intent, as expressed in § 7-603, was that a defense of a will by either a personal representative (who presumably has qualified) or by a person nominated as personal representative (who presumably has not qualified) should similarly be at the expense of the estate. The rule of Koenig v. Ward, supra, 104 Md. at 565, 566 and its progeny, see Lewis v. Mason, 156 Md. 32, 34, 143 A. 585 (1928), which held that the orphans' court had no jurisdiction to allow a fee from the estate to counsel for the caveatees when a caveat was filed before a will was admitted to probate, would not only be inapplicable to the present case, where probate had been had, see Decker v. Fahrenholtz, 107 Md. 515, 520-21, 68 A. 1048 (1908), but more importantly, has been dramatically altered by the General Assembly. While it might be argued that the result which we reach here makes the caveators' contention moot, we have concluded that a resolution of the issue is not inappropriate in the circumstances. For this reason we shall affirm the orders of the orphans' court. Verdict in No. 7737 Civil (The Caveat Case) vacated, and judgment N.O.V. entered in favor of caveatee to the end that the verdict of the jury on Issue No. 1 shall be yes, the costs below and on appeal to be paid by appellees, Bertha Larmore et al. Orders of Orphans' Court dated 14 and 16 March 1972 authorizing payment of counsel fees and expenses below and on appeal from funds of the estate affirmed, costs on appeal to be paid by appellants, Bertha Larmore et al.