Court Opinion

ID: 9911035
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-12-19 13:05:02.336341+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:55:38.684492
License: Public Domain

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA

                                      No. COA23-497

                               Filed 19 December 2023

Davie County, No. 15 E 338

IN THE MATTER OF:

Estate of RICKY W. SEAMON, Deceased.

      Appeal by Petitioner from order entered 19 April 2022 by Judge Susan E. Bray

in Davie County Superior Court. Heard in the Court of Appeals 1 November 2023.

      James A. Davis, Pro se, Petitioner-Appellant.

      Robinson & Lawing, LLP, by Christopher M. Watford, for Respondent-Appellee.

      COLLINS, Judge.

      Petitioner, James Davis, appeals from the superior court’s order affirming a

prior order entered by the clerk of court that denied his petition for attorney’s fees in

the underlying estate proceeding. Petitioner argues that the clerk’s finding that

Petitioner “rendered legal services to Cynthia Cuthrell in her capacity as

Administrator of the Estate of Ricky Seamon” was sufficient by itself to justify an

award of attorney’s fees to be paid by the estate. We disagree, and we affirm the

superior court’s order.

                                 I.     Background

      Prior to their marriage, Ricky Seamon (“Decedent”) and Tatyana Seamon

(“Seamon”) entered into a prenuptial agreement in April 2001 that barred Seamon
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                                  Opinion of the Court

from receiving any portion of Decedent’s estate and from serving as personal

representative of Decedent’s estate. Seamon contacted Petitioner on 4 August 2015,

expressing concern that when Decedent died, “she would get nothing as stipulated in

the [prenuptial agreement] and she would be homeless.” Petitioner emailed Seamon

on 6 August 2015 and “reassure[d] [her] that he will be able to assist her in the

matter[.]”

      Decedent died intestate on 9 August 2015. Seamon emailed Petitioner on 10

August 2015 and asked him “to assist her in taking care of” Decedent’s estate and

informed him that Decedent’s attorneys “will be against her defending [Decedent’s]

prenuptial aggreement (sic).”

      Cynthia Cuthrell, Decedent’s cousin, contacted Petitioner on or about 30

August 2015 to inquire about Petitioner representing her in her role as Administrator

of Decedent’s estate.    Petitioner assisted Cuthrell in applying for letters of

administration, and letters of administration were issued by the Clerk of Superior

Court of Davie County (“Clerk”) on 6 November 2015.

      Despite the prenuptial agreement barring Seamon from receiving any portion

of Decedent’s estate, Petitioner filed an application for a year’s allowance on behalf

of Seamon on 27 April 2016. The Clerk contacted Petitioner shortly thereafter and

“made him aware that [she] would not sign the years allowance for Tatyana Seamon

due to the language in the prenuptial agreement[.]”

      Several weeks later, Petitioner told Seamon that he could no longer represent

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her due to a conflict of interest. On 3 June 2016, an attorney hired by Seamon sent

Petitioner a letter stating that he believed it was a conflict of interest for Petitioner

to continue representing Cuthrell in her capacity as Administrator of Decedent’s

estate and requesting that Petitioner withdraw as Cuthrell’s counsel. Petitioner filed

a motion to withdraw on 5 July 2016, and the Clerk allowed the motion by written

order entered 22 July 2016.

      Decedent’s intestate heirs filed a motion for revocation of the letters of

administration issued to Cuthrell, alleging that “[t]he estate involves special

proceeding[s] and the potential for an attack by a surviving spouse who is

disinherited due to a pre-nuptial” and that “[t]his litigation will provide potential

conflicts with the existing administrator and be complex.” The Clerk entered an order

on 30 August 2016 removing Cuthrell as Administrator and appointing Bryan

Thompson as Public Administrator of Decedent’s estate.

      More than three years later, on 20 December 2019, Petitioner filed a petition

for payment of attorney’s fees in the estate proceeding, alleging that he “assisted the

Administrator in the administration of the Estate of [Decedent] and has performed

valuable legal services” totaling $14,793.64, and that his fees are “fair and reasonable

in every respect and should be paid from the funds on hand in the Estate.”

      After a hearing on 15 November 2021, the Clerk entered an order on 3 January

2022 denying Petitioner’s petition for attorney’s fees. Petitioner appealed to the

superior court. After a hearing, the superior court entered an order on 19 April 2022

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affirming the Clerk’s order.1 Petitioner appealed to this Court.

                                      II.     Discussion

       Petitioner argues that the superior court erred by affirming the Clerk’s order

denying his petition for attorney’s fees.

       N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-301.3 governs “matters arising in the administration of

trusts and of estates of decedents[.]” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-301.3(a) (2021). “In matters

covered by this section, the clerk shall determine all issues of fact and law . . . [and]

shall enter an order or judgment, as appropriate, containing findings of fact and

conclusions of law supporting the order or judgment.” Id. § 1-301.3(b). A party

aggrieved by the clerk’s order or judgment may appeal to the superior court. Id.

§ 1-301.3(c).

       On appeal, the superior court “shall review the order or judgment of the clerk

for the purpose of determining only the following:”

                       (1) Whether the findings of fact are supported by the
                       evidence.
                       (2) Whether the conclusions of law are supported by
                       the findings of facts.
                       (3) Whether the order or judgment is consistent
                       with the conclusions of law and applicable law.

Id. § 1-301.3(d). To determine whether the findings of fact are supported by the

evidence, the superior court reviews the whole record. In re Estate of Pate, 119 N.C.

       1 Both the Clerk’s order and the superior court’s order incorrectly indicate that the petition

for attorney’s fees was filed on 20 December 2018 instead of 20 December 2019.

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App. 400, 402-03, 459 S.E.2d 1, 2 (1995). Conclusions of law are reviewed de novo.

In re Estate of Mullins, 182 N.C. App. 667, 671, 643 S.E.2d 599, 602 (2007). “The

standard of review in this Court is the same as that in the [s]uperior [c]ourt.” In re

Estate of Monk, 146 N.C. App. 695, 697, 554 S.E.2d 370, 371 (2001) (citation omitted).

      N.C. Gen. Stat. § 28A-13-3(a)(19) authorizes a personal representative to

“employ persons, including attorneys, . . . to advise or assist the personal

representative in the performance of the personal representative’s administrative

duties.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 28A-13-3(a)(19) (2021). No direct statutory provision

governs the payment of attorney’s fees from an estate to an attorney representing the

personal representative of the estate; the personal representative is generally

personally liable for such fees. See Kelly v. Odum, 139 N.C. 278, 282, 51 S.E. 953,

954 (1905) (“An executor is always personally liable to his counsel for his fee or

compensation; but it is in no sense a debt of the estate. He is liable in such case in

his individual, and not in his official, capacity.”). However, under N.C. Gen. Stat.

§ 28A-23-3(d)(1), the clerk of court possesses the authority to allow “reasonable sums

for necessary charges and disbursements incurred in the management of the estate.”

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 28A-23-3(d)(1) (2021).

      “The Supreme Court has expressly recognized that attorneys’ fees incurred in

the administration of an estate fall within this statutory provision.” In re Taylor, 242

N.C. App. 30, 40, 774 S.E.2d 863, 870 (2015) (citing Phillips v. Phillips, 296 N.C. 590,

602, 252 S.E.2d 761, 769 (1979)). Nonetheless, the clerk may deny the payment of

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attorney’s fees from an estate to an attorney representing the personal representative

of an estate where the attorney improperly aligns the personal representative’s

interests with those of a competing claimant. See McMichael v. Proctor, 243 N.C. 479,

485, 91 S.E.2d 231, 235-36 (1956).

      Here, the Clerk made the following relevant findings of fact:

             5. James A. Davis (Attorney Davis) is an attorney licensed
             to practice law in the State of North Carolina [and]
             rendered legal services to Cynthia Cuthrell in her capacity
             as Administrator of the Estate of Ricky Seamon and
             rendered legal services to Tatyana Seamon.
             6. Attorney Davis received contact from Tatyana Seamon
             on August 4, 2015 at a time when the deceased had fallen
             ill, and Tatyana Seamon was concerned that she would be
             barred from receiving anything from her husband’s estate
             because of the terms of a prenuptial agreement executed
             by the deceased and Tatyana in 2001.
             7. Subsequent to this interaction, Tatyana Seamon,
             contacted Attorney Davis on August 10, 2015 in which she
             informed Attorney Davis that she wished to challenge the
             validity of the prenuptial agreement.
             8. Attorney Davis entered into a formal agreement for
             representation with Tatyana Seamon [o]n August 11, 2015.
             Later tha[t] same month, Tatyana Seamon sought out
             Attorney Davis to ask how to address certain questions in
             challenging the validity of the prenuptial agreement.
             ....
             11. On April 27, 2016 Attorney Davis submitted an
             “Application and Assignment of Years Allowance” or a
             Spouse’s Yearly Allowance (SYA) on behalf of Tatyana
             Seamon.
             ....
             19. The exact duration of Attorney Davis’ representation
             of the Estate, as compared with his representation of

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     Tatyana Seamon, cannot be determined because of the
     competing billing statements Attorney Davis submitted in
     support of his petition for payment of attorney fees, one of
     which recites a beginning date that actually precedes the
     death of the decedent. The ending date on both billing
     statements is a date after the Court granted Attorney
     Davis’ motion to withdraw from representation.
     ....
     21. The work of James A. Davis as counsel to Cynthia
     Cuthrell improperly aligned the interest of the Estate with
     competing claimants, namely Tatyana Seamon. Tatyana
     Seamon filed a counterclaim to an action to resolve pending
     estate issues on November 14, 2018 to set aside the
     prenuptial agreement and the [c]ourt finds that Tatyana
     Seamon’s intent was consistent with the fact that she
     wished to set aside the prenuptial agreement, and thereby
     become the sole beneficiary of the Estate, since her first
     contact with Attorney Davis prior to Mr. Seamon’s death.

     22. Attorney Davis maintained a right to proceed against
     Cynthia Cuthrell for payment of said attorney’s fees but
     did not do so based on the evidence provided to the [c]ourt.
     Cynthia Cuthrell instituted litigation against Attorney
     Davis in file 18 CVS 628, Davie County Clerk of Superior
     Court alleging malpractice by Attorney Davis, which
     concluded by that Stipulation of Dismissal with Prejudice
     dated July 13, 2021.

     23. After a thorough and conscious consideration, this
     [c]ourt finds that charges submitted by Attorney Davis and
     supported by the two competing billing documents were not
     necessary nor were they properly incurred in the
     management of the Estate of Ricky Seamon, deceased, as
     provided by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 28A-23-3(d)(1).

Based on these findings of fact, the Clerk made the following relevant

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conclusions of law:2

               16. Pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. §28A-13-3(a)(19) a
               personal representative is authorized to employ persons,
               including attorneys to advise or assist the personal
               representative in the performance of his or her
               administrative duties. If a personal representative retains
               an attorney to assist in the administration of the estate,
               the personal representative is personally liable for the
               associated attorney’s fees. The fees are not a debt of the
               estate, and the attorney does not become a creditor of the
               estate. Kelly v. Odum, 139 N.C. 278, 51 S.E. 953 (1905).
               17. Unless otherwise ordered by this [c]ourt, attorney fees
               are to be paid by the personal representative of the Estate.
               ....
               20. The [c]ourt should deny a request to recover fees from
               an Estate to an attorney who improperly aligns the interest
               of the personal representative with that of a competing
               claimant. McMichael v. Proctor, 243 N.C. 479, 91 S.E.2d
               231 (1956).
               ....
               2. There is no direct statutory provision governing the
               payment of attorney fees for an attorney representing a
               personal representative hired by the personal
               representative in the administration of an estate, but the
               Clerk is authorized, in its discretion, to allow such fees as
               a “necessary” charge incurred in the management of the
               estate pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 28A 23-3(d)(1).

               3. The fees requested by the Petitioner are not necessary
               nor proper charges incurred in management of the Estate
               of Ricky Seamon, deceased, as provided by N.C. Gen. Stat.
               § 28A 23-3(d)(1).     Furthermore, the nature of the
               representation was an improper alignment of the interest

       2 Findings of fact 16, 17, and 20 are not findings but are instead conclusions of law, and we

therefore review them de novo. See Norwood v. Village of Sugar Mountain, 193 N.C. App. 293, 298,
667 S.E.2d 524, 528 (2008) (“Findings of fact which are essentially conclusions of law will be treated
as such on appeal.” (quotation marks, brackets, ellipses, and citations omitted)).

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                                  Opinion of the Court

             of the personal representative with a potential claimant,
             thus any attorney’s fees incurred by Attorney Davis should
             not be paid from the Estate of Ricky W. Seamon.

      The Clerk thus denied Petitioner’s petition for attorney’s fees.

      Petitioner does not argue that the findings of fact are not supported by the

evidence, and they are thus binding on appeal. See In re Estate of Harper, 269 N.C.

App. 213, 215, 837 S.E.2d 602, 604 (2020). Petitioner’s sole argument on appeal is

that the portion of finding of fact 5 which states that Petitioner “rendered legal

services to Cynthia Cuthrell in her capacity as Administrator of the Estate of Ricky

Seamon” “is sufficient by itself to justify an award of attorney fees and reimbursed

expenses to Petitioner[.]” We disagree.

      Petitioner’s argument ignores well-settled law that an attorney who

improperly aligns the interests of the personal representative of the estate with those

of a competing claimant is not entitled to attorney’s fees paid from the estate. See

McMichael, 243 N.C. at 485, 91 S.E.2d at 235-36 (holding that a personal

representative was not entitled to attorney’s fees from the estate for “assert[ing] the

widow’s defense to the affirmative allegations made by the heirs as the basis of their

claim that the widow had forfeited her right of dower”).

      The Clerk found Petitioner rendered legal services to both Cuthrell, in her

capacity as Administrator, and to Seamon, often contemporaneously.          Petitioner

knew of the prenuptial agreement barring Seamon from receiving any portion of

Decedent’s estate and Seamon’s desire to invalidate the agreement and become the

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sole beneficiary of the estate. Despite his awareness of the prenuptial agreement,

Petitioner filed an application for a year’s allowance on behalf of Seamon, during

which time he also represented Cuthrell as Administrator of Decedent’s estate.

      While a clerk possesses the authority to allow “reasonable sums for necessary

charges and disbursements incurred in the management of the estate[,]” N.C. Gen.

Stat. § 28A-23-3(d)(1), the services Petitioner rendered to Cuthrell were not

“necessary charges” incurred in the management of the estate because Petitioner

labored under a conflict of interest that improperly aligned Cuthrell’s interests as

Administrator of Decedent’s estate with those of Seamon as a competing claimant.

McMichael, 243 N.C. at 485, 91 S.E.2d at 235-36.

      The findings of fact support the Clerk’s conclusions of law that “[t]he fees

requested by the Petitioner are not necessary nor proper charges incurred in

management of the Estate of Ricky Seamon, deceased, as provided by N.C. Gen. Stat.

§ 28A 23-3(d)(1)” in that “the nature of the representation was an improper alignment

of the interest of the personal representative with a potential claimant, thus any

attorney’s fees incurred by Attorney Davis should not be paid from the Estate of Ricky

W. Seamon.”

      Accordingly, the superior court did not err by affirming the Clerk’s order

denying Petitioner’s petition for attorney’s fees.

                                III.     Conclusion

      For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the superior court’s order.

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AFFIRMED.

Judges TYSON and MURPHY concur.

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