Court Opinion

ID: 9539052
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:45:54.687459+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:24.790704
License: Public Domain

Brachtenbach, J.
(dissenting) — A lawyer who draws a will naming himself as a specific beneficiary, the executor and the residual beneficiary should know better.
No authority is needed to assert that a lawyer' who does that should not only not benefit from the estate, but should not in any way benefit from the fruits of the estate, either by way of a bequest or having the estate pay any part of his attorney's fees or a fee as personal representative.
Good faith, which was proved, cannot overcome such obvious ethical conflicts.
I would hold that no fees of any nature should accrue to the benefit of the lawyer. I find the majority's holding incredible under a standard of what is right and what is wrong.
Dore, Pearson, and Callow, JJ., concur with Brach-tenbach, J.
Reconsideration denied August 28, 1985.