WILLIAM ANDERSON, APPELLANT,
v.
LAURA MCDONOUGH, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF HELEN E. ANDERSON, DECEASED; AND RUBY YVONNE BAIN, APPELLEES

Fla. 2d DCA | 2016-04-08
No. 2D14-2605
KHOUZAM and BADALAMENTI, JJ., Concur.
189 So. 3d 266 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2016) Positive Treatment
Cited by 1 case

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The appellate court reversed an award of attorney's fees and costs against William Anderson following his unsuccessful will contest. The court found the fee award was not supported by statute or evidence of bad faith litigation, and the costs award included non-recoverable overhead.


Holding

No, the attorney's fee award was not supported by the cited statute, which does not allow for personal liability beyond one's share of the estate, nor by evidence of bad faith litigation. The costs award was improperly calculated by including routine overhead.


Headnotes

[1] Section 733.106, Florida Statutes, authorizes attorney's fees and costs to be paid from an estate, but does not provide a basis for personal liability of a party for atto…

[2] A fee award may be imposed as a sanction for bad faith litigation only if the party seeking the award properly invokes section 57.105, Florida Statutes, or establishes th…

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Key Quotes

“This. statute authorizes an award of fees to be paid from the estate and even from a specific portion of the estate. But it does not authorize the imposition of a fee award against a person beyond what may be paid from his or her share of the estate.”

Explains why the statutory basis for the fee award was invalid.

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Facts & Procedural History

William Anderson challenged his mother's will, which excluded him and his brothers and left everything to their aunt. The circuit court upheld the wil…

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Opinion of the Court
NORTHCUTT, Judge.

NORTHCUTT, Judge.

William Anderson appeals a final order requiring him to pay $51,897.00 in attorney’s fees and $10,007.69 in costs to his mother’s estate following Anderson’s unsuccessful will contest. We reverse the fee award because it was not supported by the law or evidence. We also reverse the costs award but remand for it to be recalculated.

Anderson’s mother excluded his brothers and him from her will, leaving everything to their aunt. Anderson brought suit challenging the will on several grounds. The circuit court upheld the will in a judgment that we have affirmed in a separate opinion released this date. Anderson v. McDonough, No. 2D14-1139, 189 So.3d 265, 2016 WL 1386091 (Fla. 2d DCA April 8; 2ÓÍ6). In this appeal, Anderson challenges fee and costs awards imposed against him.

’ The Estate filed a motion for fees citing section 733.1Ó6, Florida Statutes (201Í), which provides as follows:

(1) In all probate proceedings costs may be awarded as in chancery actions.
(2) A person - nominated as personal representative, or any proponent of a will if the person so nominated does not .act within a reasonable time, if in good faith justified in offering the will in due form for probate, shall receive costs arid attorney’s fees from the estate even though probate is denied or revoked.
(3) Any attorney who has rendered services to an estate may be awarded reasonable compensation from the estate.
(4) When costs and attorney’s fees áre 'to be paid from the estate, the court may direct from what part of the estate they shall be paid.

(Emphasis added.) This. statute authorizes an award of fees to be paid from the estate and even from a specific portion of the estate. But it does not authorize the imposition of a fee award against a person beyond what may be paid from his or her share of the estate. In this appeal, the Estate concedes- this. See Snyder v. Bell, 746 So.2d 1100, 1104 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999) (“[Sjection 733.106, which provides for attorney’s fees for services rendered to an estate, does not provide a valid basis for personal .liability for attorney’s fees.”) (citing Dayton v. Conger, 448 So.2d 609, 611 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984)); see also Dourado v. *268 Chousa, 604 So.2d 864, 865-66 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992).

The Estate argues instead that the fee award in this case was authorized as a sanction for bad faith litigation. However, the Estate does not properly invoke section 57.105, Florida Statutes (2011); Anderson was never served with a motion under the statute. Rather, the Estate relies on the inequitable conduct doctrine. This is a rarely applicable doctrine that applies only in “those extreme cases where a party acts in bad faith, vexatiously, wantonly, or for oppressive reasons.” Nedd v. Gary, 35 So.3d 1028, 1030 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010) (quoting Bitterman v. Bitterman, 714 So.2d 356, 365 (Fla.1998)). We conclude that this alternative basis was not supported by the evidence.

Anderson challenged his mother’s will and argued that she had lacked capacity and, alternatively, had revoked the will by defacement and obliteration. See § 732.506,- Fla. Stat. (2011). Two of the decedent’s sons testified that she had a lifelong history of incompetence, which would have included the day she executed her will. But a third son disputed this characterization and testified to his belief that his mother had always been competent. The third son also recounted her repeated requests for help in rewriting her will, which he declined. Rarely does such an important legal document contain so numerous and extensive handwritten notes as did the decedent’s will. All in all, while the evidence supported the court’s decision to uphold the will, the case was not so clear cut as to render Anderson’s litigation a matter of bad faith. We further note that the fee motion cited only the statutory basis rejected above and that Anderson was never given notice that fees were being sought as a sanction for bad faith conduct. We reverse the fee award in its entirety, which renders moot the issue on appeal concerning the absence of findings to support the amount awarded.

Anderson also argues, and the Estate concedes, that the gross amount awarded as costs must be reversed. Routine overhead is not recoverable as costs. See Northbrook Life Ins. Co. v. Clark, 590 So.2d 528, 528 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991). On remand, the court shall recalculate the costs award, omitting overhead expenses.

Award of attorney's fees reversed; award of costs reversed and remanded for recalculation.

KHOUZAM and BADALAMENTI, JJ., Concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Voyles v. Glavin, 335 So. 3d 200 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022)
    …esent witnesses and other evidence in their defense). In Anderson v. McDonough, the Second District determined that the testator’s son’s grounds for contesting his father’s will, while unsuccessful, were not so meritless as to constitute bad faith. 189 So. 3d 266, 268 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016). After setting forth that holding, the court stated that it had rejected, as inapplicable, the statutory bases cited in McDonough’s motion for fees and noted “that Anderson was never given notice that fees were being sought a…

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