Leo v. Lichtenberg

Citations

• 58 Wash. 585
• 1910 Wash. LEXIS 972

Syllabus

<p>Executors and Administrators—Allowance eor Services—Investigating Claims. It being the duty of an administrator to investigate and report upon all claims of creditors of the estate, an administrator is entitled to an allowance for attorney’s fees required for the investigation of a third person’s claim to ownership of a half interest in the estate which was based upon mutual accounts and dealings between the deceased and his brother for whom it was alleged deceased held the property in trust; since investigation might prove the claimant to be a creditor, and since the law takes an interest in distributing the estate to the legal heirs.</p> <p>Same—Allowances—Attorney’s Pees — Amount — Discretion. Allowances to administrators for attorney’s fees are largely discretionary, and no abuse of discretion appears, considering the value of the estate and all the circumstances, where $1,500 was allowed for the probating of a will and investigating a third person’s claim to a half interest in an estate of the value of $62,860, the attorneys having examined books and correspondence, and consulted with New York counsel for claimant during a period of a week or ten days.</p>