Estate of Pozsonyi, 23CA0650

Erika Pozsonyi died in 2011, leaving behind her second husband, Mark Denison, and her first husband, Anthony Pozsonyi.
Under a divorce agreement, Pozsonyi was entitled to 70% of the estate if not made a beneficiary, leading him to submit a claim after Pozsonyi’s will left key property to Denison.
New York and Colorado courts became involved due to the location of estate assets (notably a Denver commercial property).
Courts ultimately ordered Denison to return the Denver property to the estate, and Melissa Schwartz was appointed as special administrator to manage and sell it.
Schwartz was awarded fees and costs for her administration and subsequent litigation, which Denison repeatedly challenged.
Denison appealed a probate court order assessing $84,617.75 in costs and fees against him and his share of the estate; the Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s decision.

Issue	Denison's Argument	Schwartz's Argument	Held
Authority for Schwartz’s appointment	Appointed under section requiring creditor (Pozsonyi) to pay	Appointed under section to preserve the estate	Appointment valid under §15-12-614(1)(b)
Lack of compensation disclosure	Missing fee documentation makes appointment invalid	Denison did not object timely; fees disclosed eventually	Objection waived; any error harmless
Expiration of Schwartz’s authority post-settlement	First final settlement ended her authority	Authority continued as settlement was contested	Settlement order conditional; authority remained
Fees for defending prior fee awards	Cannot charge estate for fees litigating fees	Statute allows recovery of such fees	Statute permits fee recovery in such cases
Timeliness of second fee/cost request	Fees request untimely under court rules	Request was timely and included itemized costs	Fees and costs were timely requested
Bad faith finding	No express finding of bad faith	Court described Denison’s conduct as vexatious	Sufficient findings to support fees under statute

Freedom Colo. Info., Inc. v. El Paso Cnty. Sheriff’s Dep’t, 196 P.3d 892 (Colo. 2008) (standard for de novo review regarding legal standards)
Brown v. Silvern, 141 P.3d 871 (Colo. App. 2005) (waiver of appellate arguments not raised below)
Hill v. Boatright, 890 P.2d 180 (Colo. App. 1994) (methods to close an estate under Colorado law)
In re Marriage of Hatton, 160 P.3d 326 (Colo. App. 2007) (adverse legal rulings do not establish judicial bias)
People in Interest of S.G., 91 P.3d 443 (Colo. App. 2004) (standard for disqualification based on bias)