Obert Law Group, P.A. and Keith D. Obert v. Janet T. Holt, in Her Capacity as for the Estate of Dr. Edwin L. Holt, Jr. and Premier Trust, Inc., as Trustee for the Minor Beneficiaries, 328 So.3d 622

Dr. Edwin L. Holt, Jr. died leaving a $3M+ estate and five minor children; he had been represented predeath by Joshua Stretch (junior) and had associated Obert Law Group (Obert and Brown).
Stretch held an unearned $73,000 retainer from a separate dental-licensure matter; that money and subsequent estate checks were used to pay Obert Law Group’s invoices.
Obert Law Group billed and collected $181,896 in attorney’s fees from the estate without seeking prior chancery-court approval; the executrix paid invoices believing them proper.
The trustee of the revocable trust petitioned for return of fees; after a two-day hearing the chancellor applied MRPC 1.5 factors and found $96,951 reasonable, surcharging Obert Law Group $84,945 to reimburse the estate.
The Mississippi Supreme Court granted interlocutory review, applied the settled abuse-of-discretion standard for chancery fee determinations, and affirmed the chancellor’s surcharge and reimbursement order.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Reasonableness of fees and surcharge	Fees were earned, necessary, and reasonable given contested ex-wife and complex issues	Fees were excessive and were paid without court approval so subject to chancellor review and surcharge	Fees determination affirmed; chancellor found $96,951 reasonable and ordered reimbursement of $84,945 because excess was unreasonable
Standard of appellate review	Challenged reductions and rate adjustments as erroneous	Appellees stressed precedent defers to chancery courts unless manifestly wrong	Court applied abuse-of-discretion/manifest-error standard and affirmed (no de novo review)
Whether Stretch’s time is chargeable to Obert Law Group	Stretch was independent/"of counsel" and should be charged separately	Obert Law Group billed, collected, held retainer, and included Stretch on firm engagement; firm liable for billed work	Court upheld chancellor’s treatment of Stretch’s work as part of Obert Law Group’s billed services and surcharged the firm
Evidentiary rulings: final invoice and posthearing supplementation	Firm argued chancellor ignored final ~$20k invoice and wrongly barred posthearing exhibit supplementation	Chancellor admitted and considered the invoice; denied late supplementation as untimely and prejudicial	No reversible error: chancellor considered the invoice and properly declined posthearing supplementation

In re Will of McCaffrey v. Fortenberry, 592 So. 2d 52 (Miss. 1991) (attorney paid from estate without prior approval takes fee subject to later disapproval)
Harper v. Harper, 491 So. 2d 189 (Miss. 1986) (amount of estate attorneys’ fees rests within chancery court’s sound discretion)
Rogers v. Estate of Pavlou, 308 So. 3d 1284 (Miss. 2021) (orders authorizing disbursement of estate attorney’s fees are final, appealable judgments)
McLemore v. McLemore (In re Estate of McLemore), 63 So. 3d 468 (Miss. 2011) (appellate review of chancery fee awards limited to abuse of discretion/manifest error)
BellSouth Pers. Commc’ns, LLC v. Bd. of Supervisors of Hinds Cnty., 912 So. 2d 436 (Miss. 2005) (trial courts must apply MRPC 1.5 factors and support fee awards with factual findings)
Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424 (U.S. 1983) (lodestar method: reasonable hours multiplied by reasonable rate as starting point for fee awards)