24 N.W.2d 875 | Wis. | 1946
Appellant contends that any claim for attorneys' fees should have been made against the administrator and not against the estate; also claiming that no allowance may be made out of an estate of a deceased person for services of an attorney who was not employed by the personal representative of the estate. Claim is also made that the services were rendered for the sole benefit of the niece to protect her interest in the estate, and that she therefore is liable for the services so rendered.
Counsel fails to give recognition to the fact that a claim for attorneys' fees may be filed against the estate of a deceased where equitable considerations or exceptional circumstances exist. Juergens v. Ritter (1938),
Sheldon contends that he has received, and will receive, no benefit from the expenditure mentioned, and therefore the estate should not be held liable for the services rendered. It is not a question of whether Sheldon will be benefited — the question is whether the estate is benefited, and there can be no question about this as the estate was enriched in the sum of $729.05, the portion of the Sheldon claim which was disallowed. It is for the services rendered for this benefit to the estate that the claim is made. If the administrator had resigned or had been removed and a successor appointed who had employed attorneys to contest this claim, no one would question the right of the court to allow reasonable attorneys' fees for the services rendered.
It has been held that where certain legatees assumed the burden of compelling a daughter of a decedent to restore to the estate certificates of deposit claimed by the daughter as a gift from the decedent, it was proper to allow counsel fees of such legatees to be paid from the estate. Becht v. Miller,
Appellant further contends that claimant should be limited to costs and attorneys' fees under sec. 324.11, Stats., citing Estateof Gallagher (1938),
By the Court. — Judgment affirmed.