134 Iowa 165 | Iowa | 1907
The appointment of H. B. Sloan trustee of the estate of Bates M. Manning was on the application of the mother of said Bates M. Manning, and the appointment gave him full power and authority to take possession of the real and personal property and to do all things necessary for the proper management of the estate and for the full performance of said trust. Prior to his appointment as trustee, Mrs. Maud M. Manning, the mother of Bates M. Manning, was appointed the guardian of Bates M. Manning, and,'before Mr. Sloan was appointed trustee of the minor’s estate, she entered into a contract with Mr.
On the appellant’s part, it is contended that the two attorney’s fee contracts should have been allowed; that the first contract was entered into between the guardian and Mr. Sloan, and approved by a judge of the court before Mr. Sloan’s appointment as trustee, and cannot be attacked collaterally .in a proceeding wherein Mr. Sloan is only accounting for his conduct as trustee; and that the same rule applies to the second contract, except that it is conceded that it was entered into after Mr. Sloan had been appointed trustee, and had entered' upon his duties as such. It is further contended that Mr. Sloan was entitled to have a jury trial, or a trial in equity wherein he could have appealed de novo, as to the reasonableness and validity of the two contracts in question. The further point is made that, Mr. Sloan being a trustee, the court of probate had no authority to call on him for an accounting. While Mr. Sloan was named trustee of the property of Mrs. Manning’s ward, he was appointed by the probate court of Van Burén county, and it must be borne in mind that he was claiming under these contracts in a report made to that court, that it is evi
We are satisfied that the evidence fully justified the trial court in disallowing the trastee the attorney’s fee claim for services in procuring a temporary guardian for Edwin Manning. The evidence justifies the finding that the trustee acted on his own initiative in such proceeding, and that it was of no substantial benefit to the estate that he represented.
The appellant trustee also complains because he was not allowed $2,400 for his services and expenses during the years 1903 and 1904. An examination of the entire record satisfies us, however, that the trial court allowed him fair compensation for the actual service rendered by him, and that he has no just cause of complaint on this, score. He was given $1,200 for his services for the first year- of his trusteeship, and, from the finding of the trial court, it appears that he was not charged interest on the ward’s funds which he held uninvested during his trusteeship. The guardians complain because of the allowance of $1,200 for the first year, but we are not disposed to interfere therewith. The findings of the trial court on all fact issues in the case are entitled .to the same consideration that the verdict of a jury would be, and we find no sufficient reason for interfering therewith.
Some complaint is made by the appellees because of minor allowances made to the trustee by the trial court;
The case is in all respects affirmed.