Bridgeford v. Williams

436 S.W.2d 453, 58 Tenn. App. 693, 1967 Tenn. App. LEXIS 224
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 15, 1967
StatusPublished

This text of 436 S.W.2d 453 (Bridgeford v. Williams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bridgeford v. Williams, 436 S.W.2d 453, 58 Tenn. App. 693, 1967 Tenn. App. LEXIS 224 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

BEJACH, J.

This cause is an aftermath of the case of Williams v. Bridgeford, Executor, etc., et al., 53 Tenn. App. 381, 383 S.W.2d 770, and results from the denial by Hon. Greenfield Polk, Judge of Division 5 of the Circuit Court of Shelby County, Tennessee, of a petition filed by Mary Guidi and/or Coreda Williams for attorneys fees in that case. In that case there was involved the question of which of two wills executed by Martha Thornton was her last will and testament. Coreda Williams was named as executrix under a will executed by Martha Thornton February 13, 1953, and Harry Bridge-ford was named as executor under a later will executed [695]*695by Martha Thornton March 31, 1961. Both wills were offered for probate in the Probate Court of Shelby County, Tennessee, and were certified by the Hon. Sylvanus Polk, judge of that court to the Circuit Court of Shelby County for determination, on an issue of devisavit vel non, which of said wills was the true last will and testament of Martha Thornton. The cause was tried in the Circuit Court as a contest of the will of March 31, 1961, with Coreda Williams as the contestant. The issue was found by the jury in favor of the will of March 31, 1961, and the judgment of the Circuit Court of Shelby County . in favor of said will, based on the jury’s verdict, was appealed to this Court by Coreda Williams where it was affirmed and the cause remanded.. Miss Mary Guidi of the Memphis Bar represented Coreda Williams, in the will contest in the Circuit Court, on the appeal to this Court, and in preparation and presentation of a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court, which was denied. After remand of the cause, Miss Guidi filed a petition in the Circuit Court praying for the granting to her of an attorneys fee in the amount of $7,000 for services in the aforesaid litigation. Proof in her favor includes valuation of her services all the way to the Supreme Court. Harry Bridgeford, through his attorney, filed an answer in which he contended that Miss Guidi was not the proper person to file said petition, that it must be filed, if at all, by Coreda Williams. By permission of the Circuit Court Judge, the petition was amended by interlineation so as to show that it was the petition for attorneys fee of Mary Guidi and Coreda Williams, executrix and proponent of the last will and testament of Martha Thornton, dated the 13th day of February 1953. After a hearing at which Coreda Williams testified as witness of the court and was cross examined by both counsel for Harry Bridge-[696]*696ford and Miss Guidi, the court held “That neither Mary Guidi nor Coreda Williams is entitled to an attorneys fee under the circumstances of this case.” It was ordered, adjudged and decreed that the petition for attorneys fee be denied. After a motion for a new trial had been overruled, both Coreda Williams and Miss Guidi appealed to this Court.

The general rule on the subject of attorneys fees is stated by the Supreme Court in Gilpin v. Burrage, 188 Tenn. 80, 89, 216 S.W.2d 732, 736, as follows:

“Ordinarily one who did not employ an attorney» cannot be required to pay that attorney a fee even though the services of the attorney may have been of value to such person. Draper v. Draper, 24 Tenn.App. 548, 553, 147 S.W.2d 759. An exception has been made at times with reference to legal services rendered in connection with the estate of a decedent or trust.”

Phillips’ Pritchard’s Wills and Estates, section 378, says:

“An executor who in good faith propounds a will for probate is entitled to his costs and attorneys fees whether the will is set aside or not. ’ ’

In Lassiter v. Travis, 98 Tenn. 330, 39 S.W. 226, which case is mainly relied on by counsel for appellants, it was held:

“The nominated executor, who acts in good faith, is entitled to have the costs and reasonable attorney fees incurred by him in an unsuccessful effort to have the will probated, paid out of the assets of the estate, although he was a legatee and the only person interested in sustaining the' will; ”

[697]*697Counsel for appellee undertakes to distinguish, the Lassiter case, and we think successfully, by pointing out that the fee allowed in the Lassiter case was for benefit of counsel for the executrix in an unsuccessful attempt to probate the will. He further points out that there is no reported decision in the State of Tennessee, nor elsewhere in the United States, so far as can be ascertained, which holds that there is any duty for the named executor or executrix in an earlier unprobated will to contest a later will which appears on its face to meet the legal requirements of the statutes and case law of the jurisdiction. To the contrary, both this Court and the Supreme Court have held that counsel for an unsuccessful contestant of a will cannot be paid out of the assets bequeathed by the will. Podesta v. Podesta, 28 Tenn.App, 282, 294, 189 S.W.2d 413; In re Eppinger’s Estate, 207 Tenn. 53, 336 S.W.2d 28. In the Podesta case, Mrs. Elizabeth Podesta and Mrs. Emma Pransioli, sisters of Charles Podesta, deceased, had successfully prevented the probate of a holographic will made by Charles Podesta in 1933, on the ground that it was not found among his valuable papers. Later, however, after a 1915 will was found, executed with all the formalities required by law, the holographic will of 1933 was admitted to probate as a valid will of personalty, and a codicil to and part of the will of 1915, the two instruments together being adjudged to be and constitute the whole and true will and testament of the said testator. (Fransioli v. Podesta, 175 Tenn. 340, 134 S.W.2d 162). Mrs. Elizabeth Podesta and Mrs. Emma Pransioli then sued Mrs. Elizabeth Stagner Podesta, individually and in her capacity as executrix of the will of' Charles Podesta, for unpaid legacies to them under the 1915 will, and for their attorneys fees and expenses in contesting the 1933 will. This [698]*698Court, in an opinion written by Ketchum, J., held that the 1933 will, as a codicil to the 1915 will, revoked the legacies sued for and that Mrs. Elizabeth Podesta and Mrs. Emma. Fransioli were not entitled to recover their attorneys fees incurred in contesting the 1933 will. From the opinion we quote, as follows:

“It is their contention that they were given substantial legacies under the 1915 will and that so long as the widow remained executrix of that will it was her duty in every way possible to uphold that will; and that when she sought to have the 1933 will established, the duty devolved upon them as contestants to try to sustain the 1915 will.
It is true that complainants had the right as legatees under the 1915 will to contest the later one, and that in doing so they acted in entire good faith. But they were under no obligation to contest the 1933 will, and we cannot see that in doing so they were acting in the interest of the estate. Manifestly, they did so with the hope of saving their legacies for themselves rather than with a view of rendering a service to the estate.

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Related

In Re Eppinger Estate
336 S.W.2d 28 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1960)
Gillespie v. Federal Compress & Warehouse Co.
265 S.W.2d 21 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1953)
American National Bank v. Meadors
36 S.W.2d 86 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1931)
Draper v. Draper
147 S.W.2d 759 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1940)
Podesta v. Podesta
189 S.W.2d 413 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1945)
Fransioli v. Podesta
134 S.W.2d 162 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1939)
Lassiter v. Travis
39 S.W. 226 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1897)
Gilpin v. Burrage
216 S.W.2d 732 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1948)
In re Estate of Eppinger
336 S.W.2d 28 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1960)
In re the Estate of Lewis
325 S.W.2d 647 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1958)
Williams v. Bridgeford
383 S.W.2d 770 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1964)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
436 S.W.2d 453, 58 Tenn. App. 693, 1967 Tenn. App. LEXIS 224, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bridgeford-v-williams-tennctapp-1967.