In re Estate of Goodwin

511 So. 2d 609, 12 Fla. L. Weekly 1557, 1987 Fla. App. LEXIS 9020
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJune 24, 1987
DocketNos. 84-2280, 84-2629, 85-5, 85-6, and 85-536
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 511 So. 2d 609 (In re Estate of Goodwin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Estate of Goodwin, 511 So. 2d 609, 12 Fla. L. Weekly 1557, 1987 Fla. App. LEXIS 9020 (Fla. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinions

DELL, Judge.

This consolidated appeal arises out of five orders entered in the Estate of Leo Goodwin, Sr. that concern accountings and the award and payment of personal representative and attorney’s fees.

Leo Goodwin, Sr. died on May 21, 1971, leaving a gross estate with a value of approximately $60,000,000, and a probate estate valued at approximately $17,500,000. Appellee Alphonse Della-Donna (Della-Donna), an attorney and CPA, had prepared for Leo Goodwin, Sr. an estate plan that consisted of a unitrust, a general trust, a will, and two charitable foundations. On May 21, 1971, Leo Goodwin, Sr. executed the last instrument in the estate plan. He died one week later.

In June, 1971, the probate court issued letters testamentary to Leo Goodwin, Jr., the decedent’s only son. Leo Goodwin, Jr. retained the law firm of Sturrup & Della-Donna to represent him as personal representative of his father’s estate. In 1977, Leo Goodwin, Jr.’s son, Leo Goodwin, III, died leaving as his only heir his daughter, Elizabeth Anne Goodwin. In 1978, Leo Goodwin, Jr. died. Leo Goodwin, Jr.’s estate and appellee Elizabeth Anne Goodwin are the beneficiaries under the terms of Leo Goodwin, Sr.’s will. When Leo Goodwin, Jr. died, Della-Donna became successor personal representative of Leo Goodwin, Sr.’s estate and continued as attorney for the estate.

Appellant Alan J. Goldberg, the personal representative of the estate of Leo Goodwin, Jr., has appealed five orders related to accountings and the award and payment of personal representative fees and attorney’s fees to appellee Della-Donna. Initially, both beneficiaries objected to the payment of the fees. However, shortly before trial [611]*611Della-Donna and appellee Elizabeth Anne Goodwin (the 25 percent beneficiary) entered into a stipulation that limited her liability for the payment of the claimed personal representative and attorney’s fees to the sum of $150,000. The trial court approved the stipulation and denied Goldberg’s objection to the payment of fees pursuant to the stipulation. These orders are the subject of Case No. 85-5 and Case No. 85-6. We reverse.

Case No. 84-2280 arises out of an order that provided, inter alia, that Goldberg’s objections to the interim accountings for the period January 1,1979, through May 1, 1980, had been withdrawn and were therefore no longer at issue. The order overruled all remaining objections to the interim accountings, with the exception of the objections to disbursements made June 1, 1975, through December 31,1978, and June 1, 1980, through May 31, 1982. The order approved all interim accountings other than those expressly exempted. We reverse.

Case No. 84-2629 is an appeal from an order that overruled appellant’s objections and approved accountings filed by the personal representative for the periods January 16, 1978, through December 31, 1978; June 1, 1980, through May 31, 1982; and June 1, 1982, through May 31, 1983. We reverse.

Case No. 85-536 seeks reversal of a final order that awarded Della-Donna the sum of $600,000 as compensation for personal representative services from 1978 through 1984, and attorney’s fees of $190,000 for services from December 1,1981, to November 5, 1984, and directed payment of these sums. We reverse.

The probate court, sitting in its trial capacity, summarized the events leading to these appeals in the order that is the subject of the appeal in Case No. 85-536.

The estate presented a number of complex questions including a determination of the validity of the Unitrust by the I.R.S. If I.R.S. had held the Unitrust to be invalid, it would have increased the estate taxes by approximately $18,000,-000. In order to pay estate taxes, costs of administration, debts of decedent and other expenses, a secondary offering of GEICO, a restricted stock owned by decedent, who was the founder of the company, and the primary asset of the Uni-trust and General Trust was necessary. This was accomplished in May, 1972 and raised approximately $36,000,000. From these funds, approximately $12,200,000 was paid for estate taxes, $3,000,000 for debts, $1,900,000 for cost of the secondary offering, and $1,100,000 for Trustee’s fees to Leo Goodwin, Jr. and The Riggs National Bank of Washington, D.C., as Trustees of the General Trust.
At the same time, Mr. Goodwin, Jr. and Mr. Della-Donna agreed to an attorneys’ fee of $950,000, which included preparation of the federal estate tax return. An order approving payment of the $950,000 fee was entered on May 2, 1972. The fee was disbursed as follows: $750,000 as attorneys’ fees to the law firm of Sturrup & Della-Donna and $200,000 to Lester Witte & Co., an accounting firm in which Mr. Della-Donna was a principal partner. The accounting firm had handled all of Mr. Goodwin, Sr.’s business interests prior to his death, had computerized decedent’s books and records, and prepared the estate tax return under the supervision of Mr. Della-Donna.
The May 2, 1972 Order also provided for a fee of $450,000 to Mr. Goodwin, Jr. as Executor of decedent’s estate. This was the statutory fee for ordinary services based upon a probate estate of approximately $17,500,000. See Chapter 734.01, Florida Statutes (1971).
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The estate tax return was audited by I.R.S. and the audit lasted about two years. A “90-day letter” was issued by I.R.S. in May, 1975 wherein a tax deficiency of approximately $8,000,000, plus interest, was asserted....
The law firm of Hogan & Hartson, Washington, D.C., was retained in May, 1975, as co-counsel with Sturrup & Della-Donna. In August, 1975, petitions were filed in the United States Tax Court con[612]*612testing the tax deficiencies asserted by I.R.S.
In November, 1975, Mr. Goodwin, Sr.’s estate was ready to be closed except for the pending tax litigation in the United States Tax Court. The tax litigation was to be handled by Hogan & Hartson with Mr. Della-Donna as lead counsel to approve all work done by Hogan & Hartson in the tax litigation. In November, 1975, Mr. Della-Donna and Mr. Goodwin, Jr., as Executor, entered into a written fee agreement providing that the $950,000 fee paid previously did not cover any litigation in any court after September II, 1975 and that Sturrup & Della-Donna would represent the Executor at a reduced rate of $50 per hour for litigation in the state and federal courts. The November, 1975 fee agreement was terminated after May, 1976, when Mr. Goodwin, Jr. and Mr. Della-Donna became aware of certain information affecting Hogan & Hartson and Mr. Goodwin, Jr. decided that Mr. Della-Donna should retake control of the tax litigation. Mr. Goodwin, Jr. and Mr. Della-Donna also decided that it was in the best interest of the estate to retain additional tax counsel and, in the Fall of 1976, Mr. Della-Donna retained the law firm of Is-ley & DeReuil, Fort Lauderdale, as additional co-counsel in the tax litigation.

[Emphasis added].

Appellant contends that the evidence does not support the trial court’s finding that Mr. Goodwin, Jr. and Della-Donna terminated the 1975 written fee agreement.

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Bluebook (online)
511 So. 2d 609, 12 Fla. L. Weekly 1557, 1987 Fla. App. LEXIS 9020, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-estate-of-goodwin-fladistctapp-1987.