Succession of Abdalla

764 So. 2d 362, 99 La.App. 3 Cir. 0979, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 1727, 2000 WL 913872
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 28, 2000
DocketNo. 99-0979
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 764 So. 2d 362 (Succession of Abdalla) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Succession of Abdalla, 764 So. 2d 362, 99 La.App. 3 Cir. 0979, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 1727, 2000 WL 913872 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

| JETERS, Judge.

In this succession dispute, we must determine the proper executor fee and attorney fees owed, under law, by a succession, when a joint executor renounces his share of the executor fee and serves as attorney to the succession.

Jacob Abdalla (Abdalla) died testate in Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, on March 30, 1995. He was survived by his wife, Mary Tujague Abdalla; two children, Beverly Abdalla Johnson and Mary Ann Abdalla; and one granddaughter, Charrisse Ingrid Kaplan (Ms. Kaplan). Under the terms of Abdalla’s last will and testament, his estate was to remain either under administration or in trust for five years from his death. The will provided for three co-executors and set their compensation as “provided by law.” Additionally, the will empowered the co-executors with the authority to select the attorney or attorneys for the estate.

According to the detailed descriptive list filed in his succession proceedings on April 30, 1996, Abdalla had substantial immovable property holdings at the time of his death but also had a substantial debt. The detailed descriptive list filed by Ronald M. Boudreaux (Boudreaux), Lawrence B. San-doz, Jr. (Sandoz), and John L. McKnight (McKnight), as co-executors of the succession, valued the gross community estate at $4,365,285.47 and listed $2,699,530.06 in debts, liabilities, and administrative expenses. Most of the gross value of the community was represented by ownership in immovable property.

The succession proceedings began on April 12, 1995, when Boudreaux, Sandoz, and McKnight filed a petition to probate Abdalla’s will and to be named as the testamentary executors. On the same day, the trial court probated the will and confirmed the three men as testamentary ex[364]*364ecutors; the St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court issued letters testamentary; and the three men each took their oath of office. | ¡¡.The professional law corporation of San-doz, Schiff, Keating & Watson of Opelou-sas, Louisiana, appeared as attorneys for the co-executors in the initial succession filings, and Lawrence B. Sandoz, III, signed the pleading on behalf of the law corporation. Sometime thereafter, San-doz, Schiff, Keating & Watson ceased to represent the co-executors, and the law firm of Sandoz & Sandoz began representing them. The principal partners in San-doz & Sandoz are Lawrence B. Sandoz, Jr., and Lawrence B. Sandoz, III. Lawrence B. Sandoz, Jr., has practiced law for over fifty years and had handled most of Abdalla’s legal affairs since 1948. As to the other co-executors, Boudreaux is President of Mid-South National Bank in Opel-ousas and had handled most of Abdalla’s financial affairs in the past. McKnight had been employed by Abdalla’s of Lafayette, Incorporated for some thirty-eight years and was familiar with Abdalla’s property holdings. Early on in the administration of the succession, the co-executors agreed that Sandoz should serve as the attorney for the estate, and that his office would be the central location for all business associated with the estate. San-doz agreed to this arrangement conditioned upon him not receiving any payment as co-executor.

According to Sandoz, when the three co-executors reviewed the status of the estate, they became aware that much of the immovable property was in a state of disrepair, that certain debts were delinquent, and that a large loan at the First National Bank of Lafayette, Louisiana, had been placed on a “watch list.” The three men decided to attempt to raise capital by selling some of the immovable property which was either not producing revenue or not necessary to the estate. Once they agreed upon this plan to administer the succession, the co-executors began filing pleadings with the trial court, seeking authority not only to sell property of the estate, but also |sto continue certain business enterprises, pay an interim allowance to the surviving spouse, pay the funeral expenses, and borrow money on behalf of the succession.

On November 2, 1995, the co-executors filed their first tableau of distribution wherein they requested authority from the trial court to pay $38,482.25 in succession debts, including $11,134.50 in attorney fees to Sandoz & Sandoz. No objections were filed, and the trial court issued a judgment on November 20, 1995, homologating the tableau of distribution and authorizing the co-executors to pay the listed debts.

After filing other requests for authority to sell property and perform specific acts on behalf of the succession, the co-executors filed a second tableau of distribution on November 12, 1996, wherein they sought authority to pay debts totaling $36,-817.28. Included within the lisffed debts was $22,220.00 to Sandoz & Sandoz as additional attorney fees. Ms. Kaplan filed an opposition to this tableau of distribution but not as to the proposed attorney fee payment. After reaching a compromise on the disputed payment, Ms. Kaplan and the co-executors presented an amended tableau of distribution to the trial court. On February 18,1997, the trial court rendered judgment homologating the amended tableau of distribution and authorizing the co-executors to pay the debts listed.

After filing more pleadings requesting authority to perform other acts for the succession, on January 23, 1998, the co-executors filed a third tableau of distribution which is the subject of this appeal. In that pleading, the co-executors listed $55,572.06 in debts to be paid, including $26,295.75 as additional attorney fees to Sandoz & Sandoz and $9,000.00 each to Boudreaux and McKnight as partial payment on their executor fees. Ms. Kaplan filed an opposition to these proposed Ldisbursements, asserting that the fees claimed by Sandoz & Sandoz “appear to be for items unrelated to the Succession, not [365]*365necessary, and that could be done by a non-attorney_” As to the payments to Boudreaux and McKnight, Ms. Kaplan asserted that those payments should not be made until after homologation of the final account and should take into consideration that which had been, or will be, paid to Sandoz as attorney fees. The trial court rejected Ms. Kaplan’s opposition, and she has appealed that judgment, raising three assignments of error. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court’s judgment on these issues.

In her first assignment of error, Ms. Kaplan asserts that the co-executors failed to establish a prima facie showing that they had complied with the notice requirements of La.Code Civ.P. art. 3804. As such, she argues that the trial court erred in rendering the judgment in favor of the co-executors. However, Ms. Kaplan did not raise this issue on the trial court level. Therefore, we will not consider this issue and reject this assignment of error. See Uniform Rules — Courts of Appeal, Rule 1-3.

In her second assignment of error, Ms. Kaplan asserts that the trial court erred in rendering a judgment that allowed the combination of attorney fees and the executor fee awarded to exceed the amount authorized by Abdalla’s will. While all the litigants agree that the proper minimum fee due the co-executors is $54,566.07, Ms. Kaplan argues that, because Sandoz is also acting as attorney for the succession, the combination of the executor fee due the co-executors and the attorney fees due Sandoz & Sandoz should not exceed the co-executor fee provided for by the will.

The will provides that “[m]y Executors shall be entitled to the compensation provided by law.

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Related

In Re Succession of Spitzfaden
30 So. 3d 88 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009)
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52 Fed. Cl. 745 (Federal Claims, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
764 So. 2d 362, 99 La.App. 3 Cir. 0979, 2000 La. App. LEXIS 1727, 2000 WL 913872, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/succession-of-abdalla-lactapp-2000.