Estate of Lucille Ann Dominguez

Size of the estate and length of administration. As stated in the probate notes previously, the sale of real property is an ordinary and usual occurrence in the administration of a decedent's estate, thus does not automatically warrant extraordinary fees, even when work is performed to remedy waste. Unless circumstances during the sale of real property require the estate to incur "legal services" not normally needed during the sale and escrow process, the high value of real estate in this state generates a statutory fee award that is usually sufficient to compensate the personal representative and the attorney. This is especially true when a real estate agent is used to effectuate the sale. The standard courts use is " legal services in connection with the sale of property held in the estate." (CRC, Rule 7.703(c)(1).)

There were no legal services required in this case to remedy the waste that was caused to the real property, besides the preparation of an unlawful detainer action, which is most certainly extraordinary in nature. The Court may consider that the statutory fee calculated on an estate where the decedent's personal residence that was sold for $500,000 is reasonable compensation, because no "legal services" were required to effectuate the sale of the property, other than brief contract review and associated tasks, and the policy behind statutory fee awards includes strong consideration of the complication of larger estates than that of smaller estates. (In re Buchman's Estate (1955) 138 Cal.App.2d 228, 235.

See also Estate of Getty (1983) 143 Cal.App.3d 455 [discussing in dicta that massive statutory compensation can be sufficient to cover unexpected intricacies in estate administration]; and Estate of Hilton (1996) 44 Cal.App.4th 890, 912-16 [citing In re Walker's Estate (1963) 221 Cal.App.2d 792, 795] for the proposition that probate courts can disallow all extraordinary fees claims if they find statutory compensation sufficient, keeping in mind the legislature's policy of subsidizing fees in more complicated estates with those easily earned in less complicated estate ["The Legislature merely determined, in substance, that any undercompensation involved in handling small estates would be equitably adjusted in the long run by overcompensation in handling larger estates."].)