In Re Estate of Friedman

SHAW, J.

This is an appeal from an order of the superior court allowing to Marshall B. Woodworth and Edmund Tauszky, each respectively, the sum of five thousand dollars out of the funds of the estate of said decedent, for certain services found to have been rendered by them as attorneys.

Julius Friedman died prior to April, 1900. His will was duly admitted to probate, and the estate has been in the course of administration for many years. Edward R. Lande and I. M. Friedberg have been, during all that time, the executors of said estate. By the terms of the will the residue of the estate was given to the Hebrew Home for Aged Disabled, an eleemosynary corporation. The said disposition was for charitable purposes, and was therefore invalid as to two-thirds of the estate, with respect to the legal heirs of Friedman, if he had any. In course of time numerous sets of persons appeared and claimed to be the heirs of the estate. The Hebrew Home for Aged Disabled thereupon began a proceeding under section 1664 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to obtain a decree determining the rights of all persons to the estate and to whom the distribution thereof should be made. The several persons who claimed to be the heirs of Friedman appeared and filed their answers therein, the cause proceeded to trial, and findings and judgment were regularly made and entered, declaring that the deceased left no heirs at law entitled to his estate, and that the entire estate should be distributed to said Hebrew Home for Aged Disabled. An appeal from this judgment was taken by one set of claimants, which appeal is now pending for decision. The services for which the compensation in question was allowed were rendered during the period from May 31, 1913, to September 30, 1915. Ever since the administration of the estate began, Woodworth has been employed by the executor, Lande, as his attorney to conduct the proceedings in the administration of the estate, and Tauszky has been employed for the same purpose by the executor, Friedberg. The allowances made by the court were almost entirely for services rendered by the two attorneys, respectively, in the proceeding to determine

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the succession to the estate, begun by the said Hebrew Home for Aged Disabled. It is claimed that they were rendered at the request, or at least for the benefit, of the said Hebrew Home, the successful claimant in the proceeding.