Reiss v. Reiss

FOX, J. pro tem. This is a motion to dismiss the appeal on the ground, among others, that the matter is moot.

Petitioners, Mark F. Jones and Sidney Tannen, filed a petition seeking compensation from the assets of the estate of Rosa Reiss for services alleged to have been rendered by them in the preservation of the assets of said estate. They had represented Moses Reiss, a son of decedent, not as executor or administrator, but as one of the heirs, in certain litigation involving the property of Rosa Reiss (see Reiss v. Reiss (1941), 45 Cal.App.2d 740 [114 P.2d 718]), and in the probate proceedings. During the hearing Moses Reiss, with permission of the court, joined in the petition. The petition, however, was denied. Petitioners have appealed from the order of denial.

The said Moses Reiss (and his wife, Jeta), had entered into an agreement with petitioners Jones and Tannen (attorneys) to pay them for their legal services on his behalf 50 per cent of any and all property he “may receive” from the estate of his mother (Rosa Reiss), and to secure said petitioners in the payment of their fees he (and his wife) assigned to them an undivided 50 per cent interest in his share in his mother’s estate.

At the time the petition of Jones and Tannen for compensation from the assets of the estate came before the court there was also before the court for its consideration and determination another petition, pursuant to the provisions of section 1020.1 of the Probate Code, by said Jones and Tannen for inquiry into the consideration of the said assignment of Moses Reiss (and his wife) to said attorneys with a prayer that said assignment be approved and that the court order the distribution to said attorneys of a one-sixth interest in the said estate. The assignment was approved and said petition granted.

At this same session the court also heard the final account and petition for distribution of Max Reiss as administrator of said estate and likewise heard the objections of petitioners thereto. The court settled the final account and ordered distribution of the estate which showed an appraised value of $35,050.27, one-sixth of which was ordered distributed to peti[130]turners Jones and Tannen pursuant to the aforesaid assignment to them by Moses Reiss. The formal order and decree was signed by the judge May 25, 1943, and entered in the book of Probate Judgments on June 3, 1943. No appeal was taken from said order and decree, nor from any part thereof, and the same became final. The administrator, Max Reiss, after said decree became final, distributed the assets of said estate in compliance with it, and on September 15, 1943, filed his affidavit for final discharge as such administrator and the court thereupon made its order discharging him as such administrator.