Trustee Compensation Limited by Agreement, but Interim Principal Commission Allowed

A 1954 letter from the corporate trustee established an agreement for trustee compensation of 5% of income, and the trustee did not produce evidence of extraordinary services to merit additional compensation or that the resulting fee was unreasonable. However, neither the letter nor the conduct of the trustee waived any right to interim principal commissions, and an interim principal commission was awarded in the reasonable amount requested, which was not an unconstitutional impairment of the original fee contract. The legal fees of the corporate trustee in defending the third account and its fees were not an expense of administration and were payable by the trustee and not the trust, while the reasonable fees of the objectors (who were also co-trustees) benefited all beneficiaries and should be paid from the trust. Wallace Ott Inter Vivos Trust, 10 Fid.Rep.3d 281 (Philadelphia O.C. 2020), aff’d 2021 PA Super 203 (10/12/2021). (The same opinion was republished at 11 Fid.Rep.3d 329.)

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