Trustee Commissions and Legal Fees Reduced for Errors by Trustee

By distributing some trusts years before and adding the assets of those trusts to other trusts, the trustee waived claims for commissions payable from those trusts, as well as attorneys’ fees incurred later. The trustee also failed to provide clear and persuasive evidence of the amount of work involved in serving as trustee, and did not present hourly records or other support for the claims for substantial commissions, and so the claimed compensation was reduced. Legal fees charged to prepare accounts that were inaccurate and had to be withdrawn were not approved. Legal fees also not allowed for disputes that arose out of errors by the trustee and his counsel, and the resulting litigation was unnecessary and needlessly complex. Cassalia Trusts, 12 Fid.Rep.3d 562 (Montgomery O.C. 2022), on appeal, 666 EDA 2023 (Pa. Super.) (consolidated with 667-672 EDA 2023). (The Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion is Cassalia Trusts (No. 2), 1 Fid.Rep.4th 63 (Montgomery O.C. 2023).).

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