[WSBAPT] PRs/TTEEs hiring own children as estate employees

[Shannon Jones]

I opposed a PR's $75 hourly rate and some of her attorney's fees as excessive and duplicative through a very detailed analysis and (I thought) well-reasoned objection not long ago before the Pierce County Probate Commissioner. Basically a house and a car but many thousands in fees. The Court Commissioner slightly discounted both the PR hourly rate and some duplicative fees. I did not recover my fees. My client was the only heir. PR was non-relative and non-heir. I had to file a separate TEDRA because a Declaration of Completion had been filed and served on the heir. Your facts appear perhaps more egregious and you're in a different county. I would say just make sure your client is prepared for what might end up a financial wash.


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Shannon R. Jones | Attorney
Campbell Barnett PLLC
Direct:  253.848.3515
Office: 253.848.3513| Fax: 253.845.4941
317 South Meridian
Puyallup, WA 98371
shannonj at campbellbarnettlaw.com<mailto:shannonj at campbellbarnettlaw.com>
campbellbarnettlaw.com<https://campbellbarnettlaw.com/>

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From: wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com <wsbapt-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com> On Behalf Of Joshua McKarcher
Sent: Monday, November 6, 2023 4:03 PM
To: WSBA Probate & Trust Listserv <wsbapt at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBAPT] PRs/TTEEs hiring own children as estate employees

Elderly co-PRs and co-trustees of a joint probate hired their own underemployed children - who were already beneficiaries, with the co-PRs, of 50% of the estate - to administer a single home, two cars, a couple bank accounts, and the usual tangible personal property (in non-metropolis Clarkston, mind you).

Thus, that "50% of the estate" has charged a $200,000 net estate over $15,800 in time and mileage for 4 people to clean the house, shop, run around town, etc. (This is additional to the $12,000 in reimbursed expenses the PRs advanced, and $8,000 in legal fees and costs.)

Fun facts:


  *   Over $8,000 of the fees are of the son and daughter, not the two PRs/trustees.


  *   All 4 charged $20/hour for all services.


  *   All hours on all 4 timesheets are in whole numbers, as is all mileage. (Along with mileage are charges for gas fill-ups. Woohoo!)


  *   2 hours for each bank visit, often by both PRs.


  *   10+ days of the daughter charging 8 hours flat with narrative: "cleaning."


  *   The two kids' "timesheets" were constructed recently, by reference to calendars and texts, as they didn't realize they needed to have kept contemporaneous time records. The co-PRs' at least were apparently kept contemporaneously, even if generously (by virtue of the rounding).

I have never encountered this. I do not object to fiduciary or lawyer fees; it's not my norm at all. But this feels "off."

If you have any experience with addressing such apparent nepotism and potential double dipping - or, even if you have a point of view about its reasonableness or how on earth one might determine what IS reasonable in such a case - I'd be grateful for your two cents.

I'd even sleep better to be told this is perfectly normal and that co-fiduciaries with non-intervention powers can hire anyone they want, etc., and no Washington caselaw is going to say otherwise.

Thanks, Josh

Joshua D. McKarcher
McKarcher Law PLLC
537 6th Street
Clarkston, WA 99403
(509) 758-3345
(509) 758-3314 (fax)
josh at mckarcherlaw.com<mailto:josh at mckarcherlaw.com>
www.mckarcherlaw.com<http://www.mckarcherlaw.com/>


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