In re Estate of Inlow

• Court: Indiana Appellate Court
• Writing for the Court: BROOK.
• Citation: In re Estate of Inlow, 735 N.E.2d 240 (Ind. App. 2000)
• Decision Date: 06 September 2000
• Docket Number: No. 29A05-9907-CV-319.,29A05-9907-CV-319.
• Parties: In the Matter of the supervised ESTATE OF Lawrence W. INLOW, Deceased. Inlow Children, Appellants, v. The Personal Representative of the Estate of Lawrence W. Inlow, Appellee.

735 N.E.2d 240

In the Matter of the supervised ESTATE OF Lawrence W. INLOW, Deceased.

Inlow Children, Appellants, v. The Personal Representative of the Estate of Lawrence W. Inlow, Appellee.

No. 29A05-9907-CV-319.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

September 6, 2000.

Ronald E. Elberger, George T. Patton, Jr., Bose McKinney & Evans LLP, Marvin J. Frank, Robert M. Hamlett, Frank & Kraft, A Professional Corporation, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellants.

Thomas A. Withrow, C. Daniel Yates, B. Keith Shake, Henderson, Daily, Withrow & DeVoe, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellee.

OPINION

BROOK, Judge

Case Summary¹

Appellants Jason L. Inlow ("Jason"), Heather N. Johnson f/k/a Heather N. Inlow, Jeremy H. Inlow, and Karen E. Inlow as guardian for Sarah C. Inlow, a minor, (collectively, "the Inlow children") appeal the trial court's award of $750,000 in interim attorney fees to the law firm of Henderson, Daily, Withrow & DeVoe ("Henderson Daily") for legal services provided to Karl L. Kindig ("Kindig") as the personal representative of the supervised estate of Lawrence W. Inlow ("Inlow"). We reverse and remand.

Issues

The Inlow children raise four issues for review, which we consolidate and restate as follows:²

I. whether the trial court erred in awarding interim attorney fees to Henderson Daily for preparing and defending the reasonableness of its fee petition;

II. whether the trial court otherwise erred in determining the amount of Henderson Daily's interim attorney fees; and

III. whether the trial court erred in awarding Henderson Daily attorney fees because it had no written fee agreement with the estate.

Facts and Procedural History

Inlow was a partner at Henderson Daily when he accepted an offer of employment with Conseco, Inc. ("Conseco") in 1986. At the time of his death in a helicopter mishap on May 21, 1997, Inlow was an executive vice president and general counsel of Conseco. Inlow died intestate, leaving a gross estate of approximately 180 to 185 million dollars, and was survived by a former wife and four children from his first marriage, as well as a wife and child from his second marriage. On May 30, 1997, the trial court appointed Jason, Inlow's son from his first marriage, as personal representative of the estate. On June 2, 1997, Jason resigned his appointment and nominated as his successor Marvin J. Frank ("Frank"), whom the trial court subsequently appointed as successor personal representative.

On June 4, 1997, Anita C. Inlow, Inlow's second wife, filed an emergency verified petition to stay Frank's authority and sought the appointment of Kindig as successor personal representative pursuant to her statutory preference as Inlow's surviving spouse.³ On that date, the trial court appointed Kindig as successor personal representative; Kindig was Inlow's long-time friend and had been a partner at Henderson Daily before joining Conseco in 1992 as a senior vice president in the legal department. To represent his interests as personal representative of the estate, Kindig retained several attorneys from Henderson Daily, who immediately began determining and marshaling the assets of Inlow's sizable estate. On behalf of the estate, Henderson Daily also investigated the possibility of a wrongful death action against the helicopter manufacturer.⁴

On June 13, 1997, the trial court appointed Jason as co-personal representative of the estate, and Jason retained separate counsel to represent his interests. Jason and Kindig were unable to agree on estate-related issues, and on October 15, 1997, the trial court issued an order directing them to show cause why they should not be removed as co-personal representatives. On October, 21, 1997, Jason moved to disqualify Henderson Daily for its alleged conflict of interest as counsel for both Kindig and Conseco. After a show cause hearing, the trial court removed Jason as co-personal representative and ordered Kindig to serve as the sole personal representative on November 13, 1997. After a subsequent hearing, the trial court denied Jason's motion to disqualify on December 23, 1997. In the meantime, Jason and his counsel had filed petitions for fees and costs, to which Kindig objected on the basis of excessive rates, duplication of effort, and billing for work performed for the personal benefit of Jason and his siblings. On May 8, 1998, the trial court issued a detailed order on the pending attorney fee petitions, in which it reduced some of the hourly rates charged by Jason's counsel and pared thousands of dollars from their fee petitions for double billing and work performed for the personal benefit of the Inlow children.

On October 15, 1998, Kindig filed a petition for allowance of attorney fees and authority to make partial payment, which contained the following language:

Based upon the foregoing, Henderson Daily believes that a fair and reasonable fee for its services rendered to the Personal Representative, commensurate with all of the factors noted above and assuming no further unanticipated difficulties or circumstances, is One Million Nine Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,900,000). Based upon the inclusion in this petition of those services performed for the Personal Representative from the date of Mr. Inlow's death until June 30, 1998, Henderson Daily estimates that under twenty percent (20%) of the tasks customarily required of a personal representative remain to be completed and, accordingly, requests that a partial payment of attorney fees in the amount of eighty percent (80%) of the total reasonable fee, or One Million Five Hundred and Twenty Thousand Dollars ($1,520,000) be made at this time.

On January 21, 1999, Kindig supplemented his petition with attachments "disclosing the tasks and time incurred, by lawyer or legal assistant, by day, in connection with work performed on the Inlow Estate beginning May 21, 1997 through and including November 30, 1998."

On January 25, 1999, the Inlow children filed a brief opposing Kindig's petition, in which they asserted that

the total fees, based on Henderson Daily's highest specialty hourly rate for services rendered from the inception of the Estate through November 30, 1998, only amount to Five Hundred Nineteen Thousand Four Hundred Ninety One Dollars ($519,491.00) — less than one-third the outrageous, unconscionable and unreasonable fee requested. Otherwise stated, Henderson Daily, to the detriment of the decedent's heirs, is seeking not only a premium hourly rate for routine and customary services but a significant triple multiplier thereof which is both unwarranted and unreasonable.

Pursuant to Indiana Trial Rule 52,⁵ the Inlow children also requested the court to enter findings of fact and conclusions of law in its ruling on Kindig's petition. After two days of hearings, the trial court approved an interim payment of $750,000 in attorney fees to Henderson Daily on January 29, 1999. After several additional hearings, the trial court issued its findings of fact, conclusions of law, and judgment on Kindig's petition on June 18, 1999. The trial court's judgment reads in relevant part as follows:

FINDINGS OF FACT...

18. As a result of the extraordinary size and unique character of the Estate, many decisions generally considered to be routine in estate administration were more difficult and complex in this Estate. For example, Counsel engaged in considerable research and consulted with advisors to determine the Estate tax year which would most benefit the heirs. Other complex issues addressed by Counsel include the determination of whether a joint or married-filing-separate return should be filed for 1997, whether any restrictions existed on the Estate's ability to sell Conseco stock due to Mr. Inlow's status as a former executive officer of Conseco, the preparation of death tax returns, and the valuation of Conseco stock and stock options held by Mr. Inlow at his death, including the application of a blockage discount for estate tax purposes. Numerous significant and complex tax issues, both estate and income, have arisen in the Estate, which Counsel in coordination with other professionals has appropriately addressed....

26. In addition to the matters discussed herein, Counsel researched numerous other legal issues and took numerous actions to further the interests of the heirs of the Estate. Counsel provided appropriate and continual attention to Estate matters and did so by committing its firm's resources to the preclusion of other work and the development of new firm clients.

27. Counsel for the Personal Representative accepted employment herein notwithstanding the responsibilities and risks inherent in representing an estate of this size and complexity, as reflected in the complexity of the issues presented in this administration. The law firm as [sic] counsel for the Personal Representative in spite of the litigious and sometimes acrimonious nature of the Estate proceedings. The responsibilities and risks were present for Counsel and their law firm even without any evidence of errors or omissions on its part in the conduct of the administration of the Estate and in legal representation of the Personal Representative.

28. The Court took judicial notice of the proceedings that have occurred before it in this case and is cognizant of the nature and significance thereof. The Personal Representative's Counsel and their firm have thoroughly and appropriately represented their client in all proceedings and filings before this Court. Their efforts have reflected a high level of skill, ability, competency and thorough preparation.

29. The Estate administration has proved to be extraordinarily adversarial in nature, due in part to the disharmony among Mr. Inlow's heirs. This situation and its attendant results have required Counsel to expend considerable time and resources preparing for and attending contested hearings on a multitude of subjects.

30. The size of the Estate has also

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