When Do I Have to Pay Attorney’s Fees in Florida Probate Litigation?

Under Florida trust and estates law, am I personally liable for attorney’s fees? After an unsuccessful will contest, could I owe attorney’s fees to the estate? If my Florida probate lawyer wins my case, will the other side have to pay my attorney’s fees?

Attorney’s Fees in Florida Probate Litigation

• Despite what many people think, in Florida probate litigation, there is no guarantee that attorney’s fees will be included as part of a judgment.
• What does this mean?
• Even if your Florida probate lawyer wins your case, you may not be entitled to attorney’s fees.
• Instead, your trust and estates litigator West Palm Beach will have to prove that you are entitled to attorney’s fees.
• How do I prove entitlement?
• Entitlement of attorney’s fees can be proven through an agreement or statute.
• For example, there may be a contract or agreement in place that allows for the collection of attorney’s fees.
• Alternatively, a Florida statute may entitle you to fees.
• Trust and estates attorneys are very skilled at finding and utilizing these statutes.
• Check out this April 8, 2016 Second District Court of Appeal case, which reversed attorney’s fees awarded against a person after an unsuccessful will contest.

Anderson v. McDonough (2016 WL 1386145)

• Anderson appeals an order requiring him to pay over $50,000 in attorney’s fees to his mother’s estate.
• Here, Anderson challenged his mother’s will, which left everything to his aunt.
• After an unsuccessful will contest, the Estate filed a motion for fees.
• The Estate’s attorneys relied on section 733.106 of the Florida Statutes(2011).
• The Second DCA concluded that this statute did not allow the “imposition of a fee award against a person beyond what may be paid from his or her share of the estate”.
• Since the fee motion only cited the statutory basis, and  Anderson was left with nothing in his mother’s estate, he was not obligated to pay the estate attorney’s fees.

Want to learn more?

Click here to read section 733.106 of the Florida Statutes(2011).

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