Sanders

INTRODUCTION

In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether the attorney fees provision of the Elder Abuse Act (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 15657.5) authorizes the award of trustee fees as costs. We hold that it does not.

Lawrence I. Schwartz as trustee of the Lawson Family Trust (the Trust), and Lionel B. Sanders as conservator of the estates of Louis and Sylvia Lawson brought an action under the Elder Abuse Act (§ 15600 et seq.) against Cheryl Lawson, a beneficiary. The lawsuit stemmed from the manner in which Cheryl had obtained her elderly parents’ signatures on a quitclaim deed that transferred an undivided one-half interest in a residence in Santa Barbara to her. Cheryl appeals from the judgment entered against her and from the subsequent award of costs and fees to the trustee and plaintiffs’ attorneys. We reverse the judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The facts are essentially undisputed. Cheryl is one of three children of Louis W. and Sylvia Lawson, now deceased. Sanders was the court-appointed conservator of the estates of both Louis and Sylvia. Schwartz was the successor trustee of the Trust dated November 10, 1995, and amended and restated in January…