Estate of Stevenson

Law Offices of Deborah F. Birndorf and Deborah F. Birndorf, Santa Monica, for Objector and Respondent.

Under the Probate Code, an attorney for the administrator of an estate may be paid for extraordinary services under a "contingency fee" agreement if the trial court approves the agreement after a noticed hearing. (Prob.Code, § 10811, subd. (c).) The trial court may dispense with notice for "good cause." ( Id., § 1220, subd.(c).)

In this case, the trial court approved an agreement entitling counsel to attorney fees based on hourly rates and the total number of hours worked. The trial court dispensed with notice of the hearing and sealed a portion of the record so that creditors of the estate would not learn about the fee agreement until after they had concluded settlement negotiations with the estate.

Counsel managed to resolve most of the creditors' claims through settlement, reducing about $12 million in original claims to $1.7 million in court-approved settlements. Counsel also obtained about $700,000 in payments, resulting in an estate with a negative net worth of $1 million. Pursuant to the approved agreement, the administrator petitioned the trial court for…