Estate of Strader

[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.]

1. The conservatorship litigation.

Strader's mental state deteriorated some years before her death, and in 1988 Farmers and Merchants Trust Company (Farmers) became the conservator of her estate. Strader's nieces eventually came to believe that Farmers mishandled Strader's conservatorship estate in numerous ways. After Strader died, Grant and Ward were appointed special co-administrators of her probate estate. Shortly thereafter, on May 15, 1995, Grant and Ward as co-administrators filed objections to Farmers' final account as conservator of Strader's conservatorship estate. Those objections and the ensuing litigation resulted, five years later, in a court-approved settlement agreement between Farmers and the objectors (McCuen, Crickenberger, Grant and Ward, the last two both individually and as co-administrators of the probate estate).

Under the settlement of the conservatorship litigation, Farmers paid the objectors a total of $1,235,000. 1 Certain of the objectors had advanced their own funds for attorney fees, costs and other litigation…