Trusts & Estates-Trustee’s Fee & Personal Representative’s Commission – Denial – Unnecessary Expense 

The estate of the late James Brown faced a mountain of challenges, and there was testimony that it was next to impossible to competently administer the estate without retaining experts to assist, yet the appellant-trustee/personal representative endeavored to manage much of the “entertainment” administration herself while also personally handling much of the estate litigation herself. The record supports the circuit court’s decision that this harmed the entertainment side and that the harm outweighed any benefits provided on the litigation side. 

We affirm the circuit court’s denial of appellant’s application for her share of the $5 million fee/commission that she and her co-trustee/personal representative Robert Buchanan submitted before Buchanan settled with the estate. 

The testimony in the record about how to properly administer this sort of estate is compelling, and we cannot overlook the court’s finding that appellant prolonged this litigation and made it unnecessarily expensive. 

Pope v. Estate of Brown (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-009-22, 11 pp.) (Per Curiam) Appealed from Aiken County Circuit Court (Doyet Early, J.) Adam Tremaine Silvernail for appellant; David Black and Kirsten Elena Small for respondents. S.C. App. Unpub.