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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-17-12~o ~` ;~, rs r- -.< ~ -...s ,., -- ~~ .....~ - Yr': V ~7 __ _,~ IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PE~ISYLV~iIA ~.~ ORPHAN'S COURT DIVISION '~ IN RE: ESTATE OF MARY C. DUGAN, LATE OF SILVER PRING TOWNSHIP, :File No.: 2010-01018 CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA RESPONSE TO PETITION FOR PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES NOW, COMES Lee P. Stetler, Jr., Executor of the Estate of Mary C. Dugan, deceased, by his attorneys, Pecht & Associates, PC, and makes the following response to Petition for Payment of Attorney Fees: 1. (corresponding to numbering of Petition) Admitted. 2. Denied. "Exhibit A" is a letter from G. Patrick O'Connor addressed to Mr. Stetler, which letter speaks for itself 3. Admitted in part and denied in part. It is admitted that Petitioner presented an invoice to Mr. Stetler. It is specifically denied that Petitioner "provided extensive services to the Executor and to the Estate." On the contrary, Petitioner missed the deadline for filing the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Return for the Estate and obviously also missed the deadline for obtaining a discount on the payment of any inheritance tax due. Petitioner would not return telephone calls of the Executor or other beneficiaries of the Estate, and in fact hung up on at least one beneficiary. Petitioner simply did not perform the work which he was hired to perform. 4. Admitted that Executor failed to pay Petitioner's invoice. A letter from Petitioner to the Executor, dated July 11, 2007 (eight months after the Letters were granted to Executor) attempts to explain why Petitioner did nothing on behalf of the estate. The explanations are, at least in part, nonsensical. Petitioner was advised, by letter dated August 16, 2011, that-his services were terminated, and was asked to refund the balance of the retainer of $1,500 that had been provided to him. He has refused to do so. The letters referred to in this Paragraph 4 are attached hereto as Exhibits ".B" and "C." 5. Admitted. 6. Admitted in part and denied in part. It is admitted that Petitioner has requested fees from the Estate. It is specifically denied that any fees are due Petitioner, and the same was related to him in the August 16, 2011 letter. Moreover, Petitioner is responsible for any penalties- and interest that the Estate may be required to pay due to Petitioner's non-filing of .the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax return. WHEREFORE, the Executor of the Estate of Mary C. Dugan, deceased, requests this Honorable Court to order Petitioner to produce an accounting of the $1,500 provided to him by the Estate, order Petitioner to turn over the balance of said retainer to the Estate, direct Petitioner to pay any interest and penalty assessed against the estate due to Petitioner's non-filing of -2- the Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Return, and to otherwise deny Petitioner's Petition for Payment of Attorney Fees. Respectfully submitted, PECHT & ASSOCIAT , P January 13, 2012 By: Wayne . Pecht, Esquire PA LD. No. 38904 1205 Manor Drive, Suite 200 Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 (717) 691-9808 Attorney for the Executor of the Estate of Mary C. Dugan, deceased T• G. Patrick O'Connor ~~ Attorney-At-Law 3105 OLD GETTYSBURG ROAD CAMP HILL, PA 17011 TELEPHONE : 717-737- 7760 Lee Phillip Stetler, Executor Estate of Mary C. Dugan 313 Shady Lane, Apt. C Enola, PA 17025 Dear Mr. Stetler: September 23, 2010 This is to confirm that I will represent you, at your request, in regard to the probate and settlement of the Estate of 14Iary C. Dugan. As agreed, my fee will be $150.00 per hour plus out-of-pocket. expenses. As agreed, you will also provide me with an advance retainer of $1,500.00 to cover the initia110 hours of attorney time as soon as these funds become available to the estate. Twill place this amount in escrow and draw upon it as needed. The hourly fee shall be applied to alI activities relating to this estate, including but not exclusive to: review of your records and files, analysis of your situation, telephone conferences, meetings, research, negotiations, preparation of legal documents and letters, travel, billing and appearances in court, etc. Time will be billed for minimum 6-minute periods. Tune records will be available in my office for your review, should you desire to do so. At the time that my work on your behalf is completed, or my services are no longer needed, I will promptly return to you any unearned funds that I am holding in your behalf. In the event that it appeazs that the retainer you have provided will be insufficient to cover Legal time and expenses, I reserve the right to request an additional retainer. If any invoice goes unpaid beyond one month, it is agreed that I reserve the right to decline further representation, at my option, and/or to charge reasonable monthly interest. I cannot tell how much time will be required to handle this estate. I will endeavor to give you the best practical and legal advice that my education and experience allows. If the above terms are agreeable to you, please place your initials at the bottom of this page and return it to me. You may keep the other copy for your files. Client protection disclosure - In order to protect my clients at all time, I maintain funds provided to me by clients that are subject to possible refund, in a lawyer trust account approved by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In addition, I personally maintain cash reserves in excess of $100,000 to cover any claims should any arise. I do not maintain separate professional liability insurance. This disclosure is to satisfy the Rules of Professional Conduct. Sincerel , ~fi/ G. Patrick O'Connor Jul 1411 12:57p Frank and Sharon DeBuck -~ ~~ G. Patrick O'Connor Attorney At-Law 3105 OLD GETTYSBURG ROAD CAMP HILL. PA 17019 TELEPHONE: 717-737-7760 Email: patoconnor1000@gmai(.com July 11, 2011 Sharon K. DeBuck 2947 Innisbrook Circle Marysville, TN 37801 Deaz Ms. DeBuck: 865-981-1780 p.2 ~~ ~ I am sorry that I could not spend more time with you during our mast recent conversation. As I have explained, the estate is paying me an an hourly basis for my services and I consider it my duty to bring your mother's estate to aconclusion ascost-efficiently as possible. Z~!hile the executor has not objected to my conversing with heirs to answer reasonable questions, I do not believe that the executor wants me to engage in long conversations. that serve no real purpose, but only increase the cost of administration of the estate. During previous conversations, you informed me that you have devoted substantial amounts of time talking to government authorities acid estate attorneys, and came to the conclusion that my. activities and postponement of activities are highly. detrimental to the estate. I will set forth in writing here the questions you have raised repeatedly and the explanations that I have protrided, in the hopes that the questions will be finally resolved and that we will not need to keep going over the same issues. 1. The executor has expressed his desire, based on my advice, to want one-year after the estate advertising was completed, before distributing funds to heirs. The purpose is to avoid incurring personal liability in the event that someone should make a financial claim against the estate during that time frame. That is a proper and reasonable approach, despite any advice that you reportedly received from legal experts. My advice to the executor in this regard was not for the purpose of allowing me to run up a legal charges. 2. As I stated, the decedent's tax return was not filed b}~ April 15th because I did not have su#l-icient information at that time to determine the proper amount of refund to request. Because it was apparent that no tax was owed and that no interest or penalty would accrue, I decided to wait to complete this return. I have stated and xeaffirm here that,. in the unlikely event that any cost results because the tax return was not filed by April 15th, I will personally pay any. cost or penalty from that.date to the date of delivery of the tax forms to the executor. 3..As I stated; the inheritance tax return was not filed within nine months~of the date of death. The reason is that administrative expenses have not been determined as yet aiid will not be Jul 1411 12:57p Frankand S ron DeBuck __65-981-1780 p.3 sL~ ~ ,_. determined anti[ distribution is nearly completed. This is due largely to the method of determining attorney compensation, as well as the executor's final decision regarding his fee. I have requested that the executor make an estimated tax payment with the idea that we will request a refund later when the inheritance tax documents are filed. Since the inheritance tax liability is relatively small to start with, I expect that only a few dollars in interest will be owed from the date that the nine-month period was concluded and the date that the estimated payment was requested, and I intend to pay that from my pocket. T hope that putting this in writing puts your concerns to rest about this. As I explained to you, from a practical standpoint, it sometimes make sense to pay a few dollars in interest as opposed to spending additional time and attention to amending incorrect or incomplete filed documents, particularly when it involves a very small estate. 4. Tam employed by the executor, who was selected by the decedent to oversee execution of the estate according to your mother's wishes. In regard to your request, i will provide information and data to the executor at his request, which he may elect or not elect to share with heirs at the time he determines it to be appropriate. Again, this is in the best interest of cost-efficiency for this estate. I hope that, in taking time to write this letter, it will save a lot of telephone time for everyone by making it unnecessary to revisit these same subjects. Sincere , G. Patrick O'Connor cc: Lee Stetler, Executor PECHT & ASSOCIATES, PC Suite 200 1205 Manor Drive Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 Wayne M. Pecht Member of California Bar CPA/LLMin Taxation Rob Bleecher August 16, 2011 P. Gerald O'Connor, Esquire 3105 Old Gettysburg Road Camp Hill, PA 17011 Re: Estate of Mary C. Dugan, deceased Dear Mr. O'Connor: Telephone: 717-691-9808 Fax: 717-691-2070 www.pechtlaw.com Lee P. Stetler, Jr., has retained our firm to represent him as the Executor of the Estate of Mary C. Dugan, deceased. I understand that Mr. Stetler has previously retained you. However, he was unable to have satisfactory communication with you over the last several months. Accordingly, he requests that you withdraw your appearance with the Cumberland County Register of Wills and provide atime-stamped copy of your withdrawal to me. A Praecipe to Withdraw Appearance is enclosed for your convenience. We have already entered our appearance. We have confirmed you sent the required Notices of Beneficial Interest. to the beneficiaries and you advertised the estate with the Cumberland Law Journal. We have been unable to confirm you advertised the estate with the Patriot News, the Sentinel, or the Central Penn Business Journal. We are prepared to do so, however, if you have proof of publication with any of the Patriot News, the Sentinel, or the Central Penn Business. Journal, .please provide proof of publication to me within five days of the date of this correspondence. I would appreciate receiving a copy of your file so that I can confirm what work has been completed with regard to the probate of this Estate. It is my further understanding you did not prepare the Inheritance Tax Return and Inventory so that it could be filed within nine (9) months of date of death. At the time the interest and penalties are assessed as a result of your not filing the Return and Inventory timely, Mr. Stetler, as Executor of the Estate, will look to you for payment of the interest and penalties assessed. P. Gterald O'Connor, Esqu~~' ` August 16, 2011 Page 2 Mr. Stetler indicated to us that he has provided you with an advance against fees and costs of $1, 500. We -ask that you return the balance of this advance, with an itemization of any money that has been spent by you, to our attention, but payable to the Estate of Mary C. Dugan, deceased. If you have any questions concerning this matter, please call me. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation. Very truly yours, PECHT & ASSOCIATES, P.C. ~~ 1 Wayne iVI. Pecht WMP/gf (CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I, Wayne M. Pecht, Esquire, hereby certify that a copy of the foregoing Response to Petition for Payment of Attorney Fees has been served by United States First Class Mail, postage prepaid, addressed as follows: G. Patrick O'Connor, Esquire 3105 Gettysburg Road Camp Hill, PA 17011 January 13, 2012 Wayne M. echt, Esquire PA ID No.: 38904 Pecht & Associates, PC 1205 Manor Drive, Suite 200 Mechanicsburg, PA 17055 (717) 691-9808 -Telephone (717) 691-2070 -Facsimile