In re the Estate of Keating

In this accounting proceeding the court is presented with the recurring problem of fixing counsel fees to estate attorneys where both testamentary and nontestamentary assets comprise the gross taxable estate. The testamentary assets amount to $15,470.83. The gross taxable estate (which includes an inter vivos trust valued at $271,798.35) amounts to $307,430.66. The account, as filed, requests a counsel fee in the "sum of $7,700 which is not reasonable if based solely upon the testamentary assets of this estate. It is sought to be justified upon the ground, substantially, that the testamentary…