In Re the Estate of Vayda

This mil contest between estranged siblings requires that we address yet again whether, in the absence of a mandate based on a statute, court rule or contract, attorneys’ fees can be shifted from one party to another. Upon the application of the successful sibling, the trial court shifted that sibling’s attorneys’ fees to her brother, the executor and a co-beneficiary of the estate. The Appellate Division agreed that, under the circumstances, the successful sibling should be reimbursed for her attorneys’ fees, but that the reimbursement should come from the decedent’s estate and not from her…