Re Boyle; Wallace v Boyle and Sothern

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1948
• Date: 01 January 1948
• Court: High Court

In re Boyle; Wallace

and

Boyle and Sothern

Claim by one of two executors for work done during lifetime of testator - Claim allowed, after investigation, by co-executor - Whether residuary legatee entitled to dispute claim - Power of co-executors to pay or allow claim by one of themselves against estate of testator - Devastavit -Trustee Act, 1893 (56 57 Vict. c. 53), s. 21 -Solicitor and client - Will - Solicitor appointed executor - No provision in will enabling solicitor executor to charge profit costs - Appointment by executors of a second solicitor to act as solicitor in the matter - Second solicitor abroad, having previously appointed executor solicitor his agent to carry on his practice - Administration of testator's estate carried out by executor solicitor in name of second solicitor - Whether second solicitor entitled to recover from estate profit costs in respect of work done on his behalf by executor solicitor -Nature and extent of legal inability of executor to profit from his office

The testator by his will appointed the defendant B., who was a solicitor, and another to be his executors and trustees, and by a codicil thereto he discharged the second-named executor and appointed the defendant S. to be an executor and trustee in his place jointly with the defendant B. For some years prior to the death of the testator, the defendant S., who was a nephew of the testator's deceased wife, had attended regularly, in the evening, at the testator's premises and applied himself to the maintenance of the garden and the carrying out of various household repaired and other work at the request of the testator. No express agreement existed as to the remuneration of S. by the testator, and no sums in respect of such remuneration had been paid to S. by the testator down to the date of his death. After the death of the testator the defendant S.presented to his co-executor B. a formal claim for a sum of £337 10s., in respect of his services to the testator, being at the rate of 30s. per week for 225 weeks. Notice of this claim was given by the solicitor for the executors to the plaintiff, who was the residuary legatee of the testator, and subsequently, contrary to her expressed wish, the amount of the claim was paid in full by the executors to S. Neither the will nor the codicil contained a provision enabling the defendant B. to charge or be paid any professional or other costs in the event of his acting as a solicitor in the administration of the...