What advice would you give to that heir who on one hand is being taken advantage of, on the other hand, hiring an attorney for them is a very uncertain and can be very expensive proposition?

Yeah, it certainly can.

And there are people in the probate bar who will take matters on contingency, meaning that they'll take a percentage of whatever favorable outcome.

I don't know that many people do it, but I do know people who do it.

It's a little bit of a trap for the unwary.

I can think of one real-life example where, and we came into this case later on, but in a situation where one beneficiary is like, I want to remove my brothers as trustees.

I want to remove them, but I can't afford counsel.

You know, I

Certainly not.

Yeah.

um all right so conservatorship of ann s um you know it's funny my kids are almost grown now but my oldest son when he was little used to watch a show called yo gaba gaba and there was one song in that show that was don't bite your friends the the moral of this is don't conserve your friends okay um or maybe friends in quotes so an attorney petitioned uh for the appointment of another attorney as probate conservator of the person in a state of somebody named Anne.

Who was Anne? Well, Anne was the petitioning attorney's neighbor who lived one street to the east.

And he met Anne while he and his wife were taking a walk.

And they chatted with her for several minutes during that walk.

And meanwhile, the proposed conservator, who was not the neighbor, claimed he had known Anne and her late husband since 1990 and was a constant confidant and advisor to Anne.

The court found that because Hahn's fees all related to litigation centered on financial elder abuse, Apportionment was impracticable, and while fees attributable exclusively to his defense of the Pagano's petition would be subject to exclusion, the record supported the probate court's determination that the prosecution and defense work was fully intertwined and could not be apportioned reasonably.