Following a successful motion for the appointment of an Estate Trustee During Litigation, the applicant residual beneficiary sought costs on a substantial indemnity basis personally against the named estate trustee.
The estate trustee had failed to apply for a certificate of appointment, failed to provide information to beneficiaries, failed to file responding materials on the motion, and failed to attend the hearing.
The court awarded substantial indemnity costs of $20,708.74 payable personally by the estate trustee, finding that his conduct as a fiduciary warranted an elevated cost order and that an award from the estate would unfairly burden the beneficiaries.
The respondent's informal, late, and analytically deficient cost submissions were rejected entirely.
