Schlesinger v. Jacob
Schlesinger v. Jacob , 240 So.3d 75 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018) In this decision, the 3rd DCA adopts the requirement that an attorney's services must benefit a ward or the ward's estate in order to be entitled to fees. The Court focuses on the different standards under the statutes to determine entitlement to fees, versus the standard to determine amount and reasonableness of fees . On one hand, F.S. 744.108(1) governs entitlement to fees, and provides: A guardian, or an attorney who has rendered services to the ward or to the guardian on the ward's behalf, is entitled to a reasonable fee for services rendered and reimbursement for costs incurred on behalf of the ward. Case law construing this section has uniformly added in the requirement that the services must benefit the ward or the ward's estate, despite the fact that the word "benefit" appears nowhere in the statute. On the other hand, F.S. 744.108(2) deals with the amount and reasonableness o...