Attorneys for personal representatives and minor, absent, unborn, incapacitated or nonresident heirs.
1. Attorneys for personal representatives are entitled to reasonable compensation for their services, to be paid out of the decedent’s estate. The amount must be fixed by agreement between the personal representative and the attorney, subject to approval by the court, after petition, notice and hearing as provided in subsection 2. If the personal representative and the attorney fail to reach agreement, or if the attorney is also the personal representative, the amount must be determined and allowed by the court. The petition must contain specific and detailed information supporting the entitlement to compensation, including:
(a) Reference to time and hours;
(b) The nature and extent of services rendered;
(c) Claimed ordinary and extraordinary services;
(d) The complexity of the work required; and
(e) Other information considered to be relevant to a determination of entitlement.
2. The clerk shall set the petition for hearing, and the petitioner shall give notice of the petition to the personal representative if he is not the petitioner and to all known heirs in an intestacy proceeding and devisees in a will proceeding. The notice must be given for the period and in the manner provided in NRS 155.010. If a complete copy of the petition is not attached to the notice, the notice must include a statement of the amount of the fee which the court will be requested to approve or allow.
3. On similar petition, notice and hearing, the court may make an allowance to an attorney for services rendered up to a certain time during the proceedings.
4. An heir or devisee may file objections to a petition filed pursuant to this section, and the objections must be considered at the hearing.
5. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, an attorney for minor, absent, unborn, incapacitated or nonresident heirs is entitled to compensation primarily out of the estate of the distributee so represented by him in those cases and to such extent as may be determined by the court. If the court finds that all or any part of the services performed by the attorney for the minor, absent, unborn, incapacitated or nonresident heirs was of value to the decedent’s entire estate as such and not of value only to those heirs, the court shall order that all or part of the attorney’s fee be paid to the attorney out of the money of the decedent’s entire estate as a general administrative expense of the estate. The amount of these fees must be determined in the same manner as the other attorney’s fees provided for in this section.
Last modified: February 25, 2006