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executors in the course of the ordinary business of administering
an estate in Maryland, including long distance telephone calls,
hotel expenses, and airplane tickets, will not be considered
expenses necessary to protect the estate if incurred only because
the executors are nonresidents. See 59 Op. Atty. Gen. 613 (Md.
1974); 48 Op. Atty. Gen. 419 (Md. 1963).15
On the record before us, we further find that the estate has
failed to establish that the expenses claimed in Schedule L to
reimburse Mr. Grant and Ms. Adams for a total of 2,805 miles of
“local mileage incurred in settling estate” were necessarily
15Although since those opinions of the Attorney General of
Maryland were issued there have been some changes in Md. Code
Ann., Est. & Trusts, sec. 7-601, relating to compensation of the
personal representatives of an estate, none of those changes has
had any effect on those opinions. Indeed, in 59 Op. Atty. Gen.
613 (Md. 1974), the Attorney General of Maryland cited with
approval 48 Op. Atty. Gen. 419 (Md. 1963) and 21 Op. Atty. Gen.
709 (Md. 1936) and indicated that those two latter opinions
“considered similar questions” to those being considered in 59
Op. Atty. Gen. 613 (Md. 1974). In addition, in 59 Op. Atty. Gen.
613 (Md. 1974), the Attorney General stated:
It is our opinion that the enactment of the pres-
ent provisions of the Estates and Trusts Article was
not intended to substantially change the law * * * and
that the same result as reached in the above opinions
[48 Op. Atty. Gen. 419 (Md. 1963) and 21 Op. Atty. Gen.
709 (Md. 1936)] should continue to prevail.
Nor did the changes to Md. Code Ann., Est. & Trusts, sec. 7-601
that were enacted after 59 Op. Atty. Gen. 613 (Md. 1974) was
issued and that were in effect on the date of decedent’s death
and thereafter through the administration of the estate change
the law considered by that opinion of the Maryland Attorney
General. See Md. Code Ann., Est. & Trusts, sec. 7-601 (1991 &
Supp. 1998).
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