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decedent’s gross estate. Petitioner relies on Roe v. Estate of
Farrell, 372 N.E.2d 662 (Ill. 1978); Estate of Fender v. Fender,
422 N.E.2d 107 (Ill. App. Ct. 1981); and In re Estate of Breault,
211 N.E.2d 424, 436-438 (Ill. App. Ct. 1965), for the proposition
that equitable apportionment principles apply to attorney’s fees
incurred by an estate.
We disagree that equitable apportionment applies to payment
of legal costs for the same reason that it does not apply to
payment of Federal estate tax. Article 4.1 of the trust
instrument requires that legal costs be paid by the revocable
trust. In Roe v. Estate of Farrell, supra; Estate Fender v.
Fender, supra; and In re Estate of Breault, supra, the courts
apportioned legal costs to the property which generated those
costs because the decedents in those cases had not specified the
source of payment of those costs. Here, decedent directed in
Article 4.1 of his will and Article 4.1 of the trust instrument
that administration costs incurred because of his death are
payable first from the principal of his residuary probate estate
and then from the revocable trust assets. Legal costs are
administration costs under Illinois law. See In re Rolley, 520
N.E.2d 302, 303 (Ill. 1998) (Illinois Supreme Court described
legal fees as costs of administration of an estate); In re
Desisles’ Estate, 208 N.E.2d 122, 123 (Ill. App. Ct. 1965) (costs
of administration include more than legal costs). We do not
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