Opinion
February 14, 1989
Appeal from the Surrogate's Court, Suffolk County (Joseph, S.).
Ordered that the decree is affirmed insofar as appealed from, without costs or disbursements.
In a proceeding to settle an account, the Surrogate's Court has broad discretion to "make such order or decree as justice shall require" (see, SCPA 2211; Matter of Acker, 128 A.D.2d 867). We find that the appellant has not met his burden of establishing that the court abused its discretion by denying him a commission based upon his failure to timely sell the decedent's home and to expeditiously settle the estate (see, e.g., Matter of Acker, supra; Matter of Smith, 91 A.D.2d 789). The court also denied a commission and legal fees to the former executor of the estate on the same grounds, as well as for his failure to timely file a Federal estate tax form. The appellant failed to establish that the court abused its discretion in denying his request to assess a surcharge against the former executor in an amount equal to Federal and State estate taxes, interest and penalties. Thompson, J.P., Rubin, Spatt and Balletta, JJ., concur.