Opinion
June 24, 1985
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Dutchess County (Benson, J.).
Order affirmed insofar as appealed from, without costs or disbursements.
We note at the outset that appellant Goldfeder has standing to appeal ( Matter of Male Infant B., 96 A.D.2d 1055).
It has been consistently held that where, as in the case at bar, legal services are rendered on behalf of individual contestants or beneficiaries of a trust or estate, rather than for the benefit of the trust or estate itself, the attorney for the contestants or beneficiaries must look to his client, rather than the trust or estate, for compensation ( Matter of La Grove, 31 A.D.2d 928, affd 30 N.Y.2d 624; Matter of Utter, 17 A.D.2d 868, affd 13 N.Y.2d 836; Matter of Bacharach, 12 A.D.2d 938; Matter of Bellinger, 55 A.D.2d 448). However, in the case at bar, a stipulation was entered into by the parties which provided, inter alia, that "[a]ttorneys for each of the parties may submit to the Court an application for attorneys' fees * * * incurred in the course of this proceeding". Since the stipulation also provided that "the decision of the trial judge as to the amount of fees * * * if any, shall be final and binding on all parties", there is no basis for disturbing the award of counsel fees granted to appellant Goldfeder. Mangano, J.P., Bracken, Rubin and Kunzeman, JJ., concur.