Opinion
December 3, 1990
Appeal from the Surrogate's Court, Suffolk County (Signorelli, S.).
Ordered that the decree is modified, as a matter of discretion, by deleting the sixth decretal paragraph thereof and substituting therefor a provision directing that the balance of funds remaining in the hands of the executor be paid and distributed to the respective legatees named in the last will and testament of Horace G. Jones, Jr., and to the residuary distributees or their assignees, in proportion to their respective designated shares; as so modified, the decree is affirmed, without costs or disbursements.
The Surrogate did not improvidently exercise his discretion in fixing the amount of compensation to which the petitioner was entitled for legal services to the estate (see, Matter of Verplanck, 151 A.D.2d 767; Matter of Von Hofe, 145 A.D.2d 424; see also, Matter of Wolf, 147 A.D.2d 487). In this regard, we note that the legal services rendered by the petitioner to this estate were largely routine (see, Matter of Ury, 108 A.D.2d 816), and that many of the services rendered constituted functions of an executor and thus could not properly be considered in the setting of the legal fee (see, Matter of Verplanck, supra; Matter of Von Hofe, supra; Matter of Bernheimer, 61 A.D.2d 761).
However, in view of the fact that the decedent's sisters formally assigned their interest as distributees of the 5% residue of the decedent's estate to a nonprofit child care organization, the appellant's request to modify the decree to permit distribution of the balance of the estate directly to the assignee is granted. Thompson, J.P., Brown, Kunzeman and Eiber, JJ., concur.