Starke v James

Starke v James involved a dispute regarding the remuneration of an executor under the Administration & Probate Act. The executor and solicitor applied for remuneration, despite the absence of a charging clause in the will. The court had to decide whether such an order could be made without special circumstances and, if so, how the remuneration should be calculated.

The legal issues before the court were whether the executor was entitled to remuneration without a charging clause in the will and, if so, how the amount should be determined. The court examined the statutory provisions of the Administration & Probate Act and considered whether the absence of a charging clause precluded an order for remuneration.

The court found that an order for remuneration could be made even in the absence of a charging clause, provided that special circumstances were not required. It was determined that the remuneration should be equivalent to the legal costs on the Supreme Court scale for the work properly done by the executor. This amount was to be fixed by an adjudication of those costs, mirroring the process for determining legal costs. Consequently, the court made an order for remuneration to be calculated in this manner.

The court's final order was that the executor's remuneration would be determined by the equivalent of an adjudication of legal costs on the Supreme Court scale for the work properly done, without the need for special circumstances.