The High Court has ordered that the reasonable legal costs incurred by the executors of the late Brendan Heapes in debt collection proceedings be paid from his estate, and rank as administration expenses with priority. The estate was insolvent, so the order does not guarantee that the full amount will be recovered in practice.
Mr Justice Garrett Simons delivered the judgment on 28 January 2025. The application concerned the executors’ costs, not the underlying debt judgment. In November 2024, after hearing formal proofs, the court entered judgment against the estate for €2,176,445.65 and awarded costs to AIB Mortgage Bank.
The executors had initially sought time to consider whether the claim could be defended. They later said they would not oppose the bank’s summary judgment application but would not consent to judgment, because they lacked personal knowledge of the deceased’s business dealings and wanted to preserve the possibility that another defendant’s defence might succeed. They were not represented at the substantive hearing on 31 October 2024.
The executors sought an order allowing them to recover their own legal costs from the estate under section 168(1)(b) of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015. The judge found that the provision applied to proceedings involving a claim against a deceased person’s estate through personal representatives. He said executors may reasonably incur legal costs to assess whether litigation against an estate should be defended.
The court measured the costs itself, relying in part on a legal costs accountant’s report. It allowed €4,750 for counsel and a €4,750 general instructions fee for the solicitor, both excluding VAT, plus €800 for postage and sundries and €350 for scheduled items. The total allowed was €10,650 before VAT.
The judge disallowed the costs of the executors’ attendance and representation at the substantive hearing, an affidavit filed on their behalf on 27 November 2024, and three unopposed adjournment applications. He also disallowed counsel’s brief fee for the judgment application, while allowing €500 in aggregate for counsel’s work on the two costs applications; that fee was included in counsel’s allowed total.
The order directs payment of the measured costs from the estate’s property and declares the allowed amount to be an administration expense under the First Schedule of the Succession Act 1965. The court said this gives the costs priority.