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In re Estate of Craig8/9/1993
WILLIAM W. YOUNG, Judge.
Appellant, James J. Craig, appeals a decision of the Butler County Probate Court approving a distribution of proceeds in a wrongful death settlement attained after the death of his daughter, Heather Craig. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
On November 17, 1989, Heather Craig died as a result of the severe injuries she sustained in an automobile accident twelve days earlier. Heather Craig was a passenger in an automobile being driven by Vanessa Singleton, a minor at the time of the accident.
According to a schedule of claims filed in the probate court against Heather Craig's insolvent estate, Heather Craig incurred $64,036.50 in medical expenses prior to her death. Her medical insurance carrier paid $59,861.50 of these expenses while appellant, obligated by a custody agreement to pay his daughter's non-covered medical expenses, paid $3,500 of the remaining expenses. The balance of unpaid medical expenses is $675. In addition, appellant paid his daughter's funeral and burial expenses totaling $4,656.40.
Initially, appellant and appellee, Carol Sansone, appellant's former wife, filed separate applications for authority to administer their daughter's estate for purposes of maintaining a wrongful death action. The parties subsequently waived their authority to administer the estate and agreed to the appointment of attorney Patricia S. Oney, as administrator of the estate for purposes of a wrongful death action. Oney apparently selected two attorneys to represent hesas the personal representative in the wrongful death action, D. Arthur Rabourn, appellee's attorney, and George S. Maley, appellant's attorney.
On July 19, 1991, Oney filed an application for approval of a $25,000 wrongful death settlement with Colonial Insurance Company, Singleton's insurer. The probate court approved the settlement on September 13, 1991. Pursuant to the court's entry, the $25,000 settlement was distributed as follows:
Proceeds of settlement $25,000.00
Less: Fiduciary fee to Patricia S. Oney, Esq. 620.00
Attorney fees to Waite, Schneider, Bayless & Chesley Co., L.P.A. (Rabourn's law firm) 5,750.17
Total deductions 6,370.17
Net proceeds of settlement $18,629.83
Less: Payments to beneficiaries
Carol Sansone $9,314.91 James J. Craig 9,314.91
Total payments to beneficiaries $18,629.83
Maley did not receive a fee distribution because appellant discharged him at some point before the settlement. The probate court ordered that none of the settlement proceeds were to be applied toward the reimbursement of Heather Craig's medical or funeral expenses.
Appellant's sole assignment of error on appeal is that the probate court erred by approving the distribution of the settlement proceeds. Within this assignment, appellant presents three issues for review.
First, appellant contends that the probate court violated R.C. 2125.03(B) by failing to distribute funds to reimburse him for his daughter's funeral and burial expenses.
R.C. 2125.03(B) states as follows:
"The court shall distribute the amount of funeral and burial expenses awarded, or received by settlement, by reason of the death to the personal representative of the decedent, to be expended by the personal representative for the payment, or as reimbursement for the payment, of the expenses."
R.C. 2125.03(A) requires the court to adjust the share of each beneficiary of a wrongful death settl
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