Executor opposes proposal to reduce its compensation By MAR-VIC CAGURANGAN Staff Reporter
The Bank of Saipan, executor of the Hillblom estate, yesterday opposed the Hillblom Charitable Trust’s motion to reduce its scheduled compensation and to allow the pay termination by Dec. 31.
BoS was originally scheduled to be paid $150,000 for the month of October. Saying the executor’s workload has been reduced, the Trust however recommended that the compensation for the bank be reduced to $75,000 for November, and $25,000 for December.
Attorneys for BoS said they agree with the compensation formula that reflects the workload, but they disagreed with the Charitable Trust’s assessment of the volume of work which the executor has completed and has yet to finish.
The executor has been overloaded with more work in the recent months, according to BoS attorneys Eduardo Calvo and Kathrine Fisher.
“At no point during the probate has the executor worked harder or accomplished more for the benefit of the estate than during the months leading to closure,” the BoS attorneys said.
They added that the executor has undertaken “extra ordinary efforts” leading to the distribution of the estate’s assets, resolution of claims, accounting for its income and disbursements, and closing of deals.
“These efforts will continue until and beyond the point that the asset of the estate are distributed and placed in a liquidating trust,” attorneys for BoS said.
The executor hopes to be able to distribute and liquidate the estate’s remaining 40 assets by Oct. 28.
The Trust has argued that BoS should receive less compensation since its now has “substantially less cash to manage.”
BoS lawyers, on the other hand, said the Trust could not invoke such argument saying that “CNMI law prohibits a personal representation from charging fees purely based on the size of the estate being managed.”
Maintaining that service fees should be commensurate to the amount of tasks performed and risks undertaken, BoS said the monthly rate of $150,000 “is reasonable and is reflective of the work and risks” it is facing.
The Superior Court approved on Oct. 11 the distribution of $200 million of the estate cash among four of Hillblom’s children and the Charitable Trust. The children will inherit $23 million each, while the Trust will get $108 million from the estate cash.
The estate in question was owned by Larry Hillblom, co-founder of DHL Worldwide Express, who died in a plane crash in May 1995.
At least eight children allegedly fathered by Hillblom during his affairs with teen-age girls in the Philippines, Palau, and Vietnam originally filed for claims on the estate, but genetic tests reduced the number of claimants to four.
The court’s approval of the distribution plan has moved the Hillblom case closer to final resolution of claims.
The $200 million approved for distribution was part of the $295 million which the Bank of Saipan has been tasked to manage.
An additional $25 million of the estate cash will soon be paid out to the Donnicci Claimant Group and the Saudi Claimant Group.