Campbell Widow Defends Estate Fees

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The widow of Glen Campbell says the legal fees incurred in her late husband's estate are justified and necessary to preserve and protect the estate's most valuable assets, Campbell's name, likeness, image and royalties.
In a seven-page filing in Davidson Probate Court, lawyers for Kimberly Campbell charged that the demands of one of the late singer's daughters had prevented the estate from distributing those assets to a family trust.
The filing was in rapid response to a motion by Debby Campbell-Cloyd in which she questioned legal fees totaling $211,533 incurred by the estate with GT Law (Greenberg Traurig). Campbell-Cloyd asked the court for a separate hearing or special review of the legal fees.
In the reply, Carolyn Schott, the attorney representing Kimberly Campbell, said the fees were justified due to the complex nature of the task of valuing and protecting the late singer's assets.
Campbell died in 2017 following a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. The dispute over the legal fees is just the latest in a series of legal battles over the singer's estate. Three other siblings contested the will filed in the case, but eventually withdrew their objections.
In her filing Kimberly Campbell disputed the need for a special hearing on the legal fees and asserted that the judge already had sufficient information to act on the request as part of the regular process.
Citing a relationship between her late husband and the law firm spanning more than 50 years, the filing states that the work of GT Law ensured that a revenue stream to the estate was preserved and continued.
In her filing Debby Campbell-Cloyd cited the fact that one GT Law attorney was being paid fees at the "excessive" rate of $1,050 per hour, but Kimberly Campbell countered that the fees were reasonable considering the firm's familiarity with the estate issues.
"Quite simply, it would take years to replicate GT Law's background and familiarity with the estate's intellectual property assets," the Kimberly Campbell filing concludes.
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