Ethel Carmical v. Mary Jane Kilpatrick

This is a challenge to an award of attorney's fees in a partition action. The testatrix left 500 acres of land in Perry County to her then-living heirs. Some of the heirs filed this action to partition and sell the land. After several years, the land finally sold. The trial court awarded 10% of the sale proceeds, approximately $100,000, as attorney's fees for the three attorneys who provided legal services in the partition action. One of the heirs now appeals that award, claiming that it was excessive. The appellant filed neither a transcript of the proceedings nor a statement of the evidence pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Appellate Procedure 24(c). We must affirm the trial court's award, because the issues raised by the appellant would require a review of the proceedings below, and without a transcript of the trial proceedings or a statement of the evidence, we must assume that the trial court properly exercised its discretion in light of the evidence.