Resignation of Probate Referee

* On Oct. 27, The Times reported my resignation as a California probate referee. I have served proudly as a probate referee for over 18 years, and in September, when I learned that my business travels to Europe and China might be used to embarrass this outstanding system, I offered to resign.

I cooperated with your reporter from the beginning. When he first contacted me I provided a two-page written statement about my work and my travels, and in that letter I stated that, to my knowledge, no court or estate had ever been delayed or inconvenienced because of my travels.

I explained to your reporter, in detail, not only my gross income, but the rent, salary and consulting fees that are paid to ancillary referees, who appraise real property in other counties, as required by law. This ensures that each piece of real estate going through probate is appraised by a local expert.

Furthermore, I explained to him the very high cost of all of the database information that we acquire on a monthly basis to monitor every sale of real property in Los Angeles County, plus apartment and commercial rents. My expenses are annually $20,000 to $24,000.

Thus, with having this information, I was shocked that The Times would report in the aggregate from 1988 to 1992, I collected fees totaling $288,173. Obviously, this aggregated number was used for its shock effect, but, when analyzed, indicates a gross income of about $57,600 per year. What would have been accurate and fair to have reported is that my net income for those five years was approximately $35,000 per year.

In addition, even the report of my political contributions was aggregated. You reported that I have given $5,600 since 1985, which means that I have actually given about $700 per year.

Finally, even your reporting of the income of referees, by digits, i.e., 0.1%, is a format that few can easily translate into dollars. Why not set out the truth? The fee is one-tenth of 1%, so that on a $100,000 house, the fee for our appraisal is $100. And to mention that each fee cannot exceed $10,000 is most interesting, in that of the 165 referees in the state, very few will ever have an estate where they see a fee of $10,000 or anything close to it.

LAURENCE E. LIPSHER

Los Angeles