Estate of Schooler
This is the latest in a lengthy series of appellate proceedings initiated by the appellants in which they have unsuccessfully challenged the probate court's adverse orders and judgments with respect to administration of their parents' trust and probate estates. This appeal has no merit whatsoever.
We have no power to consider the arguments appellants raise on the merits. Appellants' arguments are foreclosed both by appellants' failure to present a record that supports their contentions and by our disposition of a prior related appeal. As we explain, we must dismiss the appeal with respect to one of the orders appellants challenge and affirm the other orders that are the subject of this appeal.
Not only is it plain from the record that we have no power to consider the arguments appellants raise in their briefs, the arguments appellants attempt to raise herein are indistinguishable from the arguments they attempted to assert in the related appeal we recently dismissed. We dismissed that appeal for appellants' failure to file a timely brief. Here, in making arguments that are not supported by the record and that our prior orders preclude appellants from making, appellants and their counsel have made an unmistakable and bad faith attempt to avoid the impact of our prior orders.
Our prior orders were made for the purpose of not only securing justice between the parties herein but also as a necessary means of maintaining an orderly appellate process that protects the rights and interests of all the litigants who appear before us. We cannot countenance appellants' and counsel's obvious attempt to subvert our orders and our now final disposition of their prior appeal. Thus, we find this is an unusual instance where the imposition of substantial monetary sanctions on appellants and their counsel, payable both to the respondents herein and the clerk of the court, are warranted.
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