Attorney Overbilling - Probate Attorney - Estate Planning attorney ?

Hi - Well it seems we got burned by a nice attorney - he said he would help us settle our Mothers estate and now he has BILLED us "over" $12.000 dollars charging us 295.00 Per Hour on a 25.000 estate and his job is not yet done - we will have fire him today.

QUESTION: what could you recommend .. us to do in hiring another PROBATE ATTORNEY - Estate Planning
attorney - and how we can protect ourselves against law firms overbilling and attorney over billing ? Thanks in Advance just want to protect others before they get what we got a bad attorney.

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What I would recommend in your case is to have a simple memorandum of agreement w/ the lawyer you intend to hire indicating a percentage (w/c you and your family will have to decide upon) of the estate's value as his professional fee. I would think 20% of this percentage could be his initial payment and balance payable upon completion of the entire work. It's a simple legal form w/c the lawyer of your choice could prepare or even you could do it. You could get a book on legal forms and presto! Just make sure you read closely the contents of the memorandum of agreement if cited lawyer were to prepare it.

You could probably ask around (say in reputable universities w/ fresh graduates who have just been sworn in as full-pledged lawyers) who are the bright and honest ones. Law professors could be a good source because they know their students and would only be too happy to help them start out in their profession. Since these new lawyers are young and idealistic and all enthusiastic, you may have a good chance of getting a much better deal than having to contend w/ the elderly "pirates" who don't usually do their homework and charge exhorbitant fees.
You even have the luxury of interviewing these young people and choosing the one you think is best!

You can catch the professors in the faculty rooms or get a listing from the university's information center and casually ask who among them are good and reliable.

Good luck and God bless!

Develope a lump sum contract...Lock him into a single lump sum you are willing to pay. He's got most of the forms are in boiler plate and just changing the names and address in the paperwork.

12k? you've got to be kidding! mine charged around 600 bucks for an estate worth far more then 25k. and most all attorneys have probate exp. especially if you live in a small town. probate is really not that big a deal. do you have a will an executor? because if you have an executor, the attorney should just swear them in at probate court and hand it off. at that point his job is done.

Dear friend,
I would suggest you to take advice from a good lawyer. I was also in an almost same situation as you are in. I got my problem solved with the help of usalegalcare.com. They offer good legal services.
Just go to http://www.usalegalcare.com/ , fill their easy form and they will contact you very soon.
Good luck