What is the name of your state? My state is California. I contacted an attorney to assist me in collectiing my inheritance from my father's estate. He had a very aggressive plan, which would involve dozens if not hundreds of hours of work. I did not have a problem with that, as long as, I would be able to use the Life Insurance money I received early. Over the phone, he said that he was not sure if I could spend that money until he was able to read the will and trust. I came into the office, showed him the documents and he said "yes, I could spend and use the Life Insurance money(I asked him 3 times to make sure I could use this money and he said 'yes' 3 times), but he was not sure about the IRA" and would get back to me the following day. So I now signed the contract and deposited $1,500 for the retainer. The next day, after faxing a very long letter of requests to the Trustee, he tells me that both the IRA and the Life Insurance money could not be spent until all the Death Taxes had been paid. I was very upset to put it mildly. I had the letter of requests he faxed to the Trustee withdrawn and told him that I could not continue with his plan of action since I couldn't afford it @ $250 an hour. I asked him if I could retain his services to review documents and answer questions as needed, he agreed. Three weeks later I received his bill which I was charged 2.5 hours for him to research if the IRA could be cashed and I was charged .25 hours to a review a document that I never submitted to him. I called him and complaind that I was over-charged and incorrectly charged. He agreed to see me for a while for free and never disagreed with my complaints. When it came time to use his services again, I requested that he clarify exactly how much time he was going to credit me. He never returned my calls or my letters. When I decided leave his services, he made it very difficult for me to get my file back. I filed a law suit against him in small caims for over-charging and incorrectly charging me. After rereading the contract I signed with him, I noticed that he put in the contract a $1,500 minium fee. My question is this legal? Should I have filed a different complaint? Am I stuck?
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