I talked to a lawyer. Bad idea...

[mjamie]

What is the name of your state? Colorado

I recently met with an attorney to discuss an inheritance matter. It was a free consultation, but I did bring the will with me and he looked over it. The entire meeting took about 30 minutes and nothing was really resolved as nothing can be done right now.

He did say he could send a letter to my father to inform him of my intent. My brothers are involved indirectly as they were left the same inheritance as myself. However, they were not at the consultation and I do not have power of attorney over them.

The attorney told me that he could get everything done with a retainer of $2000. I said, “Get what done”? He said he could take care of everything, but was not specific. He then asked, “Can you and your brothers afford a $2000 retainer”? I said “yes,” which is true, we can afford that. I did ask him not to do anything until I got the rest of the paperwork in the mail since we could not conclude whether or not anything could be done at all. He made a copy of the will and then I was told to fill out a new client form which asked for my name and address. I went ahead and filled it out since they could have opened a phone book and filled it out themselves if they really wanted to.

So, today I received a letter from the attorney. It appears to be a copy of a letter he sent to my father. It says that he is “being retained by your children”. I went ahead and emailed the attorney to let them know I would appreciate it if they did no more work on this until I receive the rest of the paperwork from the other attorney.

Now I’m worried. I have NEVER had a smooth transaction with an attorney. In this situation, what am I liable for? Do I need to pay this guy $2000 even though he wasn’t hired? I figured that we would meet, discuss plans of attack, discuss fees, and I sign some sort of contract that says something to the effect of “I pay you ‘x’ dollars for doing ‘y’ work”. What happened was we met, he said he could do everything for 2k, I asked him not to do anything just yet, then he had me leave my name and address.

Anyone know what happens now? Experience tells me that I will be billed 1k for the free consultation, 2k for the email pleading that they stop doing stuff, 1k for letter, 1k for the copy he made, 2k for posting this on a forum, and my first born for wasting his time.

[moburkes]

He wouldn't have been making a copy of ANYTHING unless you became his client.