Lawyer ethics

[Kas.treasures]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA
My sister had our Father dictate his will a week before he died. His mind was ok but he was in a lot of pain. While she said he received no guidance from her, after he died she did say that she asked him for stuff. Before I knew what the will said, I asked a lawyer if it would be valid, but they didn't 't know. I was to receive money but nothing of family value. I asked my sister for just a few things and I think she agreed. Only after we had a meeting with the attorney did I find out that the lawyer said the will wasn't valid. If my sister and I agreed to the will, was it valid?

I offered my Fathers house to my sister for 1/2 the tax assesses value. I received an email from the lawyer saying my sister agreed. After about 30 days I called my sister who told me after not hearing from anyone she had the house assessed. My Father told her what he thought the house was worth before he died which must have been far less than the tax value, but she agreed with the tax assessed value until the appraised value came back less. Now she wants to pay the appraised value. She gets almost everything in the house. The lawyer is costing me money. If I agree to sell the house for less does this prevent me from suing the lawyer. No contract was drawn up for the tax assessed value but not long after the appraisal the lawyer wants my signature within a week of giving me the contract.

The lawyer hasn't answered 3 emails and 2 phone calls from 10/2014 until now 2/2015 and is costing me money because of this lack of effort. I don't know if I should hire another lawyer to seek damages from the estate lawyer.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

The will must be submitted to the court and an executor appointed. Backroom deals only smooth the process and make the probate go faster.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA
... Before I knew what the will said, I asked a lawyer if it would be valid, but they didn't 't know ... Only after we had a meeting with the attorney did I find out that the lawyer said the will wasn't valid. ...

... The lawyer is costing me money. If I agree to sell the house for less does this prevent me from suing the lawyer. No contract was drawn up for the tax assessed value but not long after the appraisal the lawyer wants my signature within a week of giving me the contract.

The lawyer hasn't answered 3 emails and 2 phone calls from 10/2014 until now 2/2015 and is costing me money because of this lack of effort. I don't know if I should hire another lawyer to seek damages from the estate lawyer.

I am not sure on what basis you feel you have a legal action against your attorney.

 

[Kas.treasures]

I am not sure on what basis you feel you have a legal action against your attorney.

I'm not sure either, nor do I know if I want to take that route. I looked into lawyer ethics and it said you should expect responses in a reasonable amount of time. Questions in all 3 emails from October and November 2014 have gone unanswered. So have the phone messages. I don't consider 4 months to answer a few questions reasonable. Also the lawyer should not be costing someone money. By not making the effort to sell the house I have to continue to pay taxes and insurance. In addition, my sibling agreed to a price in November (even though they thought it was worth less) but after not hearing from the lawyer had the house appraised and is no longer accepting the agreed upon price. The lawyer has quickly had a contract written for this price and wants it signed in under a week. Why move so quickly now when there was no effort to help me back in November? I had also asked about having the estate settled within the three month period but there again no initiative to settle the estate.

 

[Zigner]

The estate lawyer doesn't represent you.

 

[quincy]

I'm not sure either, nor do I know if I want to take that route. I looked into lawyer ethics and it said you should expect responses in a reasonable amount of time. Questions in all 3 emails from October and November 2014 have gone unanswered. So have the phone messages. I don't consider 4 months to answer a few questions reasonable. Also the lawyer should not be costing someone money. By not making the effort to sell the house I have to continue to pay taxes and insurance. In addition, my sibling agreed to a price in November (even though they thought it was worth less) but after not hearing from the lawyer had the house appraised and is no longer accepting the agreed upon price. The lawyer has quickly had a contract written for this price and wants it signed in under a week. Why move so quickly now when there was no effort to help me back in November? I had also asked about having the estate settled within the three month period but there again no initiative to settle the estate.

First, attorneys should respond to their clients' emails and phone calls within a reasonable amount of time (or at least acknowledge the receipt of the emails and calls). I agree with you that four months is not reasonable.

That said, I am still a little bit unclear what exactly is going on. Please correct any of the following statements: The attorney is handling your father's estate for you and your sister. The attorney, in addition to handling your father's retirement accounts and life insurance proceeds and bank accounts and paying off any debts that need to be paid, and doing all of the things estate attorneys do, this attorney is also handling the sale of your dad's house. Since your sister wants the house, the attorney will be retitling your father's house into your sister's name once your sister pays you for your half share in the house.

There is now some question as to value of the house and what your sister should pay you. The attorney has drawn up a contract using the appraised value of the house (instead of the tax-assessed value) as the basis for the sale and the attorney wants you to sign the contract and get the house portion of your dad's estate settled.

Am I understanding this all correctly?

There is a "formula" used by Pennsylvania to determine the appraised value of a house. The appraised (or fair market) value of a house will be the tax-assessed value multiplied by a "current common-level ratio." Mortgage companies will look at the appraised (or market) value of a house when determining how much they will lend. The tax-assessed value, therefore, is often less than the appraised or market value of the home (depending on the current common-level ratio). If the tax-assessed value is greater than the appraised value, the property is over-assessed.

Generally you would get more money from the house if the contract uses the appraised value (as your sister wants it now) rather than the assessed value (which was agreed upon between you and your sister before).

But I certainly could be mistaken on all of this, and the current common-level ratio needs to be considered whatever the case, so I think it would be smart for you to have a real estate attorney in your area review the assessed and appraised values, the contract terms and the facts of the sale prior to signing.

I am still only seeing a delay in email and phone call responses from the attorney as a possible failure on the attorney's part. It is possible that the attorney did not answer the questions you posed when you posed them because he did not have any answers to your questions at that time (not that this would excuse his lack of contact with you). The attorney may have wanted to see what sort of bills were coming in and compare these to what was available in the way of assets before tackling the house sale. It is possible that the attorney thought the house might have to be sold to pay off outstanding debts. All sorts of possibilities.

Again, you might want to sit down with another attorney in your area for a review of the facts if you question what the estate attorney is doing (or not doing) and if you question the terms of contract you are being asked to sign. A personal review is probably necessary.

I am sorry about the death of your father, Kas.treasures.

Good luck.