Person taking money from grandmother -- pa

[jw1958]

My Aunt had power of atty and sold my grandmothers house and took the money.
Me and my brother and sister were previsouly named in her will along with my father.
My grandmother recently passed away and my father went to a lawyer.
He wants to serve my Aunt with papers to account for all of the money and get a copy
of the will, or a newer will if one was made. He wants to charge us $900 for this.
I always thought they just took a perentage. Is this a normal practice to charge up front
for this? Any info would be great! Thanks!

 

[Antigone*]

My Aunt had power of atty and sold my grandmothers house and took the money.
Me and my brother and sister were previsouly named in her will along with my father.
My grandmother recently passed away and my father went to a lawyer.
He wants to serve my Aunt with papers to account for all of the money and get a copy
of the will, or a newer will if one was made. He wants to charge us $900 for this.
I always thought they just took a perentage. Is this a normal practice to charge up front
for this? Any info would be great! Thanks!

Of course this is perfectly normal. When you perform a job you expect to get paid. There is no law that states an attorney must work on contingency.

 

[commentator]

Even in a small town, dealing with a small estate, this is a very reasonable amount for the attorney to charge you. There's probably no "contingency" to get here, when it's all sorted out and it may take a long time and be quite troublesome and complicated to do this. Nothing is more fun than stepping in between dueling heirs, but they for some reason just won't do it for free.

 

[anteater]

Compensation arrangements can be whatever the attorney and the client agree to. An hourly rate... A percentage of the estate value... (Much less common) a fixed fee...

But your father needs to understand clearly what the $900 is buying. It sounds to me that the attorney is not talking about opening probate. It sound more like the attorney is charging the $900 only to send demand letters to the Aunt.

Avoid misunderstandings about the scope of the engagement! (And get it in a retainer agreement.)