S
SmokinPaul
Guest
Before I present my question, I ask that you refer at your convenience to the Atty Fees Split question which I previously posted and then added a follow-up pursuant to you questions.
The administration of my father's estate is drawing to a close and I have received some forms to sign from my attorney. Among them is a form that includes clauses where I:
(1) waive the filing and service of a final accounting by the personal representative (attorney),
(2) waive the inclusion in the Petition for Discharge of the amount of compensation paid or to be paid to the attorneys, etc.
(3) acknowledge that I know the amount and manner of determining the compensation of the attorneys, etc., have agreed to the amount and manner of determining such compensation, and waive any objections to the payment of such compensation
(4) waive all objection to the accounting and to the petition for discharge, etc.
I have omitted some of the other clauses. My problem is, I have serious reservations about my attorney's billing practices and wonder if my signing this document forecloses any action on my part if I find any actionable impropriety or ethical breach on my attorney's part.
I first contacted my attorney shortly after my father's death in 1997,just prior to meeting with the probate attorney that my sister had selected for "us" without my knowledge. My sister and I have always had a strained relationship and her conduct was abominable at the time of my father's death. My attorney was recommended by my law prof (I was a law student, now graduated, in my forties).
I called the attorney, seeking to meet and consult with him just to know my rights, before meeting with my sister and "our" lawyer. Before I was able to begin to explain the situation, the lawyer asked me what the estate was worth ($700,000) and told me he could handle it for $10-12,000. I had told him that my sister and I were the sole beneficiaries(and personal reps) in my father's will. I then explained that, for the present, I sought only a one-time consultation. The next day I cancelled the consultation, preferring to wait and see how my sister's chosen attorney would treat me. After two meetings with my sister and her attorney, and after formally retaining her attorney, I realized that he could not represent us fairly and contacted my future attorney who told me to terminate my sister's attorney and to retain him.
Since retaining my attorney, he has worked in tandem with my sister's attorney, whom she kept, in handling the estate. Apart from the fact that my sister and I are not on speaking terms and that she has made some frivolous, half-hearted assertions on some modest amounts of money left clearly for me, there have ben no complex issues involved here and no "adversarial procedings" that I know of.
Apart from a two week period in late 1997 where my attorney called me several times to relay my sister's offers regarding me buying out her interest in my father's condo and car, my attorney has called me perhaps four or five times in the course of 27 months.
Fees of $23,000, charged of course to me alone, have accrued, as of July 1999. Given my attorney's original estimate($10-12,000) which was made under the erroneous assumption that he would be handling the estate by himself, my sister and I would have paid only about $6000 apiece had my sister agreed to my choice of attorney. Instead I will be paying $23000 plus whatever my attorney will soak me for for services rendered since July 1999.
Granted, there was estate tax involved (of which, of course, my attorney was aware as soon as I told him the worth of the estate)which prolonged the estate administation and increased my legal fees. But is it reasonable that an original estimate of $10-12,000 has zoomed to perhaps $30,000 all because my sister and I each had our own attorneys? If I sign these waivers, what have I given up?
I regret I could not shorten this question, but, after all, I am a law school graduate.
Thank you.
The administration of my father's estate is drawing to a close and I have received some forms to sign from my attorney. Among them is a form that includes clauses where I:
(1) waive the filing and service of a final accounting by the personal representative (attorney),
(2) waive the inclusion in the Petition for Discharge of the amount of compensation paid or to be paid to the attorneys, etc.
(3) acknowledge that I know the amount and manner of determining the compensation of the attorneys, etc., have agreed to the amount and manner of determining such compensation, and waive any objections to the payment of such compensation
(4) waive all objection to the accounting and to the petition for discharge, etc.
I have omitted some of the other clauses. My problem is, I have serious reservations about my attorney's billing practices and wonder if my signing this document forecloses any action on my part if I find any actionable impropriety or ethical breach on my attorney's part.
I first contacted my attorney shortly after my father's death in 1997,just prior to meeting with the probate attorney that my sister had selected for "us" without my knowledge. My sister and I have always had a strained relationship and her conduct was abominable at the time of my father's death. My attorney was recommended by my law prof (I was a law student, now graduated, in my forties).
I called the attorney, seeking to meet and consult with him just to know my rights, before meeting with my sister and "our" lawyer. Before I was able to begin to explain the situation, the lawyer asked me what the estate was worth ($700,000) and told me he could handle it for $10-12,000. I had told him that my sister and I were the sole beneficiaries(and personal reps) in my father's will. I then explained that, for the present, I sought only a one-time consultation. The next day I cancelled the consultation, preferring to wait and see how my sister's chosen attorney would treat me. After two meetings with my sister and her attorney, and after formally retaining her attorney, I realized that he could not represent us fairly and contacted my future attorney who told me to terminate my sister's attorney and to retain him.
Since retaining my attorney, he has worked in tandem with my sister's attorney, whom she kept, in handling the estate. Apart from the fact that my sister and I are not on speaking terms and that she has made some frivolous, half-hearted assertions on some modest amounts of money left clearly for me, there have ben no complex issues involved here and no "adversarial procedings" that I know of.
Apart from a two week period in late 1997 where my attorney called me several times to relay my sister's offers regarding me buying out her interest in my father's condo and car, my attorney has called me perhaps four or five times in the course of 27 months.
Fees of $23,000, charged of course to me alone, have accrued, as of July 1999. Given my attorney's original estimate($10-12,000) which was made under the erroneous assumption that he would be handling the estate by himself, my sister and I would have paid only about $6000 apiece had my sister agreed to my choice of attorney. Instead I will be paying $23000 plus whatever my attorney will soak me for for services rendered since July 1999.
Granted, there was estate tax involved (of which, of course, my attorney was aware as soon as I told him the worth of the estate)which prolonged the estate administation and increased my legal fees. But is it reasonable that an original estimate of $10-12,000 has zoomed to perhaps $30,000 all because my sister and I each had our own attorneys? If I sign these waivers, what have I given up?
I regret I could not shorten this question, but, after all, I am a law school graduate.
Thank you.