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Michigan Living Trust - Can I get any money back?

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grbiznet

Junior Member
I became Attorney in Fact for my mother about a year and a half ago due to her developing Alzheimers. I went to her "estate" attorney for advice. He drew up the POA papers for us for I forget how much, $300 - $500. When I sold her house and bought a different one so that she could live with me and my daughter, we had to have an "address specific POA" drawn up, which was a page long and he charged us another $125 for that (it took him 5 minutes to type up and print).

Then he told me to set up a trust for her and also one for me. These cost $2500 each, and were just pretty much boilerplate language (with several typographical errors in each). I would think that they couldn't have taken more than an hour to prepare. What I've found out since is that I didn't need either of these trusts as there are minimal assets besides the house (which has about $130,000 in equity value)! My question is is there any way I can get him to refund the money we paid for the trusts we didn't need and/or should I file a grievance with the state for excessive fees?

Thanks for any help offered! :eek:
 


Dandy Don

Senior Member
Was the house included in either of the trusts and was the value of the home and other assets specifically listed by dollar value in the trust?

This is unethical behavior and an ethics complaint does need to be filed so he will think twice about doing it to someone else, but you need to look at the Michigan Bar Association website first to see if they have a disclaimer that mentions that they do not handle disputes about fees to decide whether you should proceed with a complaint or not.

If I were you I would ask him for a 50% refund first and then let him know you are proceeding with a complaint if he doesn't cooperate.
 

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