attorney employment contract

What is the name of your state? texas
A friend of mine signed an employment contract with an attorney to represent him in his grandmothers estate. The contract states the attorney will consult prior to making any decisions in conveyance of his property interest. It also says 20% of his interest in the estate will go to the attorney. It is signed, dated and notarized. That is basically all the agreement states. Signed a year ago. The attorney is not really doing anything and when asked to do something, attorney does something different. The contract is a one page typed letter and I gave all the details above. Can the attorney be released? Or I guess can the contract be terminated and how? What charges can the attorney charge if this is done? Thanks for your help

He can fire the attorney by certified letter. But he first needs to have his new attorney look at the contract to see if there are any pending complications. And he needs to find out what the executor compensation rate is for Texas, which may be different than what the attorney told him. What is the value of the estate, and has probate been opened yet?

Reply

How does he find the executor compensation rate for Texas? All I could find referred to 5%, but it never said for an attorney, it just said for an executor. I believe probate has been started. The estate is being divided to seven people and none of them agree on anything. I know the land they are selling is listed at 2.5 mil.

Dandy Don said:

He can fire the attorney by certified letter. But he first needs to have his new attorney look at the contract to see if there are any pending complications. And he needs to find out what the executor compensation rate is for Texas, which may be different than what the attorney told him. What is the value of the estate, and has probate been opened yet?

Click to expand...

What difference does the value of the estate matter?

proach said:

How does he find the executor compensation rate for Texas? All I could find referred to 5%, but it never said for an attorney, it just said for an executor. I believe probate has been started. The estate is being divided to seven people and none of them agree on anything. I know the land they are selling is listed at 2.5 mil.

Click to expand...

Please do not post information not needed. For a fee, Dandy Don will provide you with some ideas. That's why he leaves his email address on some posts and not others, which is why he asks the value of estates.

Thank you for your information. I tried to look for statutes but all I could find was 5% for an executor, would that be the same for an attorney? Thank you for your time in replying. I appreciate your input. Sorry about posting info not needed, but I'm not sure what information I shouldn't have posted. I'm kinda new at this.

proach said:

Thank you for your information. I tried to look for statutes but all I could find was 5% for an executor, would that be the same for an attorney? Thank you for your time in replying. I appreciate your input. Sorry about posting info not needed, but I'm not sure what information I shouldn't have posted. I'm kinda new at this.

Click to expand...

Ask another probate attorney for confirmation of the percent. When you hire another attorney, the new attorney will take care of the details for the one you fired.

Thank You for your prompt reply

new attorney required

I'm not convinced that a probate attorney in Texas can take a percentage of the executor's fee as a contingency - unless there is some confusion in OP's first post, something seems odd.

Definately a consultation with a certified probate practioner is required.

Please don't ascribe improper motives to me--I do not ask people for fees. If I do ask the value of the estate it is merely out of curiosity only--it's a free country--I have the right to ask anything I want. The executor's fee is based on the total value of the estate and that value is needed before the fee can be calculated.

Dandy Don said:

Please don't ascribe improper motives to me--I do not ask people for fees. If I do ask the value of the estate it is merely out of curiosity only--it's a free country--I have the right to ask anything I want. The executor's fee is based on the total value of the estate and that value is needed before the fee can be calculated.

Click to expand...

No fees for when poster's contact you via the email address you leave, oh brother....

What's so difficult about telling poster's that the executor's fee is based on the total value of the estate? It's simple math that the posters can do themselves.

It's very rare for a poster to ever contact me, and in the event that they did, my only reason for posting it is to answer any further questions they may have about their situation. Now it's my turn to roll my eyes at you for making a false assumption.

Dandy Don said:

It's very rare for a poster to ever contact me, and in the event that they did, my only reason for posting it is to answer any further questions they may have about their situation. Now it's my turn to roll my eyes at you for making a false assumption.

Click to expand...

How many of y'all other members that have been here at FA for a while believe this?

I agree, Blondie.
It's inappropriate to put an email address in each response.
It smells like solicitation (and it walks, talks, and quacks like solicitation).
PM'ing is available to 'answer any further questions'.


OP: Texas does not mandate/cap the fees a probate atty can charge (other than stating it should be 'reasonable', based on the specific tasks).
Probate attys can either charge a flat rate, an hourly rate, or a percentage of the estate.

Private messaging has been disabled.

I have no reason to lie and you have no proof to back up your allegation. Guess some people just like to use the message board to argue instead of assisting the original poster.