double dipping fees?

What is the name of your state? New York

My wife's grandmother died. My wife's father inherited the estate. 3 months later, he died. My wife inherited the estate. The attorney said there would be one fee to handle both estates (by percentage of the total estate), since it was all the same money (her father had no assets or will). The attorney showed her the percentages and said that the court clerk told her to bill it this way. Twice my wife asked and was reassured that she would pay this percentage once, since it was all the same money. Now she has a bill for double what she thought. A bill for the percentage taken out of each "estate." This attorney is saying the court clerk told her this was how to bill it.

So my questions:
1) This looks shady. Is this double-dipping legal?
2) The court clerk told my wife it was unethical for him to discuss whether this was right or not with her. Why was it allegedly okay for him to advise her attorney how to bill her?
3) This attorney clearly changed the way it would be billed without notifying my wife. What do you do next?What is the name of your state?

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=402933

double post

seniorjudge said:

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=402933

double post

Click to expand...

Double post for a double dip?

anteater said:

Double post for a double dip?

Click to expand...

Maybe there were four dips?

The more important question is did she sign a fee agreement with him or not? Or did she just rely on this oral promise only? Did this attorney serve as executor or were his services required for more than just being an executor?

She should delay paying the bill until her complaint to the state bar association about this is resolved, or at least pay half of the bill. The only problem is that the New York State Bar Association may not get involved when fee disputes are involved. Does the invoice he used to bill for show an itemized list of the hours and a brief description of the services he performed for those hours?

She or you needs to find out what the official executor rate for New York is, according to state law, by asking another probate attorney what the correct rate is, and then tell your attorney to bill for what the state law says the rate is.

Attorney was lying when he said the court clerk told him what to bill--its a wonder why you all didn't see through that BS. State law determines what the executor rate is and any lawyer worth his salt can come up with his own hourly rate.

Only pay half of what he is asking for and then let him take her to court to try to explain his actions, which will make him appear to be most greedy and self-serving.


DANDY DON IN OKLAHOMA ([email protected])

Thank you very much Dandy Don for your detailed response.

1) My wife signed no contract that discussed fees.

2) This attorney explained to us that there would be one fee since it was one estate passing from one person to another. Then when she sent the bill she said basically she found out it would be billed for two estates (that's what the court clerk told her).

3) The attorney said that the State decides how much she gets by percentage so there was no need for a billing contract. We were not given the option of paying her by the hour, she said New York does not work that way.

4) My wife acted as executor and administrator. My wife closed all the accounts. The attorney just filed papers with the court.

My understanding from the Senior Judge on this forum is that if my wife doesn't pay the full bill the attorney must give us the option of going into arbitration.

How much money is she asking for?

Arbitration sounds like the best option to me, as well as perhaps getting a second opinion about this from a local probate attorney.

She is asking for $40,000. Approx. 8% of the total estate value. We're talking probably 100 hours of worth of work, since my wife was the administrator. Even the accountant handling the filing of the estate is raising a red flag that something is not kosher here.

vonem said:

She is asking for $40,000. Approx. 8% of the total estate value. We're talking probably 100 hours of worth of work, since my wife was the administrator. Even the accountant handling the filing of the estate is raising a red flag that something is not kosher here.

Click to expand...

Eight percent of ONE estate or 4% of two separate estates? (Do remember there are 2 estates involved here .. not one large one.)