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Lawyer will not send Bill

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0010101

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois

-Ill try to keep this quick and simple. My grandparents have had a lawyer for the last year or so and have had him do work for them. Mainly he has done their taxes and set up a trust. As far as they are concerned this lawyer has done a good job although at a snail's pace. What they are worried about now is owing him money. They have plenty of money right now and don't want to leave any debts to the family when they die. They requested the bill from the lawyer and kept getting brushed off. He told them eventually that he would have the bill for the trust and everything(which was completed around October) by the first of the year. That date passed with no bill. Now they are saying its tax season and they won't get their bill until at least May.

My worry is that since both are rather old, nearly 90, that the lawyer might be waiting until both have died so he can charge the estate whatever he wants. This is especially true since my grandfather has cancer and has been in and out of the hospital quite a bit and HE alone handles this stuff and my grandmother is rather ignorant to anything in this nature and may not have the mental capacity to handle it.

Is there anyway to make a formal request for the bill with a time limit involved?
 


Hot Topic

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois

-Ill try to keep this quick and simple. My grandparents have had a lawyer for the last year or so and have had him do work for them. Mainly he has done their taxes and set up a trust. As far as they are concerned this lawyer has done a good job although at a snail's pace. What they are worried about now is owing him money. They have plenty of money right now and don't want to leave any debts to the family when they die. They requested the bill from the lawyer and kept getting brushed off. He told them eventually that he would have the bill for the trust and everything(which was completed around October) by the first of the year. That date passed with no bill. Now they are saying its tax season and they won't get their bill until at least May.

My worry is that since both are rather old, nearly 90, that the lawyer might be waiting until both have died so he can charge the estate whatever he wants. This is especially true since my grandfather has cancer and has been in and out of the hospital quite a bit and HE alone handles this stuff and my grandmother is rather ignorant to anything in this nature and may not have the mental capacity to handle it.

Is there anyway to make a formal request for the bill with a time limit involved?
Unless you have the legal right to handle their affairs, there's no much you can do.
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
Short of filing an official grievance (which would be unusual, to say the least, over a complaint about not being billed enough), they could try writing the lawyer a letter that says something along the lines of "Having not received any response to our multiple requests for outstanding invoices from you for your work for us, we now consider your fees to be paid in full as of this date. Should you disagree, please provide documentation supporting your position immediately".

The lawyer doesn't have to respond to the letter any more than the other requests, but at least it gives a bit of a paper trail and (somewhat) supports a later argument that there are no further fees owed.

Good luck.
 

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