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!
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!