Attorney Fees

[CarolED]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ca.
Is there a standard attorney fee for an attorney to charge if named as a co-trustee on a Living Trust for an estate of about 500 thousand? Includes real estate, stocks, cd's, bank accounts and personal property.

 

[curb1]

I would doubt that there is a "standard fee". In our family we had a very simple distribution of a revocable trust and the attorney charged $30,000 on a trust that was all cash assets. Many thought it was outrageous since the attorney already had charged up front (before death) to simplify the trust assets for easy distribution.

I think that it is a real mistake generally to have an attorney as a trustee. Naturally, this situation is pushed when setting up the trust because it becomes very easy access to compensation following death. It is very difficult to dispute the attorney billings when they are a co-trustee.

 

[tecate]

Subject to language in the trust, a trustee is eligible for a "reasonable" fee. This is usually expressed as an hourly rate. In the long run, reasonable is whatever a judge will allow, if a beneficiary sues, or whatever the beneficiaries will put up with. The problem for attorneys is that the prevailing rate for trustees is usually much lower than the prevailing rate for attorneys fees, so if the attorney thinks that being a trustee is the same as practicing law, my guess is the judge would give him or her a haircut, at the very least down to what a professional fiduciary would charge.

You might also look at Probate Code Section 15642(b)(6).