retainer fees??

[doni]

my mother-in-law passed away. she had a will that pretty much covered everything. except her name was the only one on the deed to her property. we wee told that for this reason in oklahoma, we still had to go through probate. our lawyer told us he needed a retainer fee, which we gave him. it was my understanding (of course i don't know anything about this stuff) that the retainer fee was all he got until the property was sold. he has billed us for everything from filing fees to postage charges. my question is--since we have paid him for all serves as we went, will he still be entitled to a percentage of the estate?

 

[advisor10]

1-14-2002

DEAR DONI:

Please explain--is the attorney you hired a real estate attorney to assist you with getting the heirs names transferred to the deed, or is he a probate attorney who assisted you with all aspects of the estate? You should have been asking questions about fees BEFORE you hired him, but it is understandable that this is a new situation to you.

If he has done the work of an executor (claiming all your mother's assets, paying her bills, etc.) then he technically IS entitled to claim a small percentage (usually less than 6%) as an executor's fee. However, in this case when he has already gotten a retainer and has also been charging you, to need to negotiate with him to ask him to claim a smaller executor fee (good luck--I don't think there is anyway he will agree to this) or contact the local bar association to file a complaint or to inquire if his executor fee would be double/excessive billing.

SINCERELY,

advisor

 

[doni]

rerobate fees

This lawyer has only done the paper work necessary to get the probate papers signed by a judge. he has charged us for every paper he has printed and filed, every add that he has run in the local newspaper, every paper he has sent to the other heirs, every postage stamp he has licked and every phone call we have had with him. we took the abstact to our local titlw company to have it brought up to date and they gave it to their lawyer to get the thing ready. that lawyer evidently had a question about something and called our lawyer. our lawyer has charged us for this call and so did the other lawyer, so now we are paying for the same call twice. but back to the point, we have taken care of all the bills and all of her personal belongings. the only thing we needed a lawyer for was to file the probate stuff for us. he also is supposed to do the estate taxes for us. it just seems to me that if he gets a share of the proceeds from the estate that he will be getting paid twice.