Feel Like My Lawyer Is Taking Advantage Of Me

[bigalcalbisque]

California

Had an offer on a commercial investment property I own. Decided to have a Lawyer look over it, he charges $350 per hour, it was supposed to be an initial free consultation. It was posted on his website.
Gave him $1500 retaining fee, a copy of the offer, last 7 years tax returns that schedule E showed the depreciation amounts. Plus the Original appraisal from when I bought the property. I asked him to determine what my approximate Capital Gains would be based on this and the depreciation recapture. Also asked him if I decided to carry back a certain amount of money for the Seller just in case I wanted to offer that in our counter, what A fair amount of interest rate would be. After 2 weeks of repeatedly asking for this what I thought was pretty simple few questions, I finally received an e-mail with a ballpark figure which is what I needed. and 2 days later a total bill including the consultation fee 1,850 above and beyond the retainer fee. I called to question this as that would be 9 hours of work??? He said he was leaving for vacation and would get back to me 5 days later when he returned. He never did. So I went to his office and asked for my original paperwork back and a copy of the file. I was told I could not have that and would have to come back next Tuesday which was 5 days later.
Am I just ignorant or am I justified in thinking I am being ripped off.
Thanks, Al

 

[quincy]

California

Had an offer on a commercial investment property I own. Decided to have a Lawyer look over it, he charges $350 per hour, it was supposed to be an initial free consultation. It was posted on his website.
Gave him $1500 retaining fee, a copy of the offer, last 7 years tax returns that schedule E showed the depreciation amounts. Plus the Original appraisal from when I bought the property. I asked him to determine what my approximate Capital Gains would be based on this and the depreciation recapture. Also asked him if I decided to carry back a certain amount of money for the Seller just in case I wanted to offer that in our counter, what A fair amount of interest rate would be. After 2 weeks of repeatedly asking for this what I thought was pretty simple few questions, I finally received an e-mail with a ballpark figure which is what I needed. and 2 days later a total bill including the consultation fee 1,850 above and beyond the retainer fee. I called to question this as that would be 9 hours of work??? He said he was leaving for vacation and would get back to me 5 days later when he returned. He never did. So I went to his office and asked for my original paperwork back and a copy of the file. I was told I could not have that and would have to come back next Tuesday which was 5 days later.
Am I just ignorant or am I justified in thinking I am being ripped off.
Thanks, Al

What sort of attorney did you hire (e.g., real estate attorney, tax attorney, general practice attorney)?

Offhand, I would say that nine-and-a-half hours of work for what you wanted the attorney to do does not sound unreasonable.

You can request in writing your case file which should include your original paperwork. The attorney should provide it. He might have needed time to sort and copy, which could along with his vacation account for the delay. You should also request an itemized bill which details not only the work done but the amounts charged for each item.

I can't tell from what you have posted if you have been "ripped off." You might have a better idea once you get the itemized accounting.

 

[bigalcalbisque]

Trust, Probate, Wills & Estate & CPA
Just a FYI, I had called the IRS when I initially received the property and asked what form to use and as I was the Trustee of the Trust, they said there was no difference between me and the Trust and to file the Schedule E.
Thanks for your reply. Any more would be appreciated.
Al

 

[LdiJ]

Trust, Probate, Wills & Estate & CPA
Just a FYI, I had called the IRS when I initially received the property and asked what form to use and as I was the Trustee of the Trust, they said there was no difference between me and the Trust and to file the Schedule E.
Thanks for your reply. Any more would be appreciated.
Al

Are you saying that the person you consulted was both an attorney AND a CPA? That is not totally unheard of but it is a bit unusual. I would say though that your questions were definitely ones that would have been better posed to a CPA than an attorney.

Also, it could have taken 9 hours to fully review 7 tax returns and come up with all of the information that you wanted. Not everybody would take that long but its not outside of the realm of reasonableness. Particularly if it was an attorney who had to consult (and therefore pay) a CPA to get everything right.

 

[bigalcalbisque]

Yes, I see your point, but seeing as I needed an Attorney to advise me about the offer received and if accepted and the tax ramifications that's why I chose him.
Because he would not release the file for my review after being billed when I went to his office and his assistant said I would have to pick up 5 days later. Even though I said it was not good enough, I was told by the assistant that the "Bar" rules would not permit me to receive the documents that day, so I requested my original documents back as he had offered to copy them the day of our initial consultation and I had said that wouldn't be necessary at that point, so I told the assistant this and told her I would wait for them, then the assistant said no. I honestly didn't know if they could do that so I left the office. I told them to stop work on the file immediately as I believed that he actually hadn't done the work on the file and did not want to release the originals to me so he could have the time to do all the work that he had billed me for. My point is if I had been billed for all the work that was done and had asked several times for all the documents by phone and e-mail and didn't receive a reply or the documents that he actually had not done them. Remember I was only asking for an opinion of the offer, and a ballpark figure for an interest rate. should I carry back some Seller financing and an estimate for the possible Capital Gains Tax. I had actually done all these calculations myself from just calling Commercial Lenders and and adding up all the depreciation that I had taken on the years that I have held the property. Noting the original appraisal and the offer that I was thinking of accepting. It took me less than an hour. So I am wondering why it took him 9.5 hours to do what it only took me less than an hour to do.
Remember we only wanted a ballpark figure on everything and just to look over the offer as I thought it was the prudent. Just as an example I got billed $350 just to give me a suggested interest rate. I am not saying I am right or wrong here, it just seemed like such an exorbitant rate for what I had asked him to do.