lawyer billing and the estate is closed

[nomad554]

What is the name of your state? What is the name of your state? Illinois

My parents both passed in 2000, Dad made middle bro. executor. He did ok, took long time getting things done which incurred large attorney fees that came out of estate approx. 7,000 when all was said and done. My oldest bro and I were not happy with him during this because he felt he should not have to pay market value for house he was to purchase from Dad before death, Dad died and he still had no papers drawn showing the price agreed on. He felt he should get the house for less the improvements costs. Well as the will stated the house should be sold for market value to who ever should by it. Anyway, big fight and I had to get a lawyer to finally step in and say he can't get the house for less his improvment costs. OK that was all said and done after alot of extra fees from my Dads lawyer for several re-writting the final papers because my brother wanted it written to reflect the house cost in his favor. The estate closed and everything was paid. Done and done. Now here comes a bill from the attroney for more fees sent to each of my siblings and me. Can this be or should this have been taken care of before the estate was closed?

 

[ALawyer]

If the fees are legitimate, and allocated pro-rata among the beneficiaries, and the estate was not taxable (for Federal estate tax purposes) what's the real difference if it was paid out of the proceeds directly while the money was in the estate -- so the distributions to each of you from the estate would have been less -- or later by the people who got the pre-expense proceeds?

I'd ask the lawyer why now, and make sure the fees are legit, but I can see no effective difference unless I missed something.

 

[nomad554]

Maybe it wasn't explained real well. It was suppose to be a cut and dry case, he quoted my brother 2,500 to get the job done, but not in writting. After nearly 7,000 and a split family later the estate was dispersed and done in the courts. Wait at the end meeting lawyer said he would take out 1,500 more to complete everything and that should be more than enough to get it closed. Then five months or so after that we received the billing for more money. So what my question is can he come in months later and ask for more money.

 

[ALawyer]

I have no idea as to how much or what work the lawyer did or did not do, and how much skill was involved, or how good the result was. But I do know that when families start to feud the need for legal work increases and thus higher legal bills result -- usually as the various parties caused the lawyer to do work that never was contemplated, but became necessary.

Most counties have a bar association that has a process to review and settle fee disputes between lawyers and clients. Ask the lawyer for details, and if you don't like the answer, or feel the lawyer is being unjustified, ask the lawyer to take it to the bar association to help resolve. (PS, if the lawyer has been milking the matter or overcharging you he may just say forget it, as few lawyers like to get their matters reviewed by other lawyers.)