My attorney went ghost on me

[Steffenfield]

Michigan here.

I hired him because my sister had signed the entire estate into her name and has refused to share anything,

Our parents passed back in 2016.

I gave the attorney his required retainer fee and was excited at the time because he stated that his office was directly across the street from the courthouse.

I've only heard from him once this year by phone.

He was ashamed and apologetic when I called, stating that other cases have kept him busy.

That was five weeks ago, with no responses to any of my follow up email letters since then.

I would like to call him next week, but I have no idea what to say anymore.

He lives too far away from me to ever visit with him.

I'm almost to the point of hiring a local attorney here that will lay into him for all that he hasn't done and my time and money that seems to have been wasted.

I really could use any advice on how to handle next week on this.

Please and thank you.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

You really should contact another lawyer and likely contact the MI Attorney Grievance Commission https://www.michbar.org/ .

 

[justalayman]

Has your attorney sent you any accounting statements?

If so, does it show any debits to your Account?

Do you have a written Retention letter (contract)?

Did the attorney claim to have done anything regarding your case when you spoke with him? Did he make any commitments to doing anything when you spoke to him?

I agree that the silence is problematic.

 

[Dandy Don]

In your previous postings you have mentioned that there was no probate and also that there was a trust in existence.

You need to hire a new attorney, and your new attorney can advise you on how to fire the previous attorney and you can also file a complaint against the previous attorney with the Michigan Bar for nonperformance of services. Either your attorney was unclear about what you wanted to achieve or what you needed her for, or maybe she is just lazy or dishonest.

The job of your new trust attorney will be to send a certified letter (on your behalf) to your (adopted?) sister/trustee to ask for a copy of the trust.
If you are named as a beneficiary in the trust, you will be sent a copy of the trust. Since the law requires that beneficiaries be notified about a trust, it is most likely that you are NOT named as a beneficiary and therefore (if that is the case) then the trustee doesn't have to send you anything.

If sister was named as joint account co-owner on the bank accounts, then the money in that account automatically passed to her the exact moment that the parent's death occurred and no probate is needed for that.

If you are a biological child of the decedent and if you suspect you have been deliberately disinherited and wrongfully disinherited, you need to ask your attorney whether or not you have a legal basis to contest this trust and if there is a statute of limitations.

I don't really want to believe that your parent did not leave you anything in the trust, but it happens that way sometimes, unfortunately.

 

[Shadowbunny]

Extensive background here: https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/is-there-proper-etiquette-on-attorney-fees.649796/

 

[Just Blue]

There is a lot to peruse in the px hx. I highly recommend taking a gander.

 

[Steffenfield]

My sister has provided the will, but still not the trust.

@justalayman
I've received many charges by mail and they have been deducted from his retainer fee.
I think there's only two hundred dollars left remaining.
I feel like he's also over-billing as well.
He barely has a moment to speak on the phone, at least with me, yet with every time he calls someone, I receive exactly a one hour billing unit for this.
That's where all the money has gone so far.
No legal drafts or letters written.
No court date like was promised.
My last email, I asked just to send me what he has so I can move forward.
I haven't heard from him in over 5 weeks now, before then, not since last year.

My previous attorney had drafted a two page letter wall of offenses, many criminal, single spaced, no paragraphs, on my sister's behavior with the estate.
She had left her firm though and was wanting full travel expenses that I didn't think I could afford because she lives across State.
So I went with this new guy, who is in the same county of my parents.

I guess that I'll mention the MI Attorney Grievance Commission when calling my current lawyer on Tuesday.

Thank you all for your responses.

Sorry that I keep venting my troubles here.

I just want closure with my parents.

 

[Dandy Don]

If you have not already done so, and if it is convenient for you to do so, you should visit the county courthouse probate court to look at all of the documents in the probate file, just to get an understanding of how the estate was handled. Or you could contact the courthouse by phone and ask to order the documents by mail for a small copy fee of perhaps 50 cents to a dollar per page.

Please look at the will to see if the language of it requires that an executor's bond or surety bond be purchased, or whether that requirement is exempted. If the will mentions that an executor's bond was posted, you and your attorney will have at least one avenue to pursue being paid since the purpose of the bond is to protect the estate assets from fraud or illicit acts by the executor and gives you legal recourse if the executor has acted illegally.

 

[quincy]

Steffenfield, here is a link to Michigan's Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys:
https://courts.michigan.gov/Courts/MichiganSupremeCourt/rules/Documents/Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct.pdf
See Rule 1.16(a) and Rule 1.16(d) on terminating attorney representation.

You are entitled to a full accounting of all fees charged by the attorney against your retainer. A lack of communication and a lack of work by the attorney are both good reasons for firing an attorney - but you have a right to fire your attorney at any time, with or without reason. You are entitled to your case file.

 

[Steffenfield]

You really should contact another lawyer and likely contact the MI Attorney Grievance Commission https://www.michbar.org/ .

Hi PayrollHRGuy.

I checked with my call log earlier today.

It's actually been 11 weeks now since I've heard from my attorney.

Before that was last year.

Do you have a fuller link for the complaint I might send to this Grievance Commission?

I'm not finding it easy with the one you provided.

 

[not2cleverRed]

@justalayman
I've received many charges by mail and they have been deducted from his retainer fee.
I think there's only two hundred dollars left remaining.
I feel like he's also over-billing as well.
He barely has a moment to speak on the phone, at least with me, yet with every time he calls someone, I receive exactly a one hour billing unit for this.
That's where all the money has gone so far.
No legal drafts or letters written.
No court date like was promised.
My last email, I asked just to send me what he has so I can move forward.
I haven't heard from him in over 5 weeks now, before then, not since last year.

My previous attorney had drafted a two page letter wall of offenses, many criminal, single spaced, no paragraphs, on my sister's behavior with the estate.
She had left her firm though and was wanting full travel expenses that I didn't think I could afford because she lives across State.
So I went with this new guy, who is in the same county of my parents.

I guess that I'll mention the MI Attorney Grievance Commission when calling my current lawyer on Tuesday.

Thank you all for your responses.

Sorry that I keep venting my troubles here.

I just want closure with my parents.

Apparently you did not read your contract when you retained the lawyer.

In addition to stating an hourly fee, your contract should state what units an hour will be split into for billing purposes. For example, you might have 2 lawyers who charge $300/hr, but one uses quarter hours and another uses 6 minutes (tenths of an hour). So, a 5 minute phone call with one will be $75 with one versus $30 with the other, even though the hourly rate is the same. It sounds like your contract does not break the hour into smaller units.

Find out exactly how much you will be charged for each type of exchange, and then find the most efficient way to communicate.

Find out what you can do on your own, and what can only be done by a lawyer.

Stop ranting. Get organized.

July 2017, you wanted to know if someone here could give you an online referral for your myriad of legal problems: https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/can-i-hire-an-online-attorney-with-a-sliding-scale-fee.636414/

Jan 2018, you wanted an accounting of your parents' estate: https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/how-to-receive-copies-of-all-documents-and-a-full-accounting-of-all-assets.645220/

March 2018, you were looking for a forensic accountant: https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/looking-for-a-forensic-accountant.646502/

April 2018, you now have the idea to go for double damages: https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/double-damages.646758/

July 2018, you wonder what should happen to your share if you die: https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/in-case-of-my-death.648699/

September 2018, you are wondering about "etiquette" concerning the attorney fees... before signing with this attorney: https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/is-there-proper-etiquette-on-attorney-fees.649796/

For Pete's sake, don't start any more threads on this subject - just continue the topic IN ONE THREAD.

 

[cbg]

The possibility exists that there has been no action in the past eleven weeks and therefore no need to make contact.

 

[t74]

Please dive OP a break. Novices dealing with attorneys (and insurance agents and financial planners and ...) do not know what to expect and can easily be scammed. I've been there, done that and have still had it happen even though I have gotten smarter. It is really hard for someone not in the "business" to tell a qualified and honest practitioner.

 

[not2cleverRed]

Please dive OP a break. Novices dealing with attorneys (and insurance agents and financial planners and ...) do not know what to expect and can easily be scammed. I've been there, done that and have still had it happen even though I have gotten smarter. It is really hard for someone not in the "business" to tell a qualified and honest practitioner.

My issue is that in spite of repeatedly being told to keep things together, OP just starts a new thread ranting about the problem every few months.

 

[cbg]

I don't have an issue with the OP at all, only a suggestion for what the answer to his question might be.