QUESTION
Is $48,000 a fair price for a lawyer to charge in an estate settlement?
Asked on Jan 12th, 2012 on Estate Litigation - North Carolina
More details to this question:
The lawyer has gave us "the run-around" and we just acuired the deed to the house after six years. He says he is entitled to 1/3 of the estate value which would be $77,000 in lawyer fees. After speaking with him, he has agreed to settle for $48,000 but we have less than two months to pay him in full.
1 ANSWER
Litigation Attorney serving Raleigh, NC
at
Burns, Day & Presnell, P.A.
Update Your Profile
The terms of your fee agreement should dictate the amount that he is owed. It sounds as if you entered into a contingency fee arrangement, which must be in writing in North Carolina to be enforceable. Six years is a long time to have an account open, but presumably he has not been paid any money during that time. If he has agreed to reduce the amount he is owed by almost $30,000, that is fairly generous of him.
Answered on Jan 13th, 2012 at 2:33 PM