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My husbands sister had a 25,000 dollar life insurance policy with their mother as the benificary. His sister died first then their mother died two weeks later before she could claim the money. This was 16 years ago. Well we found the policy it has been turned over to Georgia Dept. If Revenue until the rightful owner comes forward. Now they want a Letter of Testamentary or Letter of administration in the estate of the deceased owner. The attorney we talked to wants 8,000 of the 25,000 isn't that a lot to pay for this??
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Probate Litigation Attorney serving Lawrenceville, GA
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Robert W. Hughes & Associates, P.C.
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It is difficult to say what is high, or low, or the right price. Attorneys have an ethical duty not to charge too much to their clients. However, what is too much cannot be defined until after a case concludes. It sounds like your attorney is proposing to work on a contingency fee. In that case, a 1/3 fee is not necessarily high. On the other hand, if you pay for the services up front and pay an hourly fee, then $8,000 seems high to establish an estate. However, there is a lot that goes into creating and administering and estate, and I cannot tell what the complexities might be in this matter, what other assets might exist, what bills must be paid, etc. Therefore, your best way to determine what a fair price is will be to interview two or three lawyers who specialize in probate work and see which lawyer you like and which lawyer charges you what you perceive to be a fair price.
Answered on Aug 26th, 2016 at 4:58 AM
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Without knowing a lot more facts about the situation, no one can really answer the question of whether or not $8,000 is an unreasonable amount. It sounds like there may be a need to open at least your husband's mother's estate, and maybe both her estate and his sister's estate. Depending on a whole lot of factors, opening (or re-opening) either of these estates 16 years after the fact could be a LOT of work. If it's a whole lot of work, the fees and costs might easily reach the $8,000 level. Or more. Another thing that can't be told from your post is whether the $8,000 being requested is a retainer amount, where if it isn't all used, the remaining amount will be refunded when the work is completed, or a flat fee. And other factors also include: what state or states will be involved, how experienced is the attorney, are there other issues you aren't describing, who would have been the heirs at the time your husband's mother died and whether all of those people are still living or whether some of them are now also deceased, etc. If your husband isn't comfortable with the fee quoted, he should get a second opinion. However, this forum does not really allow a second opinion to be provided. He'll need to speak to an attorney directly for that. Best wishes to you both.
Answered on Aug 25th, 2016 at 5:18 AM
This answer is being provided as general information and not as legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by this answer.