Q: What is considered attorney malpractice in terms of real estate closings?
The attorney handling the sale of a purchase of a home in another state neglected to provide in a timely manner the wiring information needed to close on the sale of the home. He refused to accept a certified bank check. Our bank would not wire funds unless it was done in person, so not over the phone. It took us days to travel to get to the new state by car and this all occurred over the Juneteenth weekend. We were not given any advice from the closing attorney or the real estate agent on what we should do. Instead we were notified on a late friday 6/16 that a wire needed to be done (after banks were closed) and we did not receive the wire information until after the bank had closed on Saturday. Monday was a holiday and again the banks were closed. This fiasco has cost us thousands of dollars. I feel that there was gross negligence by both the closing attorney and the real estate agent/company were dealing with. We had a closing date for 3 weeks.
A: It likely did not rise to the level of malpractice. However, it would likely be enough to collect any amount directly tied to the issue from the lawyer. I would start by asking the lawyer directly and escalate from there.
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