Q: What is a reasonable contingency fee for counsel to file against trustee for breach of fiduciary duties/dissolve trust?
Estate REALLY should be over $1.8 million. Trustee has refused formal accounting for 12 years. Tricked me into signing over POD accounts and life insurance disbursements owed directly to me. And NUMEROUS other documented breaches.
A: While it would be rare for an attorney to accept such a case on a contingency fee, attorneys who do accept such cases are likely to require a 40% or 33-1/3% contingency fee. This fee would usually be calculated after the attorney is reimbursed for any case expenses incurred in the litigation process. While it is not typical for an attorney to front the fee for an expert witness in this type of case, you should expect the need to retain a forensic accountant. Depending upon the complexity of the trust and whether there are any accounting issues, a forensic accounting could be done for as little as $10,000 but you should not be surprised if it costs $25,000-50,000. But the amount heavily depends on what the corpus of the trust is.
Justia Ask a Lawyer is a forum for consumers to get answers to basic legal questions. Any information sent through Justia Ask a Lawyer is not secure and is done so on a non-confidential basis only.
The use of this website to ask questions or receive answers does not create an attorney–client relationship between you and Justia, or between you and any attorney who receives your information or responds to your questions, nor is it intended to create such a relationship. Additionally, no responses on this forum constitute legal advice, which must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. You should not act upon information provided in Justia Ask a Lawyer without seeking professional counsel from an attorney admitted or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. Justia assumes no responsibility to any person who relies on information contained on or received through this site and disclaims all liability in respect to such information.
Justia cannot guarantee that the information on this website (including any legal information provided by an attorney through this service) is accurate, complete, or up-to-date. While we intend to make every attempt to keep the information on this site current, the owners of and contributors to this site make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to from this site.
