Asked in Family Law, Probate and Legal Malpractice for Washington

Q: Can my lawyer Bill me for working with the opposing counsel to retrieve things that I didn't have to return?

I am the beneficiary as well as the administrator of a will the daughter of the deceased was disinherited because she had nothing to do with her father ever until the house was up for sale her lawyers asked my lawyers for the ashes of the deceased because I had mentioned that she hadn't even followed out her dad's last wishes which was to be cremated and combined with his partner of 37 years now her team is asking for the ashes back which I gave them my lawyer is billing me for it so she looks good in court she had nothing to do with her father when he was sick nothing to do with her father with four years before that she showed up five days before probate was over to file a contestant against the will my lawyer doesn't seem to have any time for me I have left several messages emails she won't call me back she treats me as if I'm the child and I am the guilty one here is there anything I can do about it and then she just billed me for $290 for calling me to have me give them the ashes

1 Lawyer Answer

A: I'm so sorry you're having concerns with your attorney's billing practices. First, read through the agreement you signed with your attorney - most likely, you agreed to pay the attorney for all his or her time, and that would include responding to another party's requests or correspondance, whether or not the other party's requests/correspondence/etc make sense or not. An attorney only has his/her time to sell, and at an hourly fee of $350 or whatever you're paying, that can add up fast.

Next, when you read the agreement, see if the attorney provided set minimum fees for certain types of activities. For example, I heard of an attorney who charged a minimum of $36 every time he responded to an email, even if he only wrote a sentence or two. However, this fee was laid out in the fee agreement, so even though it's a very high amount, the client was informed she would be charged this before she signed the fee agreement.

After you carefully read the agreement, you can read through this website from the Washington State Bar Association:

https://www.wsba.org/for-the-public/concerns-about-a-lawyer

If you still have concerns about your attorney, you can follow this guidance, and even use an online form to file a complaint.

Best wishes and good luck to you,

Merry

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