Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Probate Attorney Legal Fees

The probate attorney for my father's estate is an old

friend of my father's. He did not have to file

probate, but divided the $120,000 estate into separate

portions; a mobile home and bank accounts. He charged

me $3,500. Is this excessive? I hesitate to question

it because I have never hired a lawyer be


Asked on 6/29/00, 12:33 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Ken Koury Kenneth P. Koury, Esq.

Re: Probate Attorney Legal Fees

depends on how much actual time he spent doing what he did. it sounds very excessive to me. for that kind of money you should be getting between 20-30 hours of work by the attorney. I think you got ripped off.

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Answered on 9/05/00, 8:36 pm
Chris Johnson Christopher B. Johnson, Attorney at Law

Re: Probate Attorney Legal Fees

This fee would be about right if probate was filed, but because that wasn't the case here, the fee should have some correlation to the actual hours he spent on the case. The case you describe sounds more like 3-10 hours

, unless there were some unusual assets or problems.

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Answered on 9/05/00, 11:46 pm


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