Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Indiana

Re: Attorney fees

At one time each county bar association in conjunction with their local judges adopted a fee schedule which included work for probate matters, and this fee was usually set as a percentage of the estate. Many attorneys continue to follow these schedules because they represent what the local judge will probably approve. If the attorney contacted will not negotiate an hourly rate, then you are free to contact another attorney to locate one who will accept the case on an hourly rate. If the estate has been started as unsupervised and you wish to question the attorney fees, you will probably need to convert the matter to a supervised estate. In all supervised matters, the judges require a billing statement from the attorney to review what was done, how much time it took and to determine whether the fee is fair. You might want to get the attorney to agree to an amount which is the lesser of the percentage arrangement and an hourly rate. It never hurts to ask. You must consider that it will take a certain amount of time based on complexity of the estate and the number of questions the personal representative has during administration. An hourly rate may not always be a good choice for estate work - particularly with an attorney not terribly experienced at probate work. There is no hard and fast rule. Have the attorney estimate the amount of work and time it will take to preform the work and compare that to the percentage rate. You can always question the disciplinary commission about the appropriateness of the fee charged you. Remember, you are free to shop around for an attorney, just as you would in any other matter.