Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Refi closing attorney

I recently refinanced my home. I

paid 500 for an attorney. They

requested and received the payoff

notice from the bank, and it was

good through March 1st. We closed

on Feb 25th, and the lawyer sent it

on the 29th a Friday(leap year this

year) Sure enough payment didn't

get there until the following

Monday,March 3rd. On top of that

the bank says I owe more money for

a fee they paid to release the loan. It

was NOT on the payoff statement.

My Lawyer doesn't feel it is his

responsibilty to pay the late interest

charges, nor even contact the bank

to dispute the fee. If I pay a lawyer

500 and title insurance (profit is close

to 75% on this) only to see him for

30 minutes at closing, is it

reasonable to expect him to fight the

fee, and be responsible for the late

payment?? The closing date was

chosen by him. Thanks


Asked on 3/12/08, 6:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Re: Refi closing attorney

The fee is probably a discharge fee and that would normally be your cost. So no that is not appropriate to ask him to pay that fee.

However, the attorney had an obligation to make sure he got the payment there on time or withheld enough money to cover the additional interest, but it is not necessarily fair to ask him to pay the interest in full.

He should argue with the bank if it did not give him an accurate pay-off.

As for the $500, the attorney spent more than a 1/2 hour even on a refi the average time to an attorney is more than 4 hours, reviewing title, ordering MLC, etc, preparing the HUD 1A and a host of other things. Also the most the attorney gets for acting as a title agent is 70% of the premium. The bank is going to have be paid the additional interest, but it should be worked out and the attorney should help you work it out if possible.

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Answered on 3/12/08, 9:10 pm


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