Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Pennsylvania

Is attorney to blame?

My mom died in 1965 leaving property placed in the names of my dad & siblings. My dad remarried. He died 2 years ago & we children had to pay a lawyer to see my dad's will. We wanted our stepmother (SM) to sign a deed in escrow saying this property would come back to us 3 kids & not go to her daughters upon her death. After a yr. she finally agreed to such a document with the stipulation that we pay her legal fees in the drawing up of this document only.We signed the document under the impression by our lawyer that we would only pay SM's legal fees for this document. A month later we recieved a bill from SM's lawyer with total fees from all of the legal proceedings that occurred over the past year. I called my attorney & he admitted that our intention was just to pay current fees. He told us that in order to set things straight with the other lawyer, we would have to pay him for his time. We are upset & find ourselves in a corner. This lawyer didn't do the job we paid him for. What should we do? Are we committed to pay this entire bilL & why should we have to pay this same lawyer in order to fix a mistake he made? Please respond ASAP.


Asked on 6/15/00, 3:30 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Murray Eckell Eckell,Sparks,Levy, Auerbach,Monte,Rainer,&Sloane

Re: Is attorney to blame?

This is very difficult to answer without knowing more facts; such as was there a written confirmation of what fees would be paid prior to the resolution? What if any advise did your lawyer give you on the subject.etc? However, I will make a stab at helping you. If the arrangement with your SM's lawyer constituted a contract for him to prepare and file a deed in exchage for which you would pay the fee, then you may not be responsible for all his charges. If no such arrangement(or contract exists), then it is possible you could have a malpractice action against your lawyer for not making the arrangeements clear. You really should talk to an experienced lawyer to sort out all the facts and give you more specific advice. The original transaction puting the deed in you father and sigbling's names should also be examined as there could have been some error there or some reason why your SM should not have gotten any interest in the real estate.

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Answered on 8/07/00, 10:10 am


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