This is usually done for two reasons: (1) to try to back off the objecting party by creating the risk that its own attorney fees will be discoverable, and (2) to argue to the court that the best evidence of what is reasonable is what the objecting party paid in litigating the same legal and factual issues in the case.
Full Answer
Filing Fee - The initial fee you’ll pay to petition the court and begin the process. Based on the estimated size of the estate to be settled. * Filing fees can generally range anywhere from $50 - $1,200. Certificate Fee - There will be a fee to issue common certificates you’ll need.
Excessive Fees in Probate 165 substantial fee has been charged for work that is routine. Obviously, a certain amount of routine legal work is necessary to probate an estate, and courts will allow an attorney to bill for some routine work. At first, it might seem the attorney could simply bill the client for the number of hours he has worked.
Kinds of Fee Arrangements. Lawyers usually use one of three methods to charge for probate work: by the hour, a flat fee, or a percentage of the value of the estate assets. Your lawyer may let you pick how you pay—for example, $250/hour or a $1,500 flat fee for handling a routine probate case. Hourly Billing. Many probate lawyers bill clients ...
Apr 12, 2004 · He reduced Mr. Finks’ fee by $2,510 to $23,200, and he lowered Ms. Molet’s fee by almost $5,000, to $6150. Then Ms. Molet submitted Mr. Blunt’s fees for payment by the estate, arguing that she had hired him in her capacity as personal representative. The Phoenix probate judge decided that Ms. Molet would have to pay her own attorney’s fees.
Small town rates may be as low as $150/hour; in a city, a rate of less than $200/hour would be unusual. Big firms generally charge higher rates than sole practitioners or small firms, unless a small firm is made up solely of hot-shot specialists.
Many lawyers bill in minimum increments of six minutes (one-tenth of an hour). So, if your lawyer (or a legal assistant) spends two minutes on a phone call on behalf of the estate, you'll be billed for six minutes.
The issue of attorneys’ fees is often a litigation afterthought—appearing at the back of the pleadings, raised through the last witness or even after trial, and discussed at the end of the appellate opinion. It makes sense to present the merits of a case before talking about fees. But fee-shifting is becoming increasingly more available in Texas, the law more developed, and the stakes higher. Counsel cannot afford to wait until the last minute to consider the issue of attorneys’ fees.
This mindset likely comes from the idea that, in Texas, parties typically pay their own attorneys’ fees. Even recently, the Texas Supreme Court has written that “[a]s a general rule, litigants in Texas are responsible for their own attorneys’ fees and expenses in litigation.”Ashford Partners, Ltd. v. ECO Resources, Inc., 401 S.W.3d 35, 41 (Tex.
Because fee-shifting in Texas is a product of statute or contract, the individual procedures and standards vary based on the particular statutory or contractual provisions at play. Counsel should never assume that the same rules apply to proving or defending fee awards that are controlled by a different fee-shifting provision.
The notion that parties generally pay their own attorneys’ fees is well-ingrained in the minds of Texas lawyers. But the “American Rule” in Texas is increasingly being limited by statute and contract provisions that allow for fee-shifting awards in a variety of lawsuits. Counsel for clients both seeking and defending against an award of attorneys’ fees should make sure that consideration of the law and facts relevant to the fee award is not an afterthought.
In our survey, more than a third of readers (34%) said that their lawyers received less than $2,500 in total for helping with estate administration. Total fees were between $2,500 and $5,000 for 20% of readers, while slightly more (23%) reported fees between $5,000 and $10,000.
The total fees that estates paid for legal services were based on one of three types of fee arrangements charged by attorneys for probate and other estate administration work: hourly fees, flat fees, and fees based on a percentage of the estate’s value.
More than half (58%) of the probate attorneys in our national study reported that they offered free consultations. The typical time for these initial meetings was 30 minutes, though the overall average was higher (38 minutes).
Rule 1.5 includes eight factors to be considered in evaluating the reasonableness of an attorney fee. They are:
In Ohio, the procedure for payment of attorney fees in estate administration is set forth by Sup.