How is the West Palm Beach probate court going to calculate my attorney fees?

Probate litigation can get expensive especially attorney fees from a  Palm Beach litigation firm. You may want topetition the West Palm Beach probate court for fees but that is not the end of the line. The other side may be able to request an evidentiary hearing about the reasonableness of the fees. Do you know what the Court is going to consider? Check out this recent case out of the Third District Court of Appeal on the reasonableness of attorney fees. 

Calculating Attorney Fees

• It is important to understand that just because you were charged something by a Palm Beach probate litigator does not mean the Court is going to find it “reasonable.”
• Remember the law allows for an award of reasonable attorney fees in West Palm Beach.
• Is your Palm Beach probate litigator charging a reasonable fee?
• Furthermore are there multiple attorneys working on the same manner?
• The Court may have problems with double billing in Palm Beach.
• Experienced Palm Beach probate litigators charge for that experience and surely you benefit from it.
• That being said the Court in Palm Beach may be wary of awarding a high hourly fee.
• What does the Court consider a reasonable hourly fee?
• Check out this case out of the Third District Court of Appeal to learn more.

State Farm Fla. Ins. Co. v. Alvarez et. al.

• This was an appeal regarding an insurance dispute dating back to Hurricane Wilma in 2005!
• On appeal was the reasonableness of attorney fees and the Court looked to three issues, the hourly rate, the amount of hours and something called a multiplier effect.
• Here the hourly fee was 450/ hr do you consider that reasonable?
• The probate court in West Palm Beach probably will.
• In truth that is not what the issue was for the Court here, rather it was the fact that the attorneys racked up about 200 billable hours at that rate. 
• Also there were multiple attorneys working on the matter at once and Courts do not usually reward double billing even if it is a conference among the attorneys.
• Do you know what constitutes a reasonable award of attorney fees in West Palm Beach?

Want to learn more about attorney fees in West Palm Beach?

Check out the entire case by clicking here.