March 2015 Second District Court of Appeals Holds its the Attorney Burden to Prove Fees

At the end of the day law is about money, you hire probate attorneys to  protect and access your wealth and assets. So it does not make a ton of sense when you end up being billed more than your case was ever worth. I strive to make sure that my fees are fair and that my clients are happy, I hope your Palm Beach Probate Attorney does the same. But a recent case out of the Second District Court of Appeals held that you as a client have a right to review your fees, and frankly anyone who is interested in saving their assets should listen up.

• As personal representative of the Estate, Mr. Faulkner hired the Woodruff Law Firm on December 21, 2008, and the Salem Law Group on January 13, 2009, to assist in the administration of the Estate. Although the Estate consisted of $4594.02 in personal property and a house that sold for $150,000, the attorneys charged $39,869.24 for work performed in the uncontested formal administrative proceeding.
• Mr. Faulkner filed his original petition for review of compensation of the Estate employees as an interested person on May 28, 2010. The petition asked the probate court to review the reasonableness of the attorney’s fees paid to Kirsten Woodruff, Heather Lang, and Richard Salem. The petition was not granted based on some procedural rules.
• He cited section 733.6175, Florida Statutes (2010), and Florida Probate Rule 5.355 as authority for the probate court to review the reasonableness of the fees.
• The attorneys attempted to argue that the statute essentially made the petitioner have to sue himself and then prove that the fees were inappropriate.
• The Court disagreed and noted that if you plan to assess fees, you need to be ready to explain why and how you assessed those fees, its not the clients job to disprove, you have a duty to prove.
• The probate court also questioned whether it was the correct venue to determine the reasonableness of the attorney’s fees, suggesting that a suit for unjust enrichment or a proceeding before The Florida Bar may be the appropriate mechanism to review the fees.

As a Palm Beach Probate Attorney, I make a living off of my fees and I understand that sometimes they may appear high, that being said I always strive for fairness. That’s why I find it appropriate (and the Florida Bar agrees) to always discuss these arrangements prior to signing a retainer or letter of engagement. Here is three quick things to take away:

1. Your attorney has a duty to charge you fairly. Not only is it their burden to prove a fee is fair, failure to give a fair rate may be a violation of the Florida Bar Rules as this Court noted.
2. Like any contract you can negotiate. If you think part of a retainer is unfair then say so, lawyers like most businessmen are willing to negotiate, and customer satisfaction is important to most of us.
3. Try Settling Things Out of Court. If you feel your lawyer charged you an unfair fee, then discuss it with them before going to Court. You may not realize that the charge is reasonable and rather orthodox, then you could be on the hook for the litigation fees fighting it. Just talk to the guy first, he understands, you are just making sure you are getting your fair deal. Lawyers are about a fair deal, so just call us before you run to Court. Misunderstanding is more common than malice.

Want to learn more? Check out our FAQ video library here.

Want to learn even more? Read the entire opinion of the case here.