Estate & Probate Administration Attorney In Pennsylvania
Understanding Probate & Estate Administration
Estate administration is a court process that requires certain things to be done before the beneficiaries of the estate can receive their inheritance. Depending on your particular estate, 78 things may have to be done in a short period of time to complete the process. The 78 things that may have to be done often involve tax, financial, insurance and legal matters. It’s complicated, and unless you have that type of background, it’s not something that you should try on your own. And if it’s not done right, you could be personally liable. The best you can do as the executor, is to hire an experienced estate and probate administration attorney and not over pay.
The purpose of this section of ThePeoplesLawFirm.com is to provide you with important information about estate and probate administration in Pennsylvania you can learn about and protect legal rights. Contact our experienced Estate & Probate Administration attorney today.
Call ThePeoplesLawFirm.com at 610-600-9844 to schedule a consultation with a lawyer today.
How Lawyers Charge for Estate and Probate Administration
Traditionally, in Pennsylvania, attorneys commonly charged a percentage of the value of an estate as the attorney fee for estate administration. For example, if your estate was worth $800,000, the attorney would charge . . . let’s say, 5 percent. That’s a $40,000 dollar fee. I never got that. Why wouldn’t the attorney just charge for the amount of time it took to do the job? That seems fairer. What’s the point of a flat fee?
From the attorney’s perspective, the attorney is hoping the flat fee will exceed what the attorney would’ve earned if the attorney had just charged for the amount of time it took do the job. But you know, that’s not how the attorney sells it to the client. It’ll go something like this: “Hey, no surprises, a flat fee with no open-ended billing.” What that implies is that no matter how complicated your case gets, you locked the attorney into a flat fee. Therefore, if the attorney’s time on the case exceeds the flat fee, that’s the attorney’s problem. Not yours. The attorney eats it and makes less money.
Therefore, when it comes to paying a flat fee, there’s a winner and a loser. But you gotta ask yourself, how likely is it that the attorney, with years of experience doing this type of stuff, will be the loser, and not you? Come on. You know. Not only that. If, on the odd chance the attorney miscalculated, and the attorney, instead of you, is on the losing end, there’s a pressure on the attorney not to do what needs to be done because the attorney will end up working for free. After all, who wants to work and not get paid.
The Importance of Probate & Trust Litigation for Protecting Your Estate
You get the picture. Generally, if you’re paying a flat fee for estate administration, you’ll likely lose one way or another. That’s why the fairest way to pay an attorney for estate administration is an hourly rate for the time spent on the case. That way you’re not likely to lose by either paying the attorney for time not spent on the case or the attorney not doing all that needs to be done because the flat fee does not cover the extensive work. Want Peace of Mind and a Complete Evaluation of Your Case? Call 610-600-9844 NOW or schedule a consultation with Chester County Pennsylvania Estate & Probate Administration Attorney, Michaelangelo L. Dippolito.
Still Not Ready and Want to Learn More Before You Move Forward? No problem.
Continue to click on your topics of interest on Estate & Probate Administration in Pennsylvania. And remember, we’re just at phone call away at 610-600-9844.