I was in the process of getting my estate stuff together.. and I decided to meet with a few different attys.. first one was too expensive…went to office talked decided not to use.. 2nd ….he asked me to meet him at library i.did…talked about 15 min about my stuff then he wanted to know about me a little and then he told me all about him.. total about a hour.. left.. and met with third attorney which I decided to use.. just more suited to me and the least expensive…the 2nd guy called me a few times.. and I called him back and told him I went with another person.. (on his voice mail).. then today I got a bill in my mail for the time we talked he didn’t ever tell me he charged for consultation…and when I called him.. he said he made a special trip for me. I told him that we only talked about me for about 15 to 20 minutes the rest was about him.. he said he would reduce by 1/3…what am I obligated to do?. thanks.. I appreciate it a bunch.. I want to be fair to myself as well as him

Before ever meeting with an attorney you should find out if it is a free consultation or what they are going to charge for their time. Chances are this was not a free consultation but I cannot figure out why you met him at the library instead of his office. I think this guy's thinking was more on the "It's a free consultation as I know you are going to use my services and then when you don't use my services then the consultation is not free". What did he initially say to you when you first agreed to meet him is the key here to if you owe him or not.

He said that he had court and that if I could come to the law library and meet with him it would be easier for both of us and he would answer my questions> there is nothing in writing between us.

A few years ago most attorneys gave the first meeting free, but I checked this just a few week ago and asked if the first meeting was free, I forget the exact number but over 1/3 were asking for a fee ( from 75 dollars to 100 dollars) for the first meeting.

So if you did not ask, yes you may owe them, you may have someone else, call their office and ask if they do a free first meeting, if they say yes, you have a good evidence to deny the payment,

A few years ago most attorneys gave the first meeting free, but I checked this just a few week ago and asked if the first meeting was free, I forget the exact number but over 1/3 were asking for a fee ( from 75 dollars to 100 dollars) for the first meeting.

So if you did not ask, yes you may owe them, you may have someone else, call thier office and ask if they do a free first meeting, if they say yes, you have a good evidence to deny the payment,



Exactly - I am not aware of any Attorneys at the moment who give free consultation (and sometimes it's a minimal amount but there is a fee) with the exception of personal injury attorneys. Unless it's specifically addressed you should plan on paying a fee. An Attorney sells time (and not a product) and every minute spent with you is time sold.

I believe you should have asked (and I realize it's too late for that now) and I believe you owe the Attorney - and I understand the meeting at the library if he/she was already in the area. People in my area don't realize that if the Attorney comes to your home you pay for travel time - his hourly begins when he leaves his office and ends when he returns.

For that matter I charge from the moment I leave my house to the moment I return and sometimes that's difficult for people to understand. If my travel time to an accident scene is an hour each way and I work at the scene for one hour I bill for the total of three hours.

If Attorney #2 wasn't going to charge you he may have changed his mind upon finding out you had consulted with three - that seems rather excessive on an estate matter when personality has little to do with anything and it's all by law - although it's easier to work with someone you can get along with.

Hello Cassie:

I think you owe him. You assumed his time was free, and you were wrong. Certainly, your assumption was understandable. However, my LEGAL viewpoint is that I don't think the onus was on him to tell you that he was or wasn't charging you. I think it was on you to ask.

From a BUSINESS point of view, the financial arrangements should have been made clear beforehand. But, most lawyers aren't especially good businessmen.

excon

In his yellow pages ad it clearly said in RED free consultations

Photocopy his ad and send it back to him. In your cover letter tell him you will refer this to the local Bar association if he pursues it.

Made a copy of the ad and I have also printed off the arbitration policy that the bar association has.. should I include this too

Hello again, cassie:

Nahh. The arbitration policy is to fix a problem. You don't want to indicate to him that you think there's a problem at all. That's why you send the add, and a short concise letter telling him the matter is closed.

He'll leave you alone. If he doesn't, defend yourself.

excon

Free consultation advertised then bills you? He needs to get his story straight. Apparently he must have "forgotten" about his yellow pages ad. Yep, send the letter off to him sans the arbitration paper and I'll bet you'll never hear from him again. If you do hear from him you could contact your county bar association and tell them about his shenanigans. They will call him on the carpet for his actions in short order.

Thanks... excon

Cassie,

An aside for future reference.

First, may I call your attention to the guidelines for using the comments feature found here:

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/feedback/using-comments-feature-24951.html

The post about daylight savings was inappropriately piggybacked on your thread. Its now been moved. Unfortunately many people don't read the FAQs or understand how sites like this work, so they just post their question in the wrong forum or as responses to someone else's thread. The way to deal with that is to use the Report Inappropriate post link and ask that it be moved to its own thread. Giving it a negative comment was not the way to handle it.