I live on ssi and live in Wisconsin .My son was murdered in Hawaii and I am in a battle with his landlady over the return of his depsit.I got an attorney through Legal service of Hawaii and that didn't worl]k out to good so I contacted them for a new attorney and in the mean time a collection agency called and said they could help me and wanted $150.00 which I didn't pay because I didn't have it and was unsure so they said just send them the info and no money and he would look over it to see if they could help or not. So I did and he told me I can promise you we can get you the money owed to you ,then I got a call from Legal Service og Hawaii with another attorney so I said OK after talking with him ,then let the collection people know I got another attorney and he was taking care of everything and he has made progress for me where the collection people never did but now they say they aere sueing me for the money I hae not won but when I do they say I owe it to them for their work on the case. I was told all I would ever have to pay if they took he case is the 150 and anthing won would be all mine .Ilive on ssi can they sue me I don't even know how much if any I will ever get back his deposit was $1,100

Money that comes to you/belongs to you can be collected to pay your debts. Where it comes from does not matter.

My sympathy on the loss of your son.

What's not clear to me is whether you ever signed a retainer or fee agreement with any attorneys. Some attorneys are sloppy about this and if there's no agreement, you may not have to pay them.

Do you have a written agreement with the attorney who is trying to collect from you? If so, why are you not paying them? If you hired them and they worked for you, even if they didn't finish the job, you should pay the bill, out of your legal settlement if necessary. People deserve to be paid for the work they do and a lot needs to be done in legal matters before a settlement is achieved.

I'm not sure why you even hired an attorney for this matter. For an amount under $2,000, I would have suggested representing yourself in small claims court. The fact that your son is deceased should have terminated the lease properly and unless the property was damaged by your son, the deposit should have been refunded to the estate. Obviously, he would not be required to provide notice of vacancy if he passed away as the lease was terminated by his passing.

So sorry for your loss.

The monetary amount made me think this was a flat fee, not a contingency.

I can't believe any lawyer would do everything for just $150... they charge more than that just to draft a single letter. That $150 is even on the low side on a per hour basis. Around here they START at $250 and hour and go to the stars.

I'm wondering if they actually had a written contract they didn't read... or misunderstood.

For a $1,100 deposit... legal fees would eat that up not considering collection fees in a blink of an eye.