Having lawyer probate moms VA checking account. Mom died in May. Account paid moms headstone dateplate plus care help. Small balance remaining. Has to go through probate. Lawyer is using $ balance at time of death, rather than what’s left after expenses. Is this right? How do you fight a lawyer, and how do I pay her 30% if the moneys not there?
In my state, the amount left at death gets entered into probate, then the payments are made in a fixed order. Cost of funeral and final illness are paid first. I think the estate attorney is next. There's also a dollar ceiling for the legal fee that depends on the value of the estate, to avoid the situation you're asking about. Find out if your state has a similar rule, or ask the lawyer what happens if the remaining estate doesn't cover her fee.
Also make sure that your mother's account didn't have a beneficiary attached to it. My mother's bank account did, much to my surprise, and to my greater surprise, it was me. So the account didn't have to go through probate at all.
Find another lawyer.
I then wondered if maybe this is normal in the USA. The following is for California and I recognise that things may be different in your state, but just for comparison:
"California Probate Code § 10810 sets the maximum fees that attorneys and personal representatives (i.e. executors, administrators, etc.) can charge for a probate. Higher fees can be ordered by a court in special circumstances and for more complicated cases. The fees are four percent of the first $100,000 of the estate, three percent of the next $100,000, two percent of the next $800,000, one percent of the next $9,000,000, and one-half percent of the next $15,000,000. For an estate larger than $25,000,000, the court will determine the fee for the amount that is greater than $25,000,000."
So if that's right - if your lawyer plans to charge you 30% of your mother's estate - before or after funeral costs is less the issue than oh BOY is she ripping you off.
Has she stated how many chargeable hours the bill includes?
No other assets besides the cash?
You don't have to pay your sister half of the estate. You pay your sister half of the net balance after everything else. Which may be half of bugger all but at least it doesn't leave you actually out of pocket.
What's making me crosser than anything else, even more than the exorbitant fee, is that you're having to pay this wretched woman to give you an even bigger headache than you had in the first place.
Nevertheless, "the labourer is worthy of his hire..."
The care home fees were a debt. The estate can't have been said to include money that already belonged to somebody else.
There may be regulations about whether or not funeral expenses can be deducted.
Have you already queried her charges with her?