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Home>Levelset Community>Legal Help>An attorney called my brother in law and said he found money for him. He would have to sign papers (POA et al ) and agree to a fee of 33.33% . attorney said it was in the thousands of dollars. my brother in law signed and we found out later the amount was $104.000. so attorney takes $34000 for making a phone call and this is public info on unclaimed funds in Ohio. Is this an excessive fee and what recourse does he have?

An attorney called my brother in law and said he found money for him. He would have to sign papers (POA et al ) and agree to a fee of 33.33% . attorney said it was in the thousands of dollars. my brother in law signed and we found out later the amount was $104.000. so attorney takes $34000 for making a phone call and this is public info on unclaimed funds in Ohio. Is this an excessive fee and what recourse does he have?

Ohio

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1 reply

Jul 5, 2018
I'm sorry to hear about your situation. That does sound like a lot of money for a relatively small amount of work. Unfortunately, the issue is a little outside of our expertise. zlien's expertise lies in construction payment. However, the Ohio Bar Association does provide a little insight on what might constitute excessive fees. Specifically, regarding fees, the Ohio Bar Association states the following on their website: "Attorneys are not allowed to receive illegal payment (such as stolen property) or charge clearly excessive fees. To decide whether a fee is “clearly excessive,” the factors taken into account include the amount of time spent by the lawyer; difficulty of legal issues; customary fees in the area; the amount of money at stake and results obtained by the lawyer; experience and reputation of the attorney; and whether representation was on a contingent fee basis." They also provide some guidance on how to file a complaint. Finally, you may be able to find some valuable resources at www.avvo.com. It's a great online legal service platform with on-demand, affordable legal advice. Plus they have an attorney Q&A section of their site where attorneys from all practice areas are available to answer questions.
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