GOOD LAWYER, BUT NOT FULLY UPFRONT!!…read more
I want to share my full experience so others can know what to expect.
Last year, after my mother passed away, my father wanted to put his house into a living trust. We went to see this lawyer together. Since my parents had purchased their home as "community property without rights of survivorship", I knew this could be an issue. That type of ownership usually means that when one spouse passes away, probate is required because their share does not automatically transfer to the surviving spouse. Probate is exactly what we wanted to avoid because it adds time, stress, and extra fees.
So during the very first visit, I specifically asked if that would be a problem. She confidently told me "no, that should not be a problem at all" -- that she could fix it, and the process should go smoothly in just two visits. Based on that reassurance, we moved forward and paid her half of the total fee as a down payment.
However, later that same day, she called me back and said she had actually run into a problem with the house being under community property. She then referred us to one of her colleagues to handle it instead. When I contacted that lawyer, I was told it would cost $6,000 just to remove my mother's name and transfer the property deed into my father's name. That was a huge and unexpected expense we were not prepared for -- and exactly the type of problem I had asked about in the beginning.
To be fair, she is polite, professional, and very nice in person. She also speaks Spanish, which was great for my father since it's his native language. But I left feeling that she hadn't been completely upfront with us. At first, we were told it would be a simple two-visit process, but once we had already paid, the story changed and the costs went way up.
My advice: she may be a good lawyer, but do your research, ask very detailed questions, and get everything in writing before moving forward.
