Went to Mr. Meason for the first time for help with a TODI. His free consult was spent mostly…read moretalking at me as he obviously had a script He followed, even though most of it did not apply to me. He never really asked why I was there until the end of his presentation. When I explained that I knew a little bit about TODI's and that I could get a form and file myself, but my questions were about the legality since I have two homes of leaving one of those directly to my minor grandchildren vs to a trust, he said he was unsure of that as nobody had ever asked him that before. In the end he recommended we go ahead and list my three minor grandchildren, I spelled the names and he repeated that as he wrote and corrected what he had already written. I didn't come to him to replace my primary Atty, who had prepared a will to my satisfaction, and which I brought in, and he read through. I knew a TODI could prevent probate. I knew I could file it on my own. I knew where to get the form and that the recording fee would be $54 to file. I told him all this. He said that was no problem, he could do all that for me and take care of even getting it filed as he was going downtown anyway. I was in a hurry to get these filed because I was planning a road trip and wanted it filed before and I will give them this, they were very quick to turn it around. When I came in the very next day to sign off on the TODI, they gave me just the signature page to complete while I sat in front of the reception desk. I asked for copies of all the pages which they said they could do even though I'd be getting a copy from the recorder's office. It's a good thing I did because two of my grandchildren's names were misspelled. The receptionist pulled up the document and corrected them and then gave me the updated copy. I expected a Charge but was totally thrown when it came to almost $900. When I questioned him at the front desk, he said "well he didn't even charge me for the consult" and I said "you told me it always was free", and he admitted that.But he charged $375 for his receptionist to prepare the forms from the template and to cover the cost of round-trip travel, even though he was already going there. I paid it thinking it's a lesson for me to learn as I should've clarified all of that before leaving the day before. When I asked him afterwards about that and why he had not discussed fees with me he said that was all on the initial consultation form I had filled out (at the very bottom). Part of it was, but they had not talked about that at all, neither the receptionist nor Mr. Meason had pointed it out. Fortunately, I had taken a screenshot. I went to Mr. Meason, because my Atty of many years was in the process of retiring, and I had not met with her replacement yet, and I thought these were just simple forms that I could manage myself once I had confirmed whether minors could be listed or not, and what the impact would be. Although Mr. Meason said that we would go ahead and file with my minor grandchildren, that would be a Band-Aid, because he didn't know what else we would need to do should I pass away while they were still minors, but that we could address that later and that this would at least take that home out of probate. My long-time attorney made time the next day to talk about all this with me as I still was uneasy about listing my minor grandchildren on my second TODI. She said that that was not what she would recommend as minors cannot be listed on a deed, and that she did not believe it would eliminate probate, and that all minors go through a process of guardianship that could be as long as probate. She recommended that we not file the TODI on that second property. Unfortunately, Mr. Meason had already filed it, as I found when I called his office. He proceeded to talk at me and said that I needed to wait until he was done talking. He felt he had done me a favor and that I was being exceptionally rude to interrupt him or to talk about what I felt the concerns were. He said he would be more than happy to withdraw the TODI but would charge me for it. However, I had already learned that I could file that form myself as well, so I told him I would not be doing any future business with him. He stated that I had come to him, unhappy with my will. That is not true, and speaks to the fact that he did not really listen to me. He also stated that I must've misspelled my grandchildren's names. On the positive side, they turned it around very quickly.
