Excessive Fee Allegations

The Illinois ARDC recently filed charges that allege that an attorney had claimed excessive fees and breached his fiduciary duties by charging an estate valued at approximately $1.4 million over $212,000 in fees. He also is alleged to have violated the same rules in charging over $100,000 in fees to a related estate. The complaint sets out the bills in some detail. Highlights: "travel to house for leak in basement (crawl), fix and go through file cabinet" 5 hours, "obtain mail and statements, travel to Napierville post office for missing mail" 5 hours, "travel to court to determine any filings" 3.5 hours. (Mike Frisch)