Opinion ID: 2104496
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: estate probate

Text: The case against Respondent involves two separate incidents both concerning Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt Jones. Mr. Jones, a seventy-four year old longshoreman and his seventy-three year old wife approached Respondent on March 31, 1983 to probate the estate of Leula King of Tampa, Florida. Ms. King had died fifty years earlier and had an estate consisting of one piece of real estate valued at $22,000, with no outstanding debts whatsoever. Mr. and Mrs. Jones agreed to pay Respondent a $500 origination fee and 10% of the estate's value. The origination fee was to be included within the percentage of the estate received by Respondent. Between February 24, 1984 and July 5, 1985, Respondent prepared the necessary documents and charged the Jones $10,550.99. When the Jones couple indicated that they did not have the funds to pay the fee, but told Respondent they did have a debt-free home, Respondent arranged for them to obtain a loan. A substantial portion of the $13,000 loan was used to satisfy Respondent's fee. Subsequently, the Joneses retained another attorney to complete the estate work, discharged Respondent and sought the return of the fees paid. Judge Dennis Alvarez of the Hillsborough County Circuit Court, Probate Division heard the petition of the Jones couple for the return of the fee paid to Respondent. Later, during the disciplinary proceeding, Respondent testified that a portion of this fee included a monthly cover charge he levied against all his clients to enable Respondent to do pro bono work. He billed the Jones couple twenty minutes for each phone call, even if no one answered the phone and finally, he billed a minimum of forty-five minutes per page for each document he prepared for the estate. The Jones couple presented expert testimony which told the court that $2,500 was a reasonable fee based upon the difficulty of the work required by the estate, with approximately $150.29 in cost incurred. Judge Alvarez' initial decision was appealed by Respondent. [1] On remand, Judge Alvarez' final determination was that the Jones couple had paid Respondent $10,550.99. He further determined that reasonable counsel fees and costs for Respondent to have charged the Jones couple would have been $2,650.29 and thus required Respondent to reimburse the King estate $7,970, reasonable counsel fees of $6,500 for pursuit of this reimbursement, plus costs of $1,000 for two proceedings before the Circuit Court. Judge Alvarez entered final judgment against Respondent for $15,670 plus interest for the estate of Ms. King. Respondent's appeal to the Second District Court of Appeals was rejected as untimely.