Complaints About Lawyers

Delay in Responding to Client Inquiries

This is probably the biggest gripe people have about attorneys. One tip: Don't hire an attorney who doesn't respond to your initial phone call quickly. Attorneys Jonathan Reed, Douglas Reed and Daniel Reed in this firm give you their cell phone numbers when you become a client.

Attorneys' Fees

There are typically two issues that arise regarding lawyer fees: How is the total charge calculated? Is the total charge reasonable?

Uncontested Probates

We understand the client would like to know up front what the total fees will be and for this reason we try our best to offer a flat fee option for uncontested probates. We work to be as transparent as possible about our fees which are available on our low fees for uncontested Nevada probates page and with these we believe we are one of the best high quality, low fee firms in Nevada. Contact us to find out what our fee would be for the particulars of your case.

Contested Probates

Contested probates run the risk of being a much longer, drawn out process and as such it is difficult to provide a flat fee and as such fall back to the traditional practice of an hourly fee. We are happy to discuss your specific case further and may be able to provide an estimate of what it may cost. Contact us if you would like to discuss your case further.

Timeshare Probate

We will do most timeshare probates (if they are uncontested) for a flat fee. For more information on costs and fees please see Probating A Timeshare.

Delay in Writing Checks Out of Attorney Trust Account

Waiting For Checks To Clear

In a probate case, a check is often deposited into the attorneys' trust account. The attorney is then required to write checks on this money to pay the client, creditors, and the attorney. In most instances the attorney needs to ensure the check has cleared before paying out, but unlike the past, banks will only offer time guidelines now based on the issuing bank and its location.

An attorney may take the risk and write the checks immediately if they feel the check is from a reputable business and decide its better business practice to pay the client immediately but if the check deposited into the attorney trust account bounces, the account now has a deficit. If the attorney immediately replaces the bounced check (or the amount that was written against the bounced check) with his or her own funds (or deposits that amount with the State Bar) at best the experience will be professionally embarrassing and financially painful to the attorney. If the attorney cannot provide security for the deficit in the attorney's trust account, the attorney will be in very big trouble with the State Bar.

Unhappy Client Situations

Clients naturally can get very upset when they feel that there is an unnecessary hold-up in writing them the promised check. Usually these unhappy client situations are caused by one of the following:

1. Client doesn't understand the need for the attorney to be sure that the check to the attorney trust account has cleared--this is the situation in the vast majority of cases, or
2. Attorney went on vacation and didn't make provisions for checks to be timely issued--this should never happen, but we have gotten complaints where we believe this is what happened, or
3. Very rarely, an attorney actually steals or "borrows" money from the trust account. This is highly illegal and often leads to the attorney being disbarred--not allowed to practice law anymore. The Nevada State Bar has a "client security fund" to provide complete or partial re-imbursement to clients in this situation.