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My lawyer charged me $800 for a simple email and I'm still mad about it
I was trying to get a quick answer about splitting our retirement account, so I sent my attorney a short email. Two weeks later, I got a bill for $800, which was a full hour of his time. The email reply was three sentences long and basically said 'talk to a financial advisor.' I felt totally taken. Has anyone else been hit with a huge bill for something that felt like nothing?
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evan_davis3mo ago
Did you ask for an estimate before you sent that email? I've learned the hard way that lawyers will bill for every thought that passes through their head, so now I always ask "roughly how much will it cost to answer X question?" before I hit send. In your case, an hour does sound steep for a three sentence reply, but unfortunately that's how many attorneys work - they bill in minimum increments, often 0.25 or 0.5 hours, so a ten minute read gets rounded way up. Next time, try asking if they can give a flat fee answer or a capped amount for quick questions like this.
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