lawyer fee dispute

[momjd]

I am a newly admitted Florida attorney. 2 years ago, when I first moved to Florida from NY, my sister and I consulted an attorney to probate my mother's will. At the time, I had no knowledge of Florida probate procedure, nor Florida's homestead laws. The lawyer told us in no uncertain terms that he could probate my mother's NY will in Florida through a summary administration. The only asset my mother owned was her home which would be left in equal shares to her children. The attorney, who told us he was familiar with the homes in my mother's subdivision estimated its worth at $150k. We paid him $1500 to probate my mother's will. The summary administration was rejected because the home was valued over the $75K threshold amount allowed for summary administration. Once I started studying for the FLorida bar several months later, I learned that there was no way my mother's will could be probated through summary administration. I am now a new Florida attorney and will now handle probate myself. The attorney will not refund any of the $1500 paid to him. I verily believed we were mislead by this attorney and I would like to file a complaint against him and/or take him to small claims court to recover the $1500. There was no signed retainer agreement, only our verbal agreement for him to probate my mother's estate for $1500. Is it worth taking this guy to small claims court or should i chalk this up as an expensive lesson to get everything in writing?

 

[seniorjudge]

Q: I verily believed we were mislead by this attorney and I would like to file a complaint against him and/or take him to small claims court to recover the $1500.

A: Do both.