The Snyder Value Match
Attorney’s Fees and Probate/Trust Administration
Fee Match For Estates*
Value.
We understand the importance of value. We particularly recognize that “smaller” estates deserve value and depth of experienced legal service as much as larger ones. We also know that many “larger” situations may similarly be fairly charged without hourly or estate-size based pricing. To us, value means a fixed attorney’s fee and more.
To encourage you to obtain value in your choice, we invite you to see what is out there. Get a feel for the personalities you might work with in lawyer and staff. Inquire of the depth and breadth of service that is delivered, and especially how the lawyer delivers what the law views as Ordinary Services to the fiduciary. Then, compare to us and what we deliver as Ordinary Services.
Fee Match-“The Snyder Value Match”: Service Value at a Competitive Fixed Fee.
Fees are an important factor when selecting your lawyer. However, what if during your decision you could instead concentrate solely upon the relative value you receive, and the “fit” you feel from your potential legal team? If, before you hire me, you have an offer for representation elsewhere from an attorney with at least ten years’ experience in the law of wills, trusts and estates and their administration (probate), I will match that attorney’s fixed (not hourly) fee for Ordinary Services if my team and relative value for services delivered match your desire (“The Snyder Value Match”).
The Snyder Value Match does not apply to costs where applicable such as court filing charges, publication charges, appraisals, charges of other hired professionals, postage, toll, delivery and similar expenses and administrative items that are not considered compensation for attorney’s time and/or services.
All that will be needed for The Snyder Value Match is a copy of the other firm’s/lawyer’s proposed representation/engagement letter to you (or other written proposal for your case) that states their fixed attorney’s fee for Ordinary Services in your matter.*
Why Us-Compare Service not Attorney’s Fees.
As with most any legal service, the fiduciary will have choices in a lawyer to represent them, the services received, and attorney’s fees paid. The Snyder Value Match is my way to take lawyer’s fees for probate and trust administration out of your decision process so you can ask the important questions and choose the “fit” that is right for you.
Being in charge of a Probate and/or Trust administration is an important job in the eyes of the law. The law treats the responsibility, a fiduciary one, as being of high honor and duty. This means that even a seemingly “innocent” error can result in personal financial responsibility to the estate and/or trust you handle and its beneficiaries. There are many “Dos” and “Don’ts” for which an experienced attorney and staff is the fiduciary’s set of “eyes and ears” to those rules and staying “safe” in the job.
Will you be given advice, given a list of things to do and sent on your way to do them? Or will your lawyer use his/her years of experience to do the leg work, make the calls, write the letters, fill out the forms (even those that may not pay to the estate or a trust under it such as life insurance, annuities and IRAs), set the appointments, interact with 3rd parties on your behalf, access the back offices and legal departments that may apply to your situation, capitalize on rules favorable to your facts after helping you weigh pros and cons, and otherwise truly shepherd you in and out of your job’s responsibilities without overshadowing your “real job(s)” of family and profession? Will you be at the whim of communication, or will your attorney keep you in the loop, and make strategic updates to beneficiaries on your behalf as fiduciary, even during inevitable “slow” points of the legal process?
The Snyder Value Match is aimed to keep you focused on the important difference in your choice: The lawyer and the service of his/her team.
*The Snyder Value Match: Is not an agreement to be your lawyer.
The Snyder Value Match is not an agreement of representation, nor is it a promise to handle your situation. The Snyder Value Match is a policy to deliver a competitive fixed attorney’s fee and to deliver value based upon what services I include in Ordinary Services in relative comparison if an agreement is established between us. Only a written agreement will create a lawyer/client relationship with me. Written agreements depend upon mutual timing and availability, lack of conflicts of interest and other similar factors at the time of the proposed representation.
