Ask 2 Lawyers: What if I Can’t Afford an Attorney?

What if I can't afford an attorney well I am this is a problem for everybody it doesn't matter how much money you make nobody likes paying lawyer fees but let's say that you're in a position where you simply just don't have any reserves you can't hire a lawyer well there's two ways to look at that one would be to try to find a very young lawyer that's just starting out you and I were there one time and we took a lot of cases where we agreed to be paid on the back end of cases so you can do that of course you're gonna be with a newer lawyer keep in mind new or lawyers they can be very good because they are very excited about the case and they research the law and and so they're they're up to speed on what they're supposed to be doing whereas some of us older lawyers were relying on our experience and maybe we forgot the statute was updated or something along those lines so you can get good representation from a young inexperienced lawyer that is driven and wants to do well and they'll have some alternative payment arrangements for you more than likely the other way to hire a firm that's more experienced is to possibly look at some type of a contingency fee agreement that's not fun in these context of cases these accounting cases but if you do find that the trustee was stealing money the trustee was mismanaging assets to the tune of losses of several hundred thousands of dollars then it's gonna be worth every penny to hire a lawyer on a contingency fee basis to come in what are your thoughts about that I mean I first of all I think experience counts so I think you're right there you certainly could find a younger lawyer who could do a good job for you but I think what they're lacking and what I was lacking as a young lawyer and maybe you - I don't know but experience counts being around the block know understanding having a gut reaction for how to handle the different situations is important and there's value there and so I would prefer to find a more experienced attorney who knows what they're doing in this area you want a specialist this is a you know what we do here is a specialty it's it's like specialty doctor you know you want somebody who's an orthopedist not just a general doctor if you need that sort of help but trying to litigate cases in court is very pricey and it just is and so either you have to out of your own pocket which can be very difficult for beneficiaries because most of them haven't received their money yet out of the trust that's why they're coming to see us because they're having a problem and that's where contingency comes in handy because it's such an easy way for beneficiary to get representation when they otherwise wouldn't and so we use a lot of different type of contingency arrangements we try to customize the fit for the client so that it works well for the client in the case it depends on the type of case and all that but there's always a way to figure these things out obviously if if beneficiaries we're getting everything that they were entitled to without having to go to court that's the perfect world that's the way it should work and it probably does work that that way with a number of trusts we don't see those that's right we only see the problems that's right the contestant matters where you have a trustees refusing to follow up the terms of the trust or absconded with trust funds and doing bad things so you either have to hire a lawyer and stand up for yourself or not and if you can't afford to pay for a lawyer then I think contingency is a great way to go to be able to enforce your rights you still get good representation absolutely hi Albertson and Davidson is here to help you fight for your inheritance check out al dev law comm for our complete library of helpful legal videos and articles from your favorite California trusts and we'll litigation law firm Albertson and Davidson LLP.