Finding a lawyer you can count on is way harder than it should be. After the long-time lawyer/family friend I used for everything died, I have been through the biggest list of total incompetents possible, including:

* A guy who screwed up two deeds on rehab property...been tied up in court for three years and cost me missed sales and over $50,000.00.

* A guy who was paid to finish a 501(C) application over three years ago, and "is about to get it ready".

* A guy who sold the family a Revocable Living Trust package (actually, just "sweat-shop" down loadable forms) for $7500 and hadn't even put all the Trust assets in the name of the Trust four years later.

* A guy I knew from one of my playing venues...an ex IRS attorney,who wanted to go to his favorite restaurant to talk about breaking the Revocable Living Trust-our first consultation. I bought lunch. Three weeks later, I got a bill for $562.50...his $375.00 an hour rate times 1 1/2 hours. He later neglected to list the names of two heirs on the documents he filed to break the trust.

Complete incompetents! there's a reason why lawyers are near the last in surveys about satisfaction indexes for various professional services.

How sad!


Russ