The Suffolk County surrogate has ruled that a $590,000 legal fee was reasonable, finding the risks for the attorney handling a dispute over a will were staggering and the time spent on legal services is not a controlling factor.
"Time spent has been referred to as the least important factor in determining legal fees," Surrogate John Czygier (See Profile) wrote in Matter of the Estate of Jo D. Talbot, 215 P 2006/C. "Attorneys can sometimes recover much more than an hourly rate would produce, but in determining the reasonableness of such fees courts should not be preoccupied with the ratio of fees to hours or time spent."
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