Lynn Dean was our lawyer a long time ago. She made my fathers will and trust as well as mine and my…read more(now) ex husband. We LOVED Lynn. Since the last time we needed Seasons, Lynn has retired and I feel like I was thrown to the wolfs.
My father was diagnosed with Dementia. I am his POA/Trustee/beneficiary..... I contacted them to see what I needed to do to get the ball rolling on a very very very tough situation. I got the letters of capacity, and the things I needed so that they could help me with the legal aspects of this situation.
On the day of my appointment, I was very emotional. I was literally declaring that my father was not able to make his own decisions anymore, at 66. I was exhausted mentally from the entire situation. I came a few minutes early and was taken a few minutes after 10. I was "given" to someone whom I would equate to as doctor with absolutely no bedside manners at all, Jenny Peake. She had no idea why I was there. Completely unprepared for our meeting. Asked me "what was going on" and twice, asked me if my father "was dead". This made me defensive and even more upset. I thought it was very unprofessional that she clearly didn't understand why I was there, and when I asked her if she had ever dealt with something like what I was going through, she said "nope". It was such a weird, and unprofessional interaction, I feel like she is in the wrong line of lawyering.... or needs to take a sensitivity class.
She left the room and after about 10 minutes Tracy came in. She asked me "what was going on" and I unloaded. I was mentally drained from everything, and Jenny, was absolutely no help. She explained what needed to be done. We got all the paperwork done (this was a Thursday) and all I needed to do was call back with my fathers SSN and they could get a Tax ID number and they would get that done because according to Tracey, it was apparently easier and cheaper for them to do it for me. I left about 11:20 with all the documents and had spoken to Tracy for probably 25 minutes of that time.
I called back that Monday with his SSN number, she said I would hear back that day or the next..... 2, 3, 4, days went by, nothing. I call back and remind them, on Friday..... nothing. The following week, I call twice... nothing. The next week I demand to speak to Tracy. She get's on the phone and makes her excuses, and had a slight attitude with me for being so demanding to speak with her, after she NEVER called me back. She makes me feel bad for taking the time to do what she told me she was going to do, and sent me a follow up email and we're done. A few weeks later I receive a bill from her for $857. $600 of which are not itemized at all.
I took the bill to another very reputable, estate attorney that I know and showed him all the documents they created. He stated that he thought their bill was poorly itemized and that his bill for the same documents/time would be at least $200 less than what she charged me. I wanted to dispute it, but he said that since it was less than $1000 it would probably not be worth it. As well, he asked me if she had explained my responsibilities within my new capacity, and other important things within this new, scary role, and she hadn't. He gave me a free consultation explaining what she should have, but didn't, to ensure that I was in full understanding of this/these role/s (as there are many roles and they differ).
So, my fathers trust will be sending them the payment of $857 and I will be doing my business elsewhere. It's such a shame that this office has changed so much in regards to professionalism, communication, and understanding of hard situations. I would never recommend this office to anyone.
