Boston Bever Klinge Cross & Chidester Attys

Get it in writing!
So, I’m not the most trusting person. My mum was referred to Doug Oler, who practices from this office. She went to see him concerning a number of matters being that my dad had Alzheimer’s Disease. She really needed to transfer things into her name entirely since he could barely write his name on a good day.
She left the office exclaiming «He’s an idiot!» and later, received a charge for something – perhaps, the consultation.
After her death, those same issues still stood, as he had died and she had not found a way to deal with them otherwise.
I went to Doug Oler after multiple people told me that he was the best at Elder Law. I took my cousin’s wife with me, as being that it was a couple of weeks after my mum’s death, I hardly had my thoughts sorted.
We discussed the matters, including the transfer of my dad’s name on the property. I was suggested by people to mention that I wanted him to work on an hourly basis, so we brought that up and he said that he could show us both ways of billing. I should have got that in writing.
As this happened just before Thanksgiving 2011, getting it into the courts was going to be tricky. Rather than go to the trouble, he ignored it. A couple of weeks later, he had something for me to sign, to be submitted to the courts. I can only imagine that this was the documentation that he was supposedly going to submit ahead of Thanksgiving Day.
A few weeks later, I received an envelope from the firm with a copy of court documents, without an explanation. I’m no lawyer, are you? Should we, the average people understand the law? If I understood such things, why would I hire someone?
I mentioned it to my aunt, who called her friend at the courthouse, who looked into the matter. (Is that legal? Privacy, anyone?) The documents were meant to allow me to set up the estate account with the bank, transferring the money from the current accounts. Would a post-​it note saying «You can take these to the bank to set up the estate account.» have been helpful? That would have taken at least, 2 minutes, yes?
About tax time, the attorney called me and asked for documents relating to the bills, payments, etc. for the inheritance tax. He finished with the documents and I received a call that I could retrieve them. I got no copy of the tax return filing.
As things were to be finished just a few weeks ago, I was called into the office to sign more paperwork concerning the close of the estate and for payment. I signed the paperwork. He showed me the huge tax return, and highlighted the attorney’s fees.
What happened to showing me the hourly vs. standard pricing? I guess he forgot. He took roughly 25% of the original, available cash. Untouched, I suppose that would only be horrendous, but that I had to pay the funeral home, the bills, etc., that cash had dwindled quite a bit to where his percentage was more than half.
I’m not sure whether he was just forgetful – as he had to be reminded frequently by his secretary (who was probably doing most of the work anyway) – or it was because he was elderly, or perhaps, it was a willful disregard for the general population or me. I really don’t know but I feel even more uncomfortable about lawyers than I did when I started.