I helped my uncle in a consultant/claims adjuster way deal with his commercial real estate attorney. Over the past year and a half I have spent at least twice the amount of time on this case than his actual attorney. While my uncle said he was going to “take care” of me at the end. They mediated and settled over a month and a half ago. When I finally called him and asked about compensation he said it was family advice and didn’t want to pay me. Any advice on getting paid? He recovered 70k.

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I think you’re SOL and this is why it never helps to give family members representation beyond superficial advice.

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Take this one on the chin and move on. If he or other family members ask for advice again, tell them that if they really support you, they’ll pay your rate.

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I think at this point I’m really just venting. We had a somewhat heated conversation where I asked for money and we actually agreed on a fair price, but it’s been two weeks since then and he has not mailed the check or responded to my text messages. During the convo he made comments along the lines of me being a greedy lawyer stereotype or I was some how betraying him. I honestly was at a loss of words because I felt I could say the same about him. My immediate family supports me in this and I make good money at my law firm job that this payday would not make or break me. I just feel like my kindness was taken advantage of. I regularly do work for friends and family for free, 2 or 3 hours here and there, but this was over a year and a half with like at least 5-6 hours every month.

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Gotta love people who don’t pay and call professionals selfish for not rolling over. What a jerk, maybe it’s good riddance. You now know that this isn’t someone to do business with.

Unfair of uncle not to give you anything, even if no formal contract. I’d remind him of the value you provided and time you spent helping him. Compare what you did to uncle’s own attorney. Hopefully he has a heart and throws you a bone. If not, just take the L, but be hesitant the next time he asks for “family advice”, because he will ask again.

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Under what circumstances did you start reaching into his case? Is there a contract between you and your uncle? Was he unjustly enriched by your services? Do you want to sue him?

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Lesson learned. You should limit or almost never mix the three F’s: family, friends and finances. I’d probably add partners/spouses to that too, but didn’t have a clever F nomenclature for them. Given there isn’t a written agreement, it may be tough to prove a contract if your uncle decides to dispute he ever asked for your help. State law will decide whether you have an enforceable oral agreement and without knowing what state you’re in it’s hard to say. As everyone said, take the L and move on resolving never to step in and help family again. Especially since you don’t want to sue and are simply looking to commiserate. Luckily, I don’t live in the same state as my extended family. I have a hard and fast rule of never personally helping them with legal matters. I blame it on not being licensed in their state. I helped my family on a probate/estate matter in my state once. It took a ton of time, energy and was awfully stressful. There was also in-fighting amongst family members and I had to play mediator, which never helps. After that, I made it a point to tell them I would never assist anyone in any state. I now connect them with local lawyers and have never been happier. G’luck in the future!

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No, no contract or anything like that and I’m definitely not going to sue him even if he refuses to pay me anything. I’m just looking to see if anyone has dealt with the same situation. I definitely provided significant value. His attorney was highly experienced but also tried to play a lot of games to draw out the suit so he could charge more. I also did a ton of research and was heavily involved in the strategizing. I was on every telephone call, at every meet and cc’d on every email. We also had phone calls before and after each communication with his attorney. It was honestly exhausting but I felt obligated to help him through it. If it makes any difference my uncle is objectively highly sophisticated and wealthy. So it’s not like he doesn’t have the cash to spare.

Your uncle may be wealthy and highly sophisticated but he's a bum.

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I think everyone here can feel your pain and understand that this is why you should never do business with family.

It also underscores the importance of having an engagement letter signed before doing as much as raising an eyebrow.

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