On September 18, 1994, the St. Petersburg Times published letters from Palm Harbor, Florida, lawyers Frank and Judy Spees, and many of their supporters. Here is the Spees' response to Final Indignities.
We want to thank our clients, friends and other readers of the Times who have offered their support. Your unanimously positive response has restored our faith in the basic intelligence of newspaper readers. We never knew we had so many friends and fans!
We stand proudly upon our excellent reputation in the community. Jeff Good, the reporter who wrote the editorial, told Frank he checked with every Bar association we are a part of and verified that there have been no complaints of any kind against us in a combined 25 years of lawyering. When our clients saw the editorial, scores of them spontaneously called to serve as references.
Out of the mouths of babes: The other day, one of our three public school children asked, "What does the living trust do anyway?" We said, "It makes it so you don't have to go to court when someone dies."
She said, "What's so bad about going to court?" We said, "Mainly it costs a lot of money and takes a lot of time."
Florida law provides that probate attorneys can be paid 2 percent of the gross estate plus an hourly rate (probably at least $150 per hour), plus possible "extraordinary" fees. Florida law also provides that personal representatives (executors) are paid 3 percent of the gross estate. Other problems with probate are simultaneous probates in every state in which you own property, family friction, publicity, court hearings and dealing with lawyers.
The living trust: We believe in the living trust as the best type of probate reform. The best book on the subject is The Living Trust, by Henry Abts III. You'll find it in your library and at your bookstore. On the average, a living trust with all associated documents costs around $500. We encourage every Times reader who has had a positive experience with the living trust or a negative experience with probate to write to your elected state officials and tell them to keep living trusts out of court.
Frank and Judy Spees, living trust attorneys, Palm Harbor, Florida
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