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Edmonds lawyer Sally J. Murray (WSBA No. 24851, admitted June 20, 1995) has been disbarred by order of the Supreme Court effective January 11, 1999. The discipline is based upon her charging an excessive fee, failing to return the unearned portion of a non-refundable retainer; failing to diligently represent her clients; and failing to comply with a court order.
Ms. Murray agreed to draft a will for her client’s terminally ill brother. Ms. Murray told the client that she had been in practice for four years, but had only actually been licensed for two and one-half years. Ms. Murray drafted the will, and the brother signed two days before he died. Ms. Murray’s client was appointed executor of her brother’s estate. The estate consisted of $900,000, mostly in bank accounts. One account, with a balance of $250,000, was held by the client and the brother as joint tenants with right of survivorship (JTWRS account). Ms. Murray advised her client that the assets in that account would pass to her outside probate and would not be subject to federal estate taxes. Excluding this account, the estate was worth more than $600,000 and subject to federal estate taxes.
Ms. Murray told her client that the customary fee for probating an estate was 10 percent of the estate assets, but that she would take this case for 5 percent, or $30,000. Ms. Murray did not prepare a written fee agreement or explain to the client that any portion of this fee was non-refundable. The client did not know that this was not the customary fee for a probate, and gave Ms. Murray two checks, one for $28,000 for legal fees and another $2,000 for costs. Ms. Murray deposited the $2,000 check into her trust account and the $28,000 check into another account.
Ms. Murray advised her client that to avoid federal estate tax, the client should write Ms. Murray an additional check for $15,000, the amount subject to estate tax if the JTWRS account was included. Ms. Murray explained that she would place these funds in her trust account, and then return them to the client later. The client wrote this additional check and Ms. Murray deposited it in her trust account. Including this check, Ms. Murray collected $45,000 from the client. During this same time period, Ms. Murray had not obtained non-intervention powers, obtained an order of solvency, published notice to creditors, or given notice to the heirs. RCW 11.48.210 requires an order of solvency and an order granting non-intervention powers prior to collecting a fee from the estate, unless the fee is approved by court order.
Christine Gray represented the Bar Association. Ms. Murray represented herself.
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