<p>I’m confused too. Whose goodwill are you trying to maintain, the neighbor’s or the lawyer’s? And who might be resentful down the road, the neighbor or the lawyer? If the neighbor is much more financially secure than you are, why can’t they pay their own legal bill?</p>
<p>Does the neighbor even KNOW that a bill was sent to you? Maybe that is where you should start. This could be an honest mistake…the lawyer might have “assumed” you were going to pay a portion of this (stupid on his part if he didn’t have a contract with you). The neighbors contracted with him. Any bills are theirs.</p>
<p>I could use a good will gesture too:)</p>
<p>Okay, I think you guys have beaten me down. 
I will tell H that we should say we can’t “do” anything. Hopefully he will pay attention to me. Since you find me so pathetically naive, I know it will astonish you to no end to hear that H’s first reaction was to “split the bill three ways” between us, the neighbor, and the atty, and pay almost $1,000!! </p>
<p>I said no way in hell to that one. :D</p>
<p>I would point out that AFAIK no one who actually IS a lawyer seems to think that paying out of pocket costs creates an obligation on our part, though…</p>
<p>My change of heart is perhaps influenced by the death of our dishwasher late this week…and a new one costs about $500. :)</p>
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<p>Dumb one here…what does THAT mean?</p>
<p>Thumper1: “as far as I know”</p>
<p>Why don’t you ask the neighbor and/or lawyer to chip in on the cost of your new dishwasher? That way your dishes will sparkle in the window when people drive down the driveway :)</p>
<p>Love Jym’s suggestion. Send the lawyer a bill for your dishwasher and if he asks why reply “we were just wondering what we felt we could do.”.</p>
<p>Thank you NewHope, glad to see my point is taken. But as for my example, in my case I didn’t contract the services of an atty, but instead contracted the services of a roofer. I’m sure he’d like good will gestures, too!
Thanx again, NH, nice of you to respond.</p>
<p>To Consolation, I don’t know that anyone here has said making a good will payment to the atty “creates an obligation”(post 63). Some have said a goodwill payment to the attorney is misdirected, and some have indicated it could create the appearance of accepting an obligation. There lies a serious distinction. If their atty ever took you to court over this bill, of course your defense is that you don’t owe anything and you were wrongfully billed. But then, any judge would ask you why you made a payment if you felt you were wrongfully billed. An answer that you didn’t owe anything, but wanted to send a good will payment to an atty that had wrongfully billed you, would strain credibility. Not saying it isn’t true, but saying it wouldn’t seem true. In my experience, most people do not send money to people that wrongfully bill them. And that payment could create the appearance of an obligation and could cost you more money.</p>
<p>I understand where Consolation is coming from on this. If she doesn’t contribute toward the out of pocket costs for this transaction, presumably either the neighbor pays or the atty eats the cost. Both of them are people that they don’t want to alienate. Her H is in business, and a small contribution could buy a lot of goodwill that he may not want to lose. </p>
<p>To me, this is different from paying the atty for the unauthorized work, because some entity (county, city, etc) actually required these fees for the transaction to go through. That’s why I suggested she get actual receipts for amounts paid - these are expenses you may be able to deduct now or at some point, and you want to make sure the payments are for the true amount, and not the lawyer’s creative bookkeeping amount.</p>
<p>because some entity (county, city, etc) actually required these fees for the transaction to go through
Surveyors -vary in price just like any service.
For example- my neighbor was putting in a new garage this summer & I thought it was way too close to the lot line- he didn’t get a survey done, because the estimate he was given was way over his budget & he didn’t think it would matter.</p>
<p>I arranged for the survey of our own lot ( inc the shared line) and our price was half of what his estimate was. ( he was also doing extensive remodeling & perhaps they thought he could afford it)</p>
<p>Incidentally, he had to alter his plans for the garage.</p>
<p>FWIW, when we purchased our home our attorney advised us to get a survey done, and we did. It turned out that a large portion of the fenced in back yard is actually owned by the electric company, which has a large right-of-way behind our property.</p>
<p>Our lawyer then negotiated a $20K price reduction from the seller, who apparently was unaware that the fence was so far off the property line. (They were the first owners of the home and the builder apparently just stuck the fence up wherever.)</p>
<p>I would never buy another property without getting a fresh survey done.</p>
<p>On the OP’s original question, I wouldn’t pay it either. Although if the neighbor came to me to negotiate I might chip in some money if he asked nicely.</p>
<p>But isn’t that just a normal cost of doing business, Fauxmom?(para 1 post 69). The neighbor SHOULD be the one paying the costs. The neighbor is the one that hired the service.
If my roofer finds more damage than he saw at first, then isn’t that additional cost either my bill or the roofer’s? Why would it become my neighbor’s bill? I’m the one that contracted the roofer. Even if my roofer has receipts for his additional costs, isn’t it still my debt? Won’t the atty bill the neighbor(who hired his services) for all the costs of his services?
Or in Jym’s example, if while replacing the dw, we find plumbing issues, why would that be the neighbor’s bill?</p>
<p>I saw this thread earlier and just did a fast catch-up. Hope I am getting the gist.
Some thoughts. You can’t prove a phone conversation. That’s why you send a letter. And, you cc your own attorney, to show you have counsel available. You can still send the letter after the conversation-- this letter will serve as a confirmation of our conversation on xxx, in which I stated we did not contract for your services and require an explanation of the origin of these charges-- whatever. You make your initial position clear- you will not simply pay because someone sent you a bill. [I got a college loan bill 20 years later and insisted they document that it was never paid- and they (a coll agy) had the blls to try to say, we sent you a bill, that’s all the proof you need. Ha.]</p>
<p>You can be nice- and official- about asking for a clarification. I’d ask for some legal reference- under what circumstances is another involved party responsible for expenses incurred on behalf of the party who originally sought this atty’s services?</p>
<p>It is entirely possible the atty is simply trying to “get what he can” out of this-- hoping OP will pay something and the atty benefits. </p>
<p>And last- I might be tempted to politely inquire, in the letter, if this is a standard practice in the area, something the local legal assn endorses. You don’t fling down a gauntlet, you act informed. Informed of the fact that there are shysters out there, but phrased reasonably.</p>
<p>I would never pay “something” to hope the problem goes away. Sorry, but I saw too many scams sent my MIL’s way, when she was a sweet old lady.</p>
<p>younghoss,
I agree with your premise, the neighbor is responsible for his/her lawyer fees.
Your exampled do not show benefit to the neighbor.
A better example:
I am having yardwork done and find my fence needs repair.
The cause of the damage is a limb of my neighbor’s tree pushing my fence out of alignment.
I ask my neighbor for permission to trim the branch,and she agrees.
I pay the landscaping service for work I negotiate, my neighbor benefits from the tree trimming service.</p>
<p>I just have to ask…how many of you are in the habit of paying bills you receive for services you did NOT request or contract for? I am not one who does this. If I had received this bill, I would have sent it back with a letter saying “I received this bill in error. I have not ever contracted with you for any services.”</p>
<p>Leave the neighbor out of it…the lawyer sent you the bill…not the neighbor. Just state the facts…tell him you didn’t contract with him and this bill is in errors. Let HIM figure out where the money is going to come from. I think he’s fishing.</p>
<p>The second line inthis quote from the OP’s conversation with the attorney is still sticking in my craw
This is where I agree with thumper that the attorney is fishing. For all you know, the attorney could be double-billing, trying to claim he provided this one service for two different people. While I agree that the issue is between the attorney and the OP, I have to wonder if the neighbor was aware that his/her attorney is trying to bill the OP for these services and could be double-dipping. That would be smarmy.</p>
<p>I strongly doubt that the atty is double-dipping or inflating the costs. I know that the appraisal required by one of our banks, which is the biggest chunk of the out-of-pocket costs, did indeed cost $300, because that is the figure they quoted to me. </p>
<p>In any case, H told me he spoke to the atty and said we would cover the out-of-pocket costs only, and only as a goodwill geture. Atty said something to the effect that he would take the offer back to the neighbor/inform the neighbor. Not sure of the exact wording, since I’m getting it second hand. Of course, the neighbor is incurring additional legal fees by doing this, but that is his problem. We are not going to budge.</p>
<p>Get it in writing.
Never trust a conversation. A conversation can be rememembered differently by two parties, with no way to determine whose version is correct. Imagine a partner later coming back and saying, nope, I have no record of that. At least, you send the letter, “confirming our conversation,” with details. Then you have some record. Ask for confirmation back from the atty.</p>
<p>There are many subtleties to when a partial payment implies a full commitment. I believe that, ordinarily, the promise to pay the full cost has to be clearly stated. But, diff aplications for different sorts of debt. Again, a letter clarifies your position. Send it certified, keep a copy.</p>
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<p>Ugh, that rubs me the wrong way. Like he’s saying he/the neighbors might not “accept” this offer? This seems really odd to me.</p>
<p>Agree with both above. This is not negotiable. You are making a good will contribution to the costs. If the attorney charges your neighbor for his time in talking to your husband, that feels like churning the bill to me. I would also write “complete and final payment” on the front and back of the check, and indicate in you letter that cashing the check constitutes acceptance of this as complete and final payment. It shouldn’t matter, but its an extra layer of protection.</p>