Steve C Taylor Law Offices

For the simple task of updating the agent for my Power of Attorney (POA) I hired the lawyer at the Portsmouth branch of the offices of Steve Taylor (recently re-designated as the Alliance Legal Group), providing the legal team there with my existing POA, the changes needed, and the required fees ($100.00 total) for the new POA.



Maybe I should have expected the uncaring, sloppy service I received, since I had recently encountered several problems updating my will there. Thinking those difficulties may not have been typical, I gave them another try. But their handling of the POA turned out to be worse.



Problems:



1) In addition to pasting my name into a document pulled from a "standard" file which they obviously did not proofread, they did not listen to the concerns I returned to discuss.



2) One of my concerns was a statement about changing "realty into personality and vice-versa." When asked what that meant, the response was: "I don't know. That's just a statement in our standard POA." My followup question was that if even the lawyers don't know the meaning, why include the statement? No response. Apparently there is something sacred about the clauses in their "standard POA." They certainly don't want to make any changes.



3) The procedure for placing the POA into effect was explained; but another problem I saw was that although reversing the POA was mentioned in the final paragraph, the procedure for doing so was not described. I asked for clarification of that process, along with two other minor changes (points #4 and 5 as follow).



4) Change the requirement for "a physician" to "two physicians" so that two physicians' certifications would be required to place the POA into effect.



5) Change the word "financial" to the word "business" to make the final paragraph agree with the descriptions in the rest of the POA.



I was told that to make these changes would cost another $50.00! To clarify wordings in a "standard POA" and make two substitutions? I disputed the additional charge, but to no avail.



Since they insisted on charging me, I instead left a note to stop the process; saying I would accept a refund of whatever amount was appropriate. I realize the consultation fee of $50.00 is normally non-refundable, so I expected a refund of the other $50.00 paid to process the POA. They disagreed. In response to my request I was told that no refund was due, since "as far as we're concerned the job is complete."



How can they say "the job is complete"? I see an underlying arrogance in that statement. The job would be complete if corrections were made, if the lawyer, myself, and the witnesses met for reviewing, signing, and notarizing the paperwork, and if I received the completed, signed, notarized copies of the Power of Attorney: the process for which I had already paid.



I have now contacted the local main office of the Alliance Legal Group, hoping they might take action to correct this situation. In the meantime, I STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST going to the Portsmouth branch of the law offices of the Alliance Legal Group for your legal needs.