Dear Customer (name blocked for privacy),

Thank you for the additioanl information.

I need to give it to you straight.

First of all, I understand where you are comming from. The verbal exclamation or aside could be considered in court an amendment or condition to the written retainer, if a written retainer exists. If a written retainer exists, then the words stated in writing as well as the verbal part can be taken as a whole to represent the contract.

So from a strict contract perspective, he is well within his rights to retain the entire amount. Netiher of you is at fault that the client passed away before the court representation could be complete. Had the state wished to pursue the case in your father's death, the attorney would have still be obligated to defend the case.

This leaves you with a position of questioning the spirit and intent of the contract. Each contract or retainer carries with it an expectation of the level of service. When someone says it is non-refundable it can mean that no matter what the outcome of the court, it is a non-refundable. In otherwards, there is no gaurantee of success in court.

However one would expect a full range of services and representation. So from that perspective, you could be entitled to some reimbursment or fullfillment of services, even if it is posthumously performed. A dead persons reputation can be cleared after his death.

So based on that you could have a case in small claims court to recover a portion of the fees. However, I do not think you have a strong case and cannot gaurantee a win for you.

The Texas state bar association provides an excellent outline o fthe small claims process and filing procedures. View them at: http://www.co.bexar.tx.us/jp/jp2/Small_Claims/small_claims.htm