James Edward Meason

Mr. Meason offered a free consultation that was mostly spent delivering his presentation, even though that was not what I was there for. I came for help with a TODI, which I knew I could do myself, but I had a few questions about. My long-term Atty was in the process of retiring and I had not yet met... with her replacement so I did not want to bother her with something that I thought was pretty standard. At the end of the consultation, I was able to state that I was there because I wanted to know if I could leave one of my properties to my three minor grandchildren or whether it would need to be in a trust on the TODI. He stated no one had asked him that before, but said to list the three grandchildren on the TODI and get that filed, then we could figure out what the next steps were later on.I was in a bit of a hurry as I was leaving on a road trip and wanted to get this resolved prior, and had said a couple of times to him that I knew I could file this on my own as I already had a template and knew the fee for recording was $54, but he said he could do all of that for me, and they were very prompt as they got that done the next day. However, at no point did the receptionist or Mr.Meason discuss the fees which ended up to be $900 for something I could’ve done for $108. Afterwards, when questioned about this he stated “Well it was on the initial demographics form I completed.” It was at the very bottom and did not clearly explain what I would be billed for at the end of my session. And yes, I know I should’ve asked. He started to write down my grandchildren‘s names, but I corrected him in the spelling, and he verified by repeating it back. When they had me come in to sign off at the reception desk the next day, I asked to see the entire document rather than just the signature page and that’s when I discovered the names had been misspelled. Later, he said I must’ve misspelled them because he was following his handwritten notes. My longtime Atty carved some time out for me the next day as I was still uneasy about listing minors on the TODI and she recommended not to file that, as there were several ramifications that Mr. Meason had not discussed with me. Unfortunately, he had already filed. He stated he’d be more than happy to retract that but he would charge me for that. That same follow up phone call, he started off by saying I was very rude to his receptionist. Mind you, I was upset and stated things factually and directly, but I did not raise my voice nor did I use any inappropriate language, and I thanked her for helping me when she put me on a brief hold. However, I did follow up and left a voicemail apology to her. But then he went on to tell me not to interrupt him that he was would be talking and when he got done, then I could talk. As I mentioned, he is not a listener. So my concerns, summarized: Critical errors/misspelled names on a legal document Fees not discussed Not listening to his clients needs and verifying his understanding of those Recommending and proceeding on actions, without clear explanation of ramifications. On the positive side, they were able to get things done very quickly.

Jim Meason is by far the worst attorney I've ever encountered in over 20 years in the real estate business. On a $67,000 property that was a cash purchase he charged my $1000 because I was an out of state buyer which was a high fee on average for attorneys in that area, but I obliged. I put down $100...0 as an earnest money deposit through Mr. Meason and paid him his $1000 fee as well. The home inspection revealed that the home was in no condition to be sold, so I instructed Jim to void the contract and return me my earnest money deposit. For that alone he charges me $1525.00 and returns me only $475.00 of my earnest money deposit. He charged over 1500 dollars for a house that he didn't even have to close on after he initially stated that his fee is usually 500 dollars but this time would be 1000 because I was an out of state buyer. Mind you this was all within a 2 week period. Its not like he had to do much more than send a few emails and make a few phone calls and get my earnest money returned to me. He is horrible at getting back to his clients in a timely manner, sometimes taking more than 3 business days to respond and never picks up his phone. He is a con man....do yourself the favor and stay away from him unless you have money to be scammed out of.