Ogden Murphy Wallace PLLC

I hired Wendy Goffe of Ogden Murphy Wallace for a written opinion regarding my father-in-law’s Washington estate tax filing after his wife passed away. As my in-laws had recently moved to Washington, we were unfamiliar with the local rules and simply needed to know if we were required to file a return or pay tax. If a filing was required, we intended to use a CPA at a fraction of Wendy’s $830 hourly rate; however, we specifically sought a law firm because CPAs typically do not provide written opinions on exemptions. Our engagement consisted of a 45-minute phone call followed by an email that was half summary and half unsolicited strategies for reducing future tax liabilities. Despite our specific request for a written opinion, the firm’s paralegal began an extension—even though we had over six months left to file—and started requesting date-of-death valuations. Due to this misalignment, I terminated the engagement and requested a final bill. The initial invoice was over $2,200. After I contacted a managing partner to dispute the charges, $200 for the paralegal's work was removed, leaving a total of $2,075 for what amounted to information I later found more clearly explained through AI. This firm appears very focused on billable hours rather than sticking to the client's specific scope of work.