Home › Forums › Costa Rica Living Forum › Why can’t I find a good Costa Rican Attorney
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May 16, 2007 at 12:00 am #183533apexitMember
I am very frustrated haveing gone thru 6 or 7 attornies. I understand the systems are different to a point. I being a Wisconsinite understand the CR system is slow. The CR system must encourage everyone to go to Law School whether you have the ability or not. The language barrier I can overcome. I can find an attorney that has any creativity. 95% are there to Notarize forms and do all the routine items but anything out of that they become. They are very poor businessman, They also lack the skills of creativity, negotiations. I find they cannot think outside the box. I ask a bankruptcy question and they give you a stock answer but I will ask Did you ever handle a case and they say no.
Has anyone else had these frustrations?
Stanley PutraMay 16, 2007 at 1:52 pm #183534AndrewKeymasterWe must remember that there are two parts to this equation. 1. The client and 2. The attorney.
Not all attorneys want to do business with every potential client that walks through their door and after they have heard your story, perhaps they have all decided that this is not the kind of business that they want to handle.
I know many attorneys that will happily sit down with a new client to find out what they want and then decide that it’s too much work for too little reward and I understand that perfectly.
Please note that you will rarely find a Costa Rican attorney that says he doesn’t want to do business with you, if he or she does not want to do business with you they will either quote you an outrageous fee or give you answers that you don’t want to hear.
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comMay 16, 2007 at 2:33 pm #183535terrycookMemberHi, I have contacted to attorneys recommended on this site and have gotten cost (turn key) of well over $2000. I had read here of the cost being more like $800 range. Does anyone have a good idea of what one should really expect to pay…tax title and license as we say when your are buying a car.
thanks
Terry From TexasMay 16, 2007 at 2:35 pm #183536AndrewKeymaster$2,000 for what professional services exactly Terry?
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comMay 16, 2007 at 3:26 pm #183537terrycookMemberHi Scott…a flat fee of $1000.00 for Rentista then a bunch of add on coming up to 724.50. This was the folks you recommended and I have yet to re-contact them as I have been going through much stuff here. I am not totally sure that this is “all” the charges but I will follow up and see. I am involved in a condo. flip deal that may delay my move a month or so but I am definately coming
Terry From Texas…..a single man as of last FridayMay 16, 2007 at 3:27 pm #183538apexitMemberThere is a set fee in Peterson’s Book. I have a good attorney that charges $20 an hour or $95 a day. I figured that I wasn’t getting anything from the high price people. She is in San Jose She quoted me $300 for a Corporation. She doesn’t speak English very well but I figured for that price, I can certainly find a bilingual person. She is a fighter and doesn’t back down or become intimidated by other attorneys. Again buy Peterson’s Book from Scott. It is invaluable. Also buy Scott’s book How to buy Real Estate…..
The attorney’s name is Lorrena Villalobos email is mvillalobos@780tech.com 240-7307 phone cell 372-1413
single with several college age children. $20 per hour in San Jose
Stanley Putra
PS I don’t think you need an attorney to do the residency application. In fact I see that if I invest $200K in a project I can apply for investor residency status. Can someone remind me what benefit I would have?
My $20 per hour attorney answers in spanish and then I cheat using alta vista translations:
What such Don Stanley.? If I make all the proceedings, collection five hundred dollars by temporary residence, plus the expenses, that can be one hundred dollars. Until soon.Edited on May 16, 2007 11:33
Edited on May 16, 2007 12:56
Edited on May 16, 2007 17:48
Edited on May 16, 2007 17:49
May 16, 2007 at 3:37 pm #183539AndrewKeymasterThere are indeed set fees for many legal services provided by Costa Rican attorneys especially when it comes to real estate and estate planning but if I am not mistaken, there are no set fees for residency applications.
Please again remember that this is an awfully time consuming job for an attorney and because of that, many attorneys have stopped accepting this kind of business altogether.
On a side note, apart from Nidia Cordero (see her article at ), I don’t believe any of the attorneys we recommend on this site handle residencies at all although their colleagues may do so…
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comMay 16, 2007 at 3:47 pm #183540terrycookMemberScott, You are absolutely right in that I went to the “firm” you recomennded and indeed was given to one of the partnere or associates. I had already read te article you gave me a point to and may use that course depending on what happens. Which bood was that other post talking about and what is it about?
thanks
Terry From TexasMay 16, 2007 at 5:43 pm #183541maravillaMemberThat sounds about right for getting residency. There are lots of fees involved. If you’re not happy with who you contacted, try ResidencyinCostaRica.com and talk to Javier Zavaleta. He did my residency and that of 6 other friends, and we are all very happy. . . and. . . we’re legal residents now!
May 16, 2007 at 6:04 pm #183542terrycookMembermaravilla, that is exactly one of the two that I am talking to. thanks for the info I guess I will just gut it out and go for it. thanks again
be ther soon
Terry From TexasMay 16, 2007 at 6:29 pm #183543rf2crParticipantTerry,
I am not sure exactly what you expect, Javier did our residency for $1,800 for the two of us. His work included a great deal of jumping through hoops as I am a US Citizen, David English in the US on a Green Card. We married in England. As a result we had to work between Los Angeles & London Embassys – then in December we took all of the info, and Javiers sister spent a whole day driving us around SJ from the US Embassy to fingerprinting etc. etc. The documents were filed in March and should be completed in June. I would STRONGLY recommend using his services. I believe we paid a small amount over the fee for photographs for the SJ police department + cost of getting up to date documents from England, local police department and Los Angeles County for my birth certificate. His fees covered everything else.
Good Luck
May 16, 2007 at 8:22 pm #183544terrycookMemberHi rf2cr….I did get yor letter before(a few weeks ago)and that is what made me go to Javier I even uses your names as a referral. I just thought with all the effort he had to do for you mine is relatively simple and if 2 people was $1,800 I thought it would be much less for one simple deal. I thank you for the lead and that is my reason for asking
thanks
Terry From TexasMay 16, 2007 at 8:38 pm #183545CharlieMemberI have an attorney in CR , Marvin Wiernik, located in Escazu, he deals with immigration, and speaks English, deals with many North Americans. He responds by email and phone very quickly. You can email him at mwiernik@attorneyscw.com or his phone is 289-8576 office, 381-1595 cell, 231-5996 fax. He gave me permission to give out his info. Ref, by Charlie Quesada, I don’t get any $$ for ref. , so this isn’t a posting to promote a business, just giving info out to anyone that needs an English speaking immigration attorney.
May 16, 2007 at 9:22 pm #183546maravillaMemberJavier isn’t just anyone, if you haven’t figured that out yet. His mother was the CR consulate in LA; his sister is married to a judge. They have connections in all of the right places that are necessary to get your residency and they are very well respected! They are also lovely, entertaining, and professional people who will make your journey through the residency process a fun thing to do because they do everything FOR you and shepherd you through the bureaucrazy that is a nightmare at best if you don’t know what the hell you are doing. You only have to show up; they do everything else. I never waited in a line. I never had one single problem or SNAFU. The residency application process is not for the faint-hearted. I know people who have been working with some of the usual suspect lawyers for more than two years and they STILL don’t have their cedulas, while my little group of pals used Javier and now we are all legal residents. Bottomline is you get what you pay for and Javier’s fees are in line with what everyone else charges because they are all inclusive.
May 16, 2007 at 9:26 pm #183547maravillaMemberOur residency was complicated just as rf2cr’s was — husband born in East Africa, but his birth certificate was filed somewhere in Italy, and Javier had to get someone from the CR consulate in Milan to go to the little village and retrieve the longform birth certificate. That would never have happened if it had been anyone else trying to do this. Why shop around for second best when the best is who you are already chatting with???
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