When any attorney at law has been retained to appear for any heir or devisee, such attorney may perfect a lien upon the client’s interest in the estate for compensation for such services as may have been rendered respecting such interest, by serving upon the personal representative before distribution is made, a notice of intent to claim a lien for agreed compensation, or the reasonable value of services. The perfecting of such a lien, as herein provided, shall have the same effect as the perfecting of a lien as provided in section 481.13, and such lien may be enforced and the amount thereupon determined in the manner therein provided.