How to Choose a Probate Attorney for Your Family

“How to Choose a Probate Attorney for Your Family” is a collaborative post.

It is not every day that individuals seek the services of a probate attorney. When a family member passes away, various legal and financial issues may arise spontaneously. These issues may range from handling the affairs of sealed bank accounts to disputes regarding the property ownership. A person involved in these kinds of situations should get a lawyer to address these problems. Hiring a lawyer allows an individual to carry out other important activities and even deal with the emotions of the loss.

Caring.com’s 2024 Wills & Estate Planning Study is very revealing on the issue, as it discovered that only 32% of Americans have a will, while 40% did not bother creating a will since they believe that the document is not worth the trouble. This gap can complicate legal issues regarding handling funeral arrangements, correct identification of assets, and how the assets should be distributed amongst family members in case of the deceased.

What You Are Actually Hiring Someone to Do

Probate is the court-supervised transfer of what a person owned after death. A judge appoints a personal representative, sometimes called an executor or an administrator. This appointed person collects the assets, gives formal notice to creditors, pays what the estate owes, and files a final income tax return for the decedent. The probate administrator is also in charge of facilitating petitions for approval to distribute whatever is left. 

The legal process of probate involves preparing relevant documents and filing publications and a host of other legal requirements that can make it difficult for an executor or administrator to manage the estate alone. A Los Angeles probate & estate administration lawyer can assist with these procedural requirements and help the personal representative navigate the administration from beginning to end.

Most of the probate is just paperwork and deadlines. Problems occur when a sibling digs in over the will or a beneficiary starts asking harder questions about how things are being handled. These kinds of situations can be efficiently handled by an experienced probate lawyer.

Ask How the Fee Gets Calculated Before Anything Else

Fee arrangements surprise families more than any other part of this, and they differ sharply from one state to the next. California law sets attorney compensation for ordinary probate work as a percentage of the total estate figure, which puts the number close to fixed before anyone opens a file, though harder cases can carry more. The same court guide states that the attorney collects at the end of the case out of what remains in the estate. The administration costs alone often run well past $1,000, and the fee to file the case is typically $435.

Colorado works differently. No percentage schedule exists there. Compensation has to be reasonable instead, and the application to open an estate asks the applicant to state the basis on which fees charged to the estate will be calculated, plus a continuing duty to disclose it if that basis later shifts. A family in Denver and a family in Los Angeles walk into the first meeting asking two different questions.

Find Out Whether the Firm Handles a Fight

Uncontested administration and contested administration are close to separate practices. One is paperwork and deadlines. The other is depositions, capacity evidence, forensic accounting, and a trial date. Plenty of estates begin in the first category and land in the second once a sibling objects or a beneficiary demands an accounting.

Ask whether a legal firm covers both tracks. An office set up that way does not have to hand the file to a stranger when the administration is contested.

Bring Written Questions to the Consultation

Initial consultations in this area are often free, and time is wasted if one comes unprepared. The 4 questions to ask your probate attorney often center around whether a will was executed, how creditors will be handled, whether estate assets are being properly managed, and how probate costs can be reduced.

Don’t hesitate to formulate more questions and ask them during the meeting. What happens to the fee if the estate turns out smaller than everyone assumes? And whose interests does the attorney represent, the personal representative alone or the beneficiaries as a group? How many probate matters has this office opened in the past year in the county where the case will be filed? Who does the day-to-day work? The answer to these questions can help you gauge how the attorney works and his or her potential handling of your case.

Check the Credential That Is Actually Verifiable

A certification helps people verify the relevant skills of a lawyer or a law firm. California’s State Bar certifies specialists in estate planning, trust, and probate law, and that designation takes a written examination, documented experience across the field, extra continuing education, and a favorable evaluation from other attorneys and judges familiar with the applicant’s work. The Bar runs an attorney search that lets anyone confirm the designation rather than taking a website’s word for it. Not every state runs a program like that, so the substitute elsewhere is pulling the licensing record and any public discipline history before signing a retainer.

A family should walk out of that first meeting knowing what the case will cost, how the number gets built, who answers the phone in month nine, and what happens if a relative objects.