Estates...(any lawyers?)

Jbreen1 · Dec 13, 2009

Originally Posted by jdcpa

Good catch by those above. The lawyer who drafted the will is not your lawyer. If you did not retain him, i.e. talk about the engagement, the fees, duties, manifest intent to retain and have it accepted by the attorney etc; he is not your lawyer. He is working for the estate of the deceased. This is a common mistake made in this situation where people think the lawyer of the estate-deceased is their lawyer. Also as mentioned above, there appear to be some specialized needs in your case such as the original trust failing and how to deal with the possible Totten trust. Estate lawyers are very common (of course vary in their quality). You should have no problem finding one.

Good Luck.

*and of course just casual talk, no legal advice is offered.

No we did retain him though.

AR_Six · Dec 13, 2009

Who is "we"? There is no we. There is you. "We" hired a lawyer should set off instant alarm bells about conflicts of interest and professional ethics; acting for more than one person on a particular matter paints a lawyer into a corner. You need your own counsel to look after your specific interests. You are kidding yourself.

Jbreen1 · Dec 13, 2009

Originally Posted by jdcpa

Good catch by those above. The lawyer who drafted the will is not your lawyer. If you did not retain him, i.e. talk about the engagement, the fees, duties, manifest intent to retain and have it accepted by the attorney etc; he is not your lawyer. He is working for the estate of the deceased. This is a common mistake made in this situation where people think the lawyer of the estate-deceased is their lawyer. Also as mentioned above, there appear to be some specialized needs in your case such as the original trust failing and how to deal with the possible Totten trust. Estate lawyers are very common (of course vary in their quality). You should have no problem finding one. Good Luck. *and of course just casual talk, no legal advice is offered. Just saw your post. It also seems that you may have a conflict of interest situation between the executor and the original lawyer. Also, if you did retain the lawyer who wrote the will and he has worked for you all this time. He does have a duty to communicate with you. It still is a good course to consult an unrelated lawyer just to make sure the whole thing is kosher.
Alright thanks. That's exactly what I thought. I'm very concerned about a conflict of interest. The executor is always out for himself so I am concerned about his motifs. I will contact the lawyer on Monday and see if he has made any progress. Sorry if I seem paranoid but there is also a house involved in the estate, and I'm very young (still in college), so combined with the bank accounts and annuities this will have an impact on the rest of my life and what I do with it. Just trying to make sure nothing fishy is going on.

Jbreen1 · Dec 13, 2009

Originally Posted by JD_May

Who is "we"? There is no we. There is you. "We" hired a lawyer should set off instant alarm bells about conflicts of interest and professional ethics; acting for more than one person on a particular matter paints a lawyer into a corner. You need your own counsel to look after your specific interests. You are kidding yourself.

When I say we I mean the other person named in the will along with myself, and we are immediate family members. Sorry but I have no idea how this is supposed to work. We just assumed that we would call the lawyer who wrote the will to take care of this for us. This is why I'm asking here to get even a little guidance on whether to contact another lawyer or what.

AR_Six · Dec 13, 2009

Okay no that's not good. The guy cannot advocate for your discrete interests because they are inherently opposed. This is probably why he is not being communicative - if he takes a side on anything, anything at all, he is in violation of his professional duties. Where it's a zero sum game like this, where if the other guy gets more you get less, you each need your own lawyer. Having the lawyer who wrote the will administrate it is great, where there's no problem with interpretation (ie the majority of cases). Here, you want a second opinion as to the effect of what's written. Like I said you want someone to represent YOUR interests. They are different from your family member's interests.

Jbreen1 · Dec 13, 2009

Originally Posted by JD_May

Okay no that's not good. The guy cannot advocate for your discrete interests because they are inherently opposed. This is probably why he is not being communicative - if he takes a side on anything, anything at all, he is in violation of his professional duties. Where it's a zero sum game like this, where if the other guy gets more you get less, you each need your own lawyer. Having the lawyer who wrote the will administrate it is great, where there's no problem with interpretation (ie the majority of cases). Here, you want a second opinion as to the effect of what's written.

Like I said you want someone to represent YOUR interests. They are different from your family member's interests.

How are the interests different? The whole thing is supposed to be split 50/50.

AR_Six · Dec 13, 2009

I don't mean "not identical", I mean his interests are not the same as your interests in that it is not win-win. There is X number of dollars in the estate and he wants as much of that as he can get and you want as much as you can get. Your interests directly conflict, so you each need separate representation.

Ag229487 · Dec 13, 2009

I thought Lionel Hutz only did PI work

Jbreen1 · Dec 13, 2009

Originally Posted by JD_May

I don't mean "not identical", I mean his interests are not the same as your interests in that it is not win-win. There is X number of dollars in the estate and he wants as much of that as he can get and you want as much as you can get. Your interests directly conflict, so you each need separate representation.

I dunno I guess. Like I said we are immediate family members and we would never screw each other over. I guess you could never really know if they would or not but I'm fairly certain. We are the only two named in the will and we want to split it 50/50 down to the cent. I guess it doesn't matter if I say. The deceased is my grandmother and the other person in the will is my father. I wasn't aware that we should each have our own lawyer. We just assumed the lawyer who wrote the will would contact all the banks and all that and then give us each our even shares and then do whatever we decided to do with the house, whether keep it in both our names or sell it. So we retained him to take care of the estate and settle it all and the bills. He showed us his fee schedule at the courthouse when we legalized the will.

AR_Six · Dec 13, 2009

Well if the other party wants the same thing you do, then it doesn't really matter, does it... if they interpret the will so as to give him the whole deal he's allowed to just give you half.

TGPlastic · Dec 13, 2009

Originally Posted by JD_May

Who is "we"? There is no we. There is you. "We" hired a lawyer should set off instant alarm bells about conflicts of interest and professional ethics; acting for more than one person on a particular matter paints a lawyer into a corner. You need your own counsel to look after your specific interests. You are kidding yourself.

I bet the lawyer reps "the estate." Handing the exec and the lawyer all sorts of paper on the courthouse steps sounds like fairly typical small market wills practice.

Of greater concern, I sense worry by OP that the decedent failed to update trust documents prior to his death in order to mirror his testamentary wish (at least as the OP understood it) that OP get half of everything --not just half of everything that goes to probate. See where this is headed?

Jbreen1 · Dec 13, 2009

Originally Posted by JD_May

Well if the other party wants the same thing you do, then it doesn't really matter, does it... if they interpret the will so as to give him the whole deal he's allowed to just give you half.

Well there's not much to interpret. It basically just says I bequeath my entire estate to 1.) My son 50% and 2.) my grandson 50%. Obviously there's a little more to it but it was written up by the lawyer in very simple terms and that's the gist of it right there.

Jbreen1 · Dec 13, 2009

Originally Posted by TGPlastic

I bet the lawyer reps "the estate." Handing the exec and the lawyer all sorts of paper on the courthouse steps sounds like fairly typical small market wills practice.

Of greater concern, I sense worry by OP that the decedent failed to update trust documents prior to his death in order to mirror his testamentary wish (at least as the OP understood it) that OP get half of everything --not just half of everything that goes to probate. See where this is headed?

Exactly. You see what I'm getting at. My granmother's wish was for my dad and I to split everything 50/50. All the accounts, annuities, and the house. From what I've read, the will does not override any beneficiary information and this is what worries me. I'm concerned as to why the lawyer did not advise her to switch the beneficiary information but there's a reason I'm not a lawyer. Maybe this will work out fine the way he did everything but it just seems a little odd to me.

munchausen · Dec 13, 2009

If you have a lawyer and you're asking strangers on the internet about how to keep him from screwing you, you need a new lawyer.

Jbreen1 · Dec 13, 2009

Originally Posted by munchausen

If you have a lawyer and you're asking strangers on the internet about how to keep him from screwing you, you need a new lawyer.

That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking if I am doing the right thing and if there is anything else I should be doing. But like I said, I'll just call tomorrow and try to get an idea of what's going on.

Estates...(any lawyers?)

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