The importance of getting the right legal advice when administering an estate

A cautionary tale about the perils of accepting probate advice from someone other than a qualified attorney appeared in a Florida newspaper earlier this month.  In the fictitious story, a man is named as successor trustee of his mother’s revocable trust and personal representative of the pour-over will.

After their mother’s death, the man and his sister want to avoid legal fees so they ask a friend of the sister’s son – a young man fresh out of law school who has not yet passed the bar exam – for help.  To cut a long story short, the recently graduated unlicensed law school student does not give the correct legal advice for properly handling the mother’s estate.

As a result, a few years down the road the man is sued by his sister over his mishandling of the estate.  The law school student – now an attorney – is named as a co-defendant.

The entire mess could have been avoided if the man had hired a competent, qualified probate attorney.  As the fictional man learned, acting as a successor trustee, personal representative, or executor of a will is not as simple as selling all the assets, keeping a little for yourself, and divvying up the rest with your siblings.

You can read more about estate administration and probate in our law library and in our Frequently Asked Questions section.