Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

My dad passed away in April, 2014. His Will was never filed with the courts. The attorney of record refuses to do such. I have a copy of this will and need an attorney to submit a copy of the petition for this.


Asked on 9/30/14, 4:03 am

3 Answers from Attorneys

Joseph Pippen Law Office of Joseph Pippen & Associates

The attorney must file the file if he has the original and has been notified of death.

You might need another attorney to remind him of the statute.

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Answered on 9/30/14, 5:29 am
William Gwaltney William W. Gwaltney, Attorneys at Law

Is the attorney refusing to file it, or do they not have it? There is no requirement for the attorney who prepared the Will to keep the original. In fact many attorneys do not keep the will for many very good reasons.

It sounds like you need to contact a Probate Attorney and begin the Probate. Any interested party has the authority to open the action. Since you have a copy of the Will you know who is named as the Personal Representative, so it should be pretty simple for the attorney to get started. While the Probate must be opened in the county where your father lived or in any county where he owned property, there is no requirement that the attorney reside in that county. So, if you do not live in the county where your father lived you can contact an attorney local to you. In most cases there are few if any appearances in court for Probate and it is mostly completed through correspondence, email and telephone calls.

Good luck.

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Answered on 9/30/14, 12:20 pm
Barry Stein De Cardenas, Freixas, Stein & Zachary

Hire a probate attorney to file the Petition and then conduct discovery to get the original from the prior attorney.

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Answered on 9/30/14, 2:22 pm


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