Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: california Probate

We do probate estates throughout California. Please call or email to discuss details to see if we can help you. -John

Re: california Probate

Most attorneys will not handle this on a contingency fee basis because ther is no way to determine what you "win". They may be willing to handle it on any hourly basis deferring payment of fees until the probate is resolved and you receive money to pay their fees [likely will be $250-$325 per hour]. You can probably save a lot of their time by doing most of the leg work, but many attorneys prefer to do it themselves so that they can be sure they are getting true and complete information.

Prepare a summary of the facts of the probate and the go and see some attorneys to see what they are able to do. You can contact the local bar association to get some names, go down to probate court to look at files to get an idea of how some attorneys handle matters or to talk to attorneys who are there for hearings. Most attorney will give you a free 20 minute or so interview. You also want to read some books beforehand to know what problems you might face and what needs to be done [look at the Nolo Press books].

In general it is best to retain an attorney who is close to the probate court building as that cuts down on the travel time that will be charged you and also the attorney will know how the local judges behave. If none of that works out to your satisfaction or you want a rough idea as to what will be involved, you could contact some one with lower rates to give you some direction [semi-retired attorney as myself often charge less]. From your questions, none of know what type of problems you might have.

Re: california Probate

My firm will be more than happy to help you probate the estate. There are no up front fees to us and we discount the statutory attorney fees by 10 percent. If you're interested, just call me.

Sincerely,

Phillip C. Lemmons, Esq.