Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: Time Provisions Regaurding Wills & Attorneys

Step one is to go to the Superior Court of the country in which the deceased lived at the time of death and the Superior Court of the county where real estate is located and ask to see a copy of the will. Once you ascertain that no will has been filed you can initiate probate proceedings without a will and go from there. You do need an attorney to file probate proceedings.

Re: Time Provisions Regaurding Wills & Attorneys

The drafting attorney does not have a duty to keep a copy of the will.

Any person having custody of the original of a will is obligated to, within 30 days of learning of the death of the testator, deliver the original to the clerk of the superior court of the county where the decedent lived; and mail a copy of the will to the person named in the will as executor, or to the beneficiaries, if the person with the will doesn't know how/where to reach the executor. See CA Probate Code 8200.

Even if the drafting attorney has a copy of the will, they cannot necessarily release it to you. Also, the attorney does not necessarily know whether or not they were the attorney who drafted the final will - it's perfectly possible that another will was drawn up later which superceded the will that they have a copy of.

Re: Time Provisions Regaurding Wills & Attorneys

In a nutshell, the drafting attorney does not have an affirmative duty to keep the will at issue on hand or available for review per se. Under the unfortunate circumstances, your best option would be to initiate probate proceedings, in which the will would have to be produced by the family member at issue. If you would like prompt, affordable legal assistance in this matter, contact us directly today for a free phone consultation.