Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

Do I need an Attorney to prepare and for me and to file with the court for me Letters of Testamentary/Appointment, or may I prepare the Letters and file with the court on my own?


Asked on 4/11/18, 10:18 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Barry Stein De Cardenas, Freixas, Stein & Zachary

Considering you dont even have the documents labeled correctly i would say you are not capable of filing them on your own. you need an attorney. Did you file the probate on your own?

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Answered on 4/11/18, 10:30 am

You likely need an attorney. There are other complex questions and issues that will probably come up. Do you know whether probate is even required? If so, do you know what type of probate (e.g., Summary Administration, Formal Administration, etc.)? If there are multiple heirs and formal probate is required, you MUST have an attorney handle the probate as prescribed by Florida Law. Not all property goes through probate. There are many,many issues to consider. I strongly recommend you consult with an attorney who handles probate matters. If you try to handle it yourself, you may cause more complex issues that will inevitably need to be handled by an attorney anyways, and will incur more costs that could have been avoided. I have handled several probate matters and have seen this happen by people trying to do things themselves. Would you do surgery on yourself to keep costs down, or would you spend some extra dollars and have a surgeon do it? If you didn't know what you were doing, you would end up in the hospital anyway.

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Answered on 4/11/18, 1:16 pm


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