Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Florida

is this legal
my uncle recently passed away at 77y/o in florida. my mother was next of kin. she hired a lawyer in fla. to settle his estate, paying him a retainer fee.. a few weeks later, the lawyer says my uncles 40 y/o ''girlfriend'' produced a homemade will...and the lawyer says it is valid. he will not let my mother see the will, and sent her retainer fee back to her, and is now representing the ''girlfriend'', who never came to the funeral, and moved her boyfriend into the house 2 days after his death...my mother paid for his funeral, and now gets nothing in return. my mother needs those funds back. all this sounds like bad practice...is it legal for the lawyer to jump ship as he did? how can my mother recoup the fee of the funeral? $7,000 is a lot of money to her....this is in fla. it is also weird that he was healthy, died suddenly at home, and no autopsy was done...because my mother was told it would cost her 8,000 and she did not have it...that is alot of money. any way i can get someone to follow up on this? the police dept. are too busy, and said the coroner looked at his body, and it didnt look like foul play...looked at?!!!

Asked on 2/17/08, 4:19 pm

David Slater David P. Slater, Esq.

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Re: is this legal

Retain counsel to check out the will. At the very least, she is a creditor of the estate.

Answered on 2/17/08, 8:17 pm

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