Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

I don't know. Its not ethical for other attorneys to intervene when there is already counsel for the estate. Ethics aside, its grossly unfair both to the estate lawyer and lawyers here. Lawyers answering questions on a public forum like Law Guru should not be asked to second guess estate counsel in response to a blogppost when estate counsel presumably has all the information and documentation about the estate at his/her fingertips.

Generally (assuming the estate is being probated in Pennsylvania), it can take 1-2 years to complete probate of the estate depending on the size and complexity. Was there a will? Were there significant probate assets? Were there any disputes, like will caveats, posed by uncooperative disgruntled relatives? Was there an estranged spouse in the picture who filed an elective share of the estate? Have all taxes (inheritance and any federal taxes) been paid and has approval been giving by the taxing authorities (you indicate that taxes were paid but has approval been given? Estates cannot be closed without the tax certification/notice). Who is the personal representative of the estate? Has he/she been moving things along promptly or dragging his/her feet? Has counsel been negligent/tardy? Has counsel been paid for any work done to date?

The answers to some of these questions dictate what you do next. The personal representative of the estate is presumably the person who hired the probate attorney. That person needs to sit down with the probate attorney and air any concerns and find out why the estate proceeds cannot be distributed and the estate closed. If the attorney is the problem, then he/she can be fired. The personal representative is then free to seek closure of the estate either on his/her own or via another attorney. The attorneys will have to split the fees owed by the estate based on the percentage of work done by each.

If the current attorney is the problem and ignores the personal representative, then the personal representative may have to take the drastic step of filing a bar complaint. While a lawyer may ignore the client, the lawyer will ignore the bar at his/her peril.

If the estate is pending other than in Pennsylvania, you may want to direct the question to another probate attorney in that state. However, many of the questions I raised will be common to other states.