Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

Once the person has died, the attorney with duties is the one who will be retained by the estate to assist with the estate administration. This may or may not be the attorney who prepared the will.

This response is not legal advice, since I do not have all of the information that would be required, and I do not have a representation agreement with you.

* If the answers to your question confirm that you have a valid issue or worthwhile claim, your next step should almost always be to establish a dialog with a lawyer who can provide specific advice to you. Contact a lawyer in your county or township.

* Another reason for contacting a lawyer is that it is often impossible to give a good answer in the Internet Q&A format without having more information. The unique circumstances of your situation and things that you may not have thought to mention in your question may completely change the answer. If you want to be sure that you have a complete answer to your question and an understanding of what that answer means, establish a connection with a lawyer who practices in the area of your concern.

Is the attorney also the executor? Or separate? The exeutor's job is to find out what the decedent owned, what he/she owed, pay any just debts if there is enough money and to do what the will directs in distributing assets to the heirs. If there is no will, the the executor distributes the estate as per the intestacy law. The attorney's job is to handle the legal aspect of this by filing the inventory and accounting on behalf of the executor, assist with opening a bank account for the estate, publishing notice in the newspaper and notifying the creditors, assisting with appraisals of property or handling other legal matters like will caveats. That's is basically it. There may be other attorneys, such as where there are complicated tax or real estate issues or where the deceased person has a wrongful death action.