Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Washington
How can we, the family execute a will ourselves?
My father-in-law died with no surviving spouse leaving all of his estate to three sons. He named, in his will, his attorney at the time his personal representative. The attorney does not want to do it as he is now retired. He said he would turn over the PR position to the three sons and that is agreeable to them. From what I read, this estate does not need to be probated - that we can do a non-intervention type action.
Can we do this without a lawyer?
And,
How do we put the will in action?
And,
Where can I find out the details of what needs to happen?
My father-in-law's old attorney said he doubted we could do this as we would have a mess of things. Only gives me reason to do it more! I am not afraid of legwork or of learning.
The entire estate is worth less than $400K and includes one piece of real property, the family home.
Thanks so much for your information.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: How can we, the family execute a will ourselves?
Is it possible to do it yourself without the assistance of an attorney? Sure. Will it be a major headache and is there the potential to "mess things up." You bet! There is real property in the estate for a probate is almost surely necessary. The issue is the type of probate proceeding. Finally, while you may be willing to do this yourself, you will not find an attorney willing to walk you through some of the steps, which based on your message you at least need some help with, without charging for their time and information. Simply put, an attorney took the time and money to learn the process. A mechanic won't walk you through fixing your own car for free and neither will most lawyers with ongoing legal issues.
That being said, my suggestion is that you sit down and talk about the process and cost with an attorney. You will be paying for his/her time but they may be willing to discuss the steps and how to proceed. In essence you would be paying the attorney for coaching you through the process. However, it has been my experience that it is well worth the $1,000-5,000 or so it would cost for an attorney to just handle all the legal matters.
Re: How can we, the family execute a will ourselves?
The estate is over $60,000 so there has to be a probate, certain legal notices and other legal steps to properly process the title to the real estate. You can certainly do some of the leg work but there are some things that simply must be done by an attorney and you cannot be taught them because it would be cheaper for the lawyer to do it in the first place. Contact a lawyer and discuss what aspects could be handled by you versus the lawyer.
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