When an estate is first opened, and the heirs are notified, they often don’t do anything, trusting that the executor will handle everything fairly and correctly. But, if problems start to arise later, they may have put themselves at a disadvantage by not hiring an attorney at the beginning.I have met with many potential clients who received notice that an estate was being opened, and then just waited to see what happened, because they thought the executor would handle everything correctly. But, as time went on, they became suspicious of what was going on, and then consulted an attorney. The only problem is, that by the time they consulted an attorney, some of the deadlines they may have had to make claims against the estate, or even file a will contest, are gone. Or, so much time has passed, that whatever the executor has done wrong is going to be very tough to prove (such as selling personal property of the decedent when there is otherwise no record of it).
But, if those heirs had hired an attorney early on, who would have notified the executor of what their expectations were, what personal property they wanted to see divided, etc., then some of these problems could have been avoided. And the cost of hiring an attorney to do that could have been cheap insurance to make sure that the heir’s rights were protected.
At Brightwell Elder and Probate Law, you can hire an experienced probate attorney to make sure that heirs have their rights in an estate protected at the very beginning.
