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Will

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M

Marketwriter

Guest
My mother's aunt recently passed away in Queens New York without a will. We received a citation from the public administrator stating that there are 10 other beneficiaries and that we need to provide proof of kinship. We live in Florida. Is is necessary to retain a lawyer to handle this for us? The amount is about $250,000 split 10 ways. The lawyer I've contacted is in NY and charges 25-30% fee for money recovered. Is this necessary or can I just go through the Public Administrator to finalize this? Thanks.
 


ALawyer

Senior Member
If you have unrefutable proof, and no one else is making a claim against the estate (such as an old Wiill, a claim that "he promised me..." etc.), you do NOT need a lawyer. But watch the dates very carefully. Also, in many NY counties the Public Administrator (actually the County Political Bosses and their cronies) take out huge fees from the estate, and they rack up hours by finding all sorts of frivilous objections.

Thus a suggestion -- instead of paying a large percentage of a relatively large sum on a contingency basis for what should only be a few hours of legal work (to make sure your evidence is clear and the papers are sufficient and in proper form), find ANOTHER lawyer on AttorneyPages.com and see if they will charge you by the hour. That would reduce the bill from the $5-7,000 range to about $1-2,000.

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This is intended as general information only and NOT LEGAL ADVICE. You are not my client, and I have no obligation of any kind to you. To retain a lawyer, go to http://AttorneyPages.com
 

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