What is the name of your state? NY
My father died 2 years ago. At the time, my father's brother (who is now deceased as well) went to a lawyer to assist him in finding and gathering my father's assets. The lawyer in turn contacted my father's accountant, who informed him he had a copy of my father's will, and sent it to him. However, I (and apparently my uncle) were notified that only a partial copy had been obtained from the accountant, which lacked both the signature page(s) and the back where the law firm that made the will 's name was written (not this lawyer but another firm), thus making it impossible to trace the original will from the copy.
At that point, we concluded the will was either untraceable and/or destroyed, and I commenced administration proceedings to gather and search for assets of my father's. In the process - it being almost a year later - this lawyer was subpoenaed and deposed under oath, when he suddenly turned up with a FULL copy of the will, which he claimed my uncle brought into the office several months earlier but after I'd started the administration proceedings. he said he'd misplaced or gotten rid of the other, partial copy - but that the other copy he had was certainly a partial one. He claimed he left a voice mail with my lawyers, which was never responded to, so he gave up contacting me regarding this will and only brought it in when forced to by the subpoena.
I've since spoken to my father's accountant (who had the copy he sent the lawyer) and he is confident that what he sent this lawyer was a full, conformed copy of my father's will, complete with the back AND a cover letter from the lawyer who composed it. If my uncle's lawyer had bothered to make ONE tiny phone call, he could have tracked down the original within minutes, and would have had gotten it as my uncle and I were to be co-executors.
Also, under the will, my uncle was to have been a beneficiary, but in an intestacy proceeding (which I started because I couldn't track down the full copy or the original will) I would have gotten it all. So the lawyer wasn't exactly furthering his own client's best interest either.
How do I go about disciplinary action against this lawyer, and what kind of a penalty can I expect him to get (e.g., a slap on the wrist, suspension of license, disbarrment, etc.)?
My father died 2 years ago. At the time, my father's brother (who is now deceased as well) went to a lawyer to assist him in finding and gathering my father's assets. The lawyer in turn contacted my father's accountant, who informed him he had a copy of my father's will, and sent it to him. However, I (and apparently my uncle) were notified that only a partial copy had been obtained from the accountant, which lacked both the signature page(s) and the back where the law firm that made the will 's name was written (not this lawyer but another firm), thus making it impossible to trace the original will from the copy.
At that point, we concluded the will was either untraceable and/or destroyed, and I commenced administration proceedings to gather and search for assets of my father's. In the process - it being almost a year later - this lawyer was subpoenaed and deposed under oath, when he suddenly turned up with a FULL copy of the will, which he claimed my uncle brought into the office several months earlier but after I'd started the administration proceedings. he said he'd misplaced or gotten rid of the other, partial copy - but that the other copy he had was certainly a partial one. He claimed he left a voice mail with my lawyers, which was never responded to, so he gave up contacting me regarding this will and only brought it in when forced to by the subpoena.
I've since spoken to my father's accountant (who had the copy he sent the lawyer) and he is confident that what he sent this lawyer was a full, conformed copy of my father's will, complete with the back AND a cover letter from the lawyer who composed it. If my uncle's lawyer had bothered to make ONE tiny phone call, he could have tracked down the original within minutes, and would have had gotten it as my uncle and I were to be co-executors.
Also, under the will, my uncle was to have been a beneficiary, but in an intestacy proceeding (which I started because I couldn't track down the full copy or the original will) I would have gotten it all. So the lawyer wasn't exactly furthering his own client's best interest either.
How do I go about disciplinary action against this lawyer, and what kind of a penalty can I expect him to get (e.g., a slap on the wrist, suspension of license, disbarrment, etc.)?
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