Q: I need to file an objection to a petition for probate administration. Can any probate attorney handle this simple task?
I have spent the last 12 days - all day long - contacting every probate attorney in the area. The regular probate attorneys say I need a litigation attorney but the litigation attorneys say any attorney can do it in a few minutes and it is not a litigation issue. I am running out of time and don't understand why something that is required by the court is so hard to get done. I just want it filed and would like to know how much it will cost.
A:
Filing an objection means that you are contesting something about this estate, and may probate attorneys including myself do not handle adversarial matters. For that reason, yes, you would need to retain someone who either is willing to handle an adversarial estate or handles probate litigation. If you are having trouble finding an attorney in your area, you can try to reach out to attorneys in a big city a bit farther away. Many probate cases are handled by attorneys who are not local to the case and often hearings when required are by Zoom.
Also for your information, once an objection is filed, a hearing on the petition and the objection will be required before the Court will rule on the requests in the petition. Also if you are objecting to the appointment for personal representative and would instead wish for you to be appointed personal representative, an objection is not enough. You would need to file a counterpetition, oath, and anything else that the Court would require of a counterpetitioner. There may be more involved than you realize, and for all of these reasons, you will want an attorney who is prepared to be involved in an adversarial estate and will remain as your attorney until the confict is resolved.
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