Q: As an heir should I sign the Petition for Letters of Administration if it has missing pages?

A: I would not advise that you sign any documents without your own probate attorney and definitely not anything with missing pages that your own attorney has not reviewed on your behalf and based on your interests as a beneficiary of the estate. If you have any doubts or concerns and even generally, you likely should have your own probate attorney. The fact that they are forwarding incomplete sets of documents to you and requesting blind signatures, is already concerning for a variety of reasons. It should also be noted, the attorney working for the estate and personal representative is not representing you as beneficiary or your interests, your interests may diverge from the personal representative and or other beneficiaries and you need to be aware of this potential reality. No, I would not sign anything incomplete, and I would suspect other waivers will be forthcoming as well in the future or even presently, so be aware.

A: Thank you for your question. Usually, the only person who needs to sign the Petition for Administration is the person requesting to be appointed as the Personal Representative or Executor. In any event, you should not sign any documents without having them reviewed by an attorney and you definitely should never sign any documents with missing pages. As an heir, you should consider hiring your own attorney to represent your interests.

All the best.

A: Heirs generally sign the waiver unless you’re the petitioner but you should never sign any document that is not complete and accurate.