i have my fathers will but need to find out who the lawyer is who wrote it

An accountant may know who your father's lawyer is. In any case, your father should have either the original will or a copy so check safe deposit boxes and file cabinets. If you can't find the will, an ad in the New York Law Journal may be a good start, but not all lawyers read the Journal much less the classified ads.

Full Answer

How do I Find my deceased father's attorney?

If you can find mention of him, the website or newspaper might have interviewed him. Contact them and ask if they know where you can reach him. If you can’t find the attorney, you’ll have to figure out where he might have placed the will when he stopped practicing.

How can I find a copy of my father's will?

Question people he might have chosen as executor; he might have given the copy to that individual. Go through his paperwork and his favorite possessions. He might have hidden the will in his most-loved book or Bible. Check his safe deposit box.

Do I need a lawyer if I can't find a will?

You probably won’t be able to do this without an attorney’s assistance, but if you haven’t found the will by this point, you’ll most likely need a lawyer anyway. In most states, if you fail to locate a will, the law presumes that it’s because your loved one revoked it before his death by destroying it.

Should I let my attorney keep my original Wills?

There are good reasons to let your attorney keep your original wills. If your wills are in your attorney’s safe, you do not have to worry about losing them. You may even be concerned that certain family members may go so far as to destroy your will to get a larger inheritance.

Who to call when a deceased person is a lawyer?

Call the lawyers who represented other parties in any lawsuits or disputes in which the deceased was involved. Opposing lawyers may remember whether the deceased consulted a lawyer whose name may not have made it on to final documents.

How to contact a lawyer whose name is invalid?

Call the contact telephone numbers that were listed for the attorneys whose names you found in the court records.If the telephone numbers are invalid, call the state bar association for the state in which the lawyers practiced and ask to speak to the person in charge of membership records. If the lawyer is still a member, the state bar association should have her contact information.

How to find a notarized deed for a deceased person?

Get out all the signed legal documents that were found among the deceased's property and look for any signatures that were notarized. Go to the county assessor's office in the county where the deceased person owned real property and search for notarized deed records. Signatures on deeds, divorce settlement agreements and affidavits are examples of documents that require notarization. If the deceased's signature was notarized, that means that he signed the document before a notary public. Where you find a notarized signature, make note of the name, location and commission number of the Notary Public.

How to find out if someone died in court?

Go to the county courthouse in the county where the deceased person lived. Search the civil litigation, family law and criminal court records by party name to see whether any records contain the deceased person's name. If the deceased ever sued someone, got sued by someone, got divorced, got arrested or cited for a traffic violation, the county courthouse should have a file on the event. Ask employees at the records clerk's office how to locate and access the file. Once you have the file, search it for the name of any lawyer or law firm that is listed as attorney of record for the deceased. Copy this information.

How to help a deceased person?

Ask them if they know about events in the deceased's life that would have required legal representation, like an arrest or a lawsuit. Follow up on any leads.

What documents require notarization?

Signatures on deeds, divorce settlement agreements and affidavits are examples of documents that require notarization. If the deceased's signature was notarized, that means that he signed the document before a notary public.

What to do if you don't know the name of a lawyer?

If you don't know the lawyer's name, go through checkbooks for the last few years and look for payments to an individual lawyer or firm. If you know the lawyer's name but don't have an address or phone number, call the state bar association or check its website.

How to prove a will is lost?

You may be able to prove the existence of a lost will—and perhaps even its terms—to the satisfaction of a probate court by producing the witnesses who signed the will and coming up with convincing evidence of what the will said. You should get a lawyer's advice before you go down this path.

What happens if you don't find a will?

If your best efforts don't uncover a will, it's not a problem. Other documents—for example, living trusts, pay-on-death beneficiary designations, or joint ownership deeds—will give you at least some of the instructions you need, and state law will supply the rest.

What to do if someone has a will but is hiding it?

If you have good reason to think that someone has the will but intends to hide it, you can sue to force the person to file the will. A lawyer should be able to help you assess your likelihood of success. Obviously, someone up to no good might promptly "lose" the will if pressured.

What is a will?

Lists of property items. In about half the states, a will can refer to an outside document to dispose of items of tangible personal property— that is, anything tangible except real estate. So if you find any document that lists items and who should inherit them, hang on to it.

Do you have to give consent to a lawyer to text you?

You are not required to provide consent as a condition of service. Attorneys have the option, but are not required, to send text messages to you. You will receive up to 2 messages per week from Martindale-Nolo. Frequency from attorney may vary.

Can a will be found?

Sometimes, everyone knows a will was drawn up and signed, but it simply can't be found. You may be left with no will at all, or with an old one that you believe the lost one revoked.

How to get a copy of a will from my father?

You can however get a copy of the will. Check your father's name in the local county courthouse. If it is lodged or a probate was undertaken, you can get the information there. If not, you may want to have an attorney write a letter to your father's wife requesting a copy. Report Abuse.

What to do if your father has an estate?

You obtain the assistance of probate counsel to assist you in investigating to determine if you are entitled to any part of your father's estate, if he had an estate; the attorney may want to file a petition into probate to have you appointed administrator to reopen his estate.

What happens if you don't open a probate estate?

If a probate estate was never opened you would not have received any notice. If no estate was opened within a year of his death it's too late to open an estate. If you are aware of any particular asset that he may have owned you could file an action for determination of heir-ship. In order to do this you must have a lawyer. You can check with the probate division of the Circuit Court in the county where your father lived to see if anything has been filed, etc.

How to check if a will was filed in Nevada?

Nevada law requires that a will be filed after death. Check the county where he died to see if a will was filed. Also, check with the county court to see if a probate case was filed. It is all public record. If not, send letters to the people who received the property requesting to see the will, if any, and for an accounting of how the property was distributed.

What happens if you find out there is probate?

If you find out there was a probate and you were not notified, then you would have a cause of action against the personal representative, but be careful if your father's will said you get nothing, then you win and potentially are entitled to nothing; a Pyrric victory. Many people pass without a will.

What happens if there is no will?

If no will, you have the right to your intestate share of his separate property estate (two-thirds divided equally among the children).

How to find out if a will has been lodged?

Contact the Court Clerk in the County where he died to see if his Will has been lodged. If so, you can order a copy. You are not necessarily entitled to inherit anything. Once you determine if a Will has been lodged, you can discuss your options with an attorney.

How to find out if a lawyer drafted a will?

Call your state’s bar association to find out if it still has contact information for him. Check the phone directory for personal listings of people with the same name. Attorneys don’t often list their home phone numbers, even after they’ve retired, but if you can reach a relative and explain your situation, she might be willing to have the lawyer call you. You can also contact other local attorneys, especially those who practice estate law. Lawyers are often a tight-knit group and some of them may have stayed in touch with him. You can also search for information online and in the newspaper. The attorney may have made a major contribution to a charity recently or won a golf tournament. If you can find mention of him, the website or newspaper might have interviewed him. Contact them and ask if they know where you can reach him.

What to do if you can't find an attorney?

If you can’t find the attorney, you’ll have to figure out where he might have placed the will when he stopped practicing. Some state probate courts accept wills for safekeeping before the testator’s death. If yours does, call the court to see if the attorney transferred possession of the will to the court. If not, the court might have knowledge of ...

What happens if you don't find a will?

In most states, if you fail to locate a will, the law presumes that it’s because your loved one revoked it before his death by destroying it. The court will probate his estate as though he died intestate -- that is, without a will. However, if you were able to find a copy, you can try to convince the court to honor it.

How to find out if an attorney has made a major contribution to a charity recently?

You can also search for information online and in the newspaper. The attorney may have made a major contribution to a charity recently or won a golf tournament. If you can find mention of him, the website or newspaper might have interviewed him. Contact them and ask if they know where you can reach him.

Can a lawyer toss a will into the trash?

If your loved one left his last will and testament with his attorney for safekeeping, the attorney can’t toss the will into a trash bin when he decides to retire or close his office. Not only do the laws in most states prohibit this, lawyers have an ethical responsibility to safeguard their clients’ documents.

Can an attorney call you after retirement?

Attorneys don’t often list their home phone numbers, even after they’ve retired, but if you can reach a relative and explain your situation, she might be willing to have the lawyer call you . You can also contact other local attorneys, especially those who practice estate law.

Can you find the original will of a loved one?

This can be important if you don't find the original. If you can't find the attorney, and if you can’t determine where he put his documents when he stopped practicing, consider what your loved one might have done ...

Can you lose a will in your attorney's safe?

If your wills are in your attorney’s safe, you do not have to worry about losing them. You may even be concerned that certain family members may go so far as to destroy your will to get a larger inheritance. If the will is in your attorney’s safe, that will not happen. In your case, this backfired.

Can a will be probated?

Your wills are still valid, but they won't do your children much good unless they can find the originals. A photocopy of a will can be probated, but someone could contest the will by claiming that the original was revoked instead of just being lost.

Do attorneys keep wills?

A lot of attorneys offer to keep the original wills they prepare for their clients, at no charge. They do this so they can probate the estates of their clients. When a client dies, their children read the copy of the will and call the attorney whose name is stamped in big bold letters on the first page.

Can a will be revocable after a husband dies?

You may be better off avoiding a wild goose chase and hiring another, younger, attorney to revise your estate plan. Wills do not avoid probate. After either you or your husband dies, the survivor between the two of you can collect the decedent’s estate outside of probate, if you own everything together as joint tenants or as community property with right of survivorship, but when the survivor dies, the estate will have to be probated in the courts. You can avoid probate, and probate fees, by getting a revocable trust. Since you need new wills anyway, you should see a new attorney who can advise you on all of your options.