When I started to sell homes that were going through the probate process, I didn’t know very much and we had a situation where the attorney didn’t do very many probates as well. We got everything done concerning the sale of the house. And, it was many months of a lot of hard work that I will not go into here. We were all set to hand the keys over to the buyers. At that point, we got a message from the title and escrow company. They pointed out to us that an important, necessary document was not filed with the court and we had to immediately stop the sale.
We were floored!
I am not an attorney. I cannot give legal advice. None of the content in this blog is meant to be legal advice. If you need an attorney, please contact the California State Bar at 800-843-9053 (in California) or 213-765-1200 (outside California).
In addition, the document that needed to be filed with the court was going to take 15 days to give notice to all the interested parties in the estate time to respond to the notice. I learned a hard lesson. It is always, always a good thing to work with an attorney who has a lot of experience working with probate cases. It is quite frustrating during the home selling process when attorneys are not familiar with probate law. In this blog, you will learn how not to fall into these probate traps. Make sure you read to the very end of this short blog because I have a surprise for you!
There are three things to look for when you choose a probate attorney. They are
1.) Specialization
2.) Experience in probate law
3.) Local to the same county where the probate is taking place
My name is Nancy Adinolfe. I am a realtor here in Sacramento County. I help Personal Representatives with the real estate portion of the estate who are going through probate. I serve all areas of Sacramento County including Sacramento, Elk Grove, Citrus Heights, Folsom, Rancho Cordova, and all other towns in Sacramento County.
First, let’s talk about probate attorneys who specialize in probate law. Anyone can hang a shingle on their door and claim anything. So, how do you know the probate attorney specializes in probate law?
Start with the State Bar of California Home Page. Its website address is calbar.ca.gov. From here there is a section for the public on top of the home page.
Under the quick links, there is a section called FIND A CERTIFIED SPECIALIST. Then from there, it is all smooth sailing. Just click the down carat. Go to the estate planning, trust, and probate law. There, you will see attorneys who specialize in probate law.
The general requirements to become a certified specialist in probate law include passing a written examination, practicing law continuously for at least five years, and spending at least 25 percent of the time given to practicing estate and planning and probate law.
What if the attorney practiced 25% in estate planning and not in probate law?
This leads to the second question, how much experience do they have in practicing probate law? I have been selling probate properties for many years and throughout the years, I have recorded the names of the attorneys in an Excel spreadsheet. It takes a few seconds for me to sort out the attorneys’ names. I can very easily provide this information to you with no obligation.
Just send me an email, text or Direct Message if you would like this information and I’ll be sure to provide it. Remember – there is no obligation for this information. I do not take a referral fee, I have no marketing affiliation, and there is nothing special. When vendors tell me they will give me a referral fee; I refuse it and ask that they do a good job taking care of my clients. – all it is information that I can provide for you.
The third criterion is to look for a Probate Attorney who is LOCAL in Sacramento County. The reason is that there are local county court rules. Just like counties govern parks and recreation services, police and fire departments, housing services, emergency medical services, public transportation, and public works – they also govern county courts and they have local rules for county courts.
A local Sacramento County probate attorney is best due to the ways courts require documents to be filed with the court.
If you are out of town, ask yourself; would you rather have somebody local there so you can just drive over to their office whenever you need or would you rather have somebody familiar with the local rules of the court?
If I were to go by reviews online, the only website I would use is Martindale.com for attorneys. This is a peer-to-peer review website where attorneys review other attorneys. The reason I say this is the only website I would use is because some of the other review websites may have fake reviews. One real estate agent consultant advised realtors to hire high school students to post reviews. So unethical…
One more thing – Check to make sure they have a license to practice law. You can also get from the California State Bar website. Again, that link is calbar.ca.gov.
I hope this helps. So, I said at the beginning of this blog that I would have a surprise for you. My surprise is the next blog. The next brief blog is on what you can expect a probate attorney to do and what you can expect them not to do. This is useful information so you can be prepared a bit better.
And, if you would rather watch a video on this topic, be sure to visit my probate YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp5m60AyyQHragv2-UsnKXg
CA BAR ASSOCIATION: https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/members/ls_search.aspx
LICENSE SEARCH: https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/LicenseeSearch/QuickSearch
CALIFORNIA PROBATE CODES: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayText.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&division=7.&title=&part=7.&chapter=1.&article=2.
