Washington Estate Planning Legal Questions

Your question is not clear. If you are trustee why do you have a probate attorney? If the attorney is the estate attorney assisting with the trust administration and you don't want to work with that attorney anymore, yes you can fire them. If there is a probate it depends on the circumstances but generally you are not obligated to work with an attorney and can fire them, they will be entitled to compensation for the work they did. At James Law Group we make every effort to respond to you quickly and efficiently. This means we may be responding to you from a mobile device. As you know, responding on these devices can result in typographical errors that my otherwise not occur. In order to provide this extra service, please be aware of this and excuse any errors that may be caused by responding in this forum. The content of this message is protected by attorney-client privilege.... Read More

No, that would be the decision of the executor. Are you the court appointed executor? If so, you may fire the estate attorney absent a provision in the Will or letter of the Testator stating otherwise. Still you could seek authority in court, if there is a written requirement that the attorney be the estate attorney.... Read More

Generally, no. As the successor trustee you probably will not have the ability to remove the attorney. However, if you are also a beneficiary of the trust and suspect or have evidence that the attorney has committed some type of misconduct, then you could petition the probate court and make the court away of what is going on.... Read More

If this is a true retirement account then the beneficiary designation filed with the employer governs. If this is just a checking account and the only name on the account is your father's - it goes to his estate if it is a joint account (joint tenancy with right of survivorship or tenancy by the entities) it goes to the other co-owners.... Read More

Honestly there is no easy way. It will require searching. Here are some suggestions: 1. Review a year's canceled checks and contact all insurance companies he paid money to; 2. Contact his employer or prior employer; 3. Contact some of the big insurers: Prudential MetLife metlife.com/policyfinder; American International Group; nationwide; John Hancock johnhancock.com, contact us then account search; Contact the State Insurance commission to see if they have a state specific suggestion; 4. Search the unclaimed pretty division for the county or state where he died to see if the proceeds have been turned over (this only works if the person has been dead for a while, i.e. 3 years); 5. Contact the MIB database, they charge $75 and are only used for policies after 1996. Try policylocator.com... Read More