Harmony123
New Member
When my mother died, I tried to handle the probate myself since it's a very small estate. However, without the Letters Testamentary I can't get the items from her safety deposit box or her modest bank account. When I went to file the papers, the intake clerk at Surrogates Court told me I couldn't get those letters because the will wasn't notarized. However, she said this defect could easily be remedied with two affadavits of witness--and two out of the three witnesses were the attorney who prepared the will and his partner.
So, I got a certified copy of the will, and the two affadavits, and dropped them off at the attorney's office. It has been several weeks, and every time I've called, he's told me he'll "read it over the weekend" This isn't a complex legal matter. It's a 3 page stock will he prepared (incompetently it looks like, though I haven't said that to him) and a one-page Affadavit of Witness form straight from the Surrogate's Court I'd assume he'd be familiar with in practice.
I'm not an attorney myself, and am not sure what to do. I've talked to Surrogates Court asking if anyone can tell me if I can subpoena him and how to do it, but so far I haven't gotten answers. I tried calling Legal Aid, and they told me no attorney will go against another attorney and that this is a matter for the New York Bar. I have the forms of complaint, but don't want to take that step yet, even though that's the only thing the court and the Bar has suggested. Among other things, my aunt's will is in the safety deposit box and was also prepared by him--and I suspect it will turn out defective too.
I'm thinking of writing a letter telling him my next step will be to report him to the bar. But I hate making this an adversarial thing, and am not sure exactly what note/tone to take with him to expedite it. In the time it took to read any letter, he could check the boxes on the form, sign it in front of a notary and get this over with--but instead he's been blowing me off for weeks. Also, I asked on another forum, and they told me there is no way to make him sign those forms and that if I either file a grievance or threaten one, the forms are likely to go in the trash.
After how he's treated me, and his basic incompetence, I really don't want to take the suggestion I pay him to sign those affadavits--give him my business. Especially since, frankly, I'm poor and even a matter of say 50 dollars is a lot of money for me, or I wouldn't be doing the probate myself. Is there really no remedy when a lawyer screws you over like this?
So, I got a certified copy of the will, and the two affadavits, and dropped them off at the attorney's office. It has been several weeks, and every time I've called, he's told me he'll "read it over the weekend" This isn't a complex legal matter. It's a 3 page stock will he prepared (incompetently it looks like, though I haven't said that to him) and a one-page Affadavit of Witness form straight from the Surrogate's Court I'd assume he'd be familiar with in practice.
I'm not an attorney myself, and am not sure what to do. I've talked to Surrogates Court asking if anyone can tell me if I can subpoena him and how to do it, but so far I haven't gotten answers. I tried calling Legal Aid, and they told me no attorney will go against another attorney and that this is a matter for the New York Bar. I have the forms of complaint, but don't want to take that step yet, even though that's the only thing the court and the Bar has suggested. Among other things, my aunt's will is in the safety deposit box and was also prepared by him--and I suspect it will turn out defective too.
I'm thinking of writing a letter telling him my next step will be to report him to the bar. But I hate making this an adversarial thing, and am not sure exactly what note/tone to take with him to expedite it. In the time it took to read any letter, he could check the boxes on the form, sign it in front of a notary and get this over with--but instead he's been blowing me off for weeks. Also, I asked on another forum, and they told me there is no way to make him sign those forms and that if I either file a grievance or threaten one, the forms are likely to go in the trash.
After how he's treated me, and his basic incompetence, I really don't want to take the suggestion I pay him to sign those affadavits--give him my business. Especially since, frankly, I'm poor and even a matter of say 50 dollars is a lot of money for me, or I wouldn't be doing the probate myself. Is there really no remedy when a lawyer screws you over like this?
