If it’s estate planning, you get to wake up every morning and help people protect the assets they worked their entire lives to build up. If it’s probate, you can guide someone during a delicate time in their life and assist them with court proceedings to gain access to a loved one’s assets to be distributed per their wishes. 

Below are some of the key common responsibilities you will have as an estate planning and probate paralegal.

Intake

Calendars are a law firm’s best friend. Everything goes on that calendar, including when consultations are scheduled for attorneys. If a client is looking to get on the schedule, make sure you know your attorney’s availability and preferences for taking consultation calls. Some attorneys prefer to take their consults in the morning, at lunch, in the afternoons, or they have open availability all day. Keep your attorney’s preferences and calendar in mind when giving any potential new clients a date and time for their initial consultation. 

When a potential new client schedules a consultation, you will need to ask them for all relevant information prior to their appointment. Basic information such as their name, phone number and email address, as well as more in-depth information such as names of their heirs, assets and how they would like to distribute their property. Without all of this information, the attorney will spend much of their consultation time gathering these answers instead of discussing the client’s wishes and goals for their estate plan or probate proceedings. 

To make the initial consultation flow even smoother, input the potential new client’s information into your firm’s case management system. This way when the initial consult date comes up, you will not need to spend time entering this information the day of. Or what if the client ends up not wanting to proceed at this time but months later they decide to proceed? You will already have all of their information saved to your system and can get started on their case right away. 

Opening Matters

Following the intake process, you will need to open the new client’s matter in your case management system. It’s important to keep matters listed under their respective clients in case said client ever needs any other matter handled by your firm. If the client did not give you all the necessary information before the initial consultation, you will need to do so now. It is crucial–and a time saver–to gather all missing information from the client to avoid any unnecessary back-and-forth, which would most likely cost your client in billable hour work. The less “client communication” billed, the happier your client will be. 

For most clients, this is most likely their first time either: a) hiring an attorney, b) getting an estate plan done, or c) having the misfortune of probating a loved one’s Will. If any of these are true, your client might be anxious about the legal process. It’s your job to inform the client of what the next steps are, and how you will guide them through it all. 

Drafting Documents

In a perfect world, you would only draft documents once, have your attorney review, and the client would sign alongside a notary on the first try. This world is anything but perfect. You will most likely draft the documents a few times before anything is executed and either ready to be filed or ready to be sent home with the client for safekeeping. 

This is where that initial information you gathered comes into play. The initial drafts of the documents will be based on what you gathered, and when ready for review, send them to your attorney for any edits to make. Once approved, you will send them to your client to carefully review. You will probably repeat this process a few times to get the perfect document crafted but once you have a final version, it’s time to schedule a signing. Make sure you are available for the signing day in case any last minute edits need to be made on the fly. 

eFiling

Once the estate plan documents are executed, make sure to save copies in your case management system and send the originals with the client for safekeeping. That’s it! However, probate documents have a different process after signing the application. Once signed, you will need to send it to the court through an electronic filing (efiling) system. The efiling system is entirely dependent on your state and attorney preference, and the process will vary from court to court.

Communication with Court 

Finally, you will need to communicate with probate/county court personnel to check proper filing fees, local rules and scheduling hearings. I highly recommend searching the probate court’s website for these items before calling the clerk or admin. Court staff are busy and much prefer firm staff only call when needed. 

If you’re a legal assistant or paralegal entering the world of estate planning and probate, I hope this information helps prepare you for what to expect. If you’re an attorney seeking assistance in your estate planning and probate law practice, please feel free to contact me at raquel@personalparalegal.com to book a free discovery call and discuss how I can help.

Sincerely, 

Raquel Alonso

Personal Paralegal