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February 16, 2006
Court Mandates Use of Attorney
Probate Court Number 2 of Harris County, Texas has posted the following statement on its website:
The large majority of persons offering wills to probate use an attorney to represent them. Some persons file the application without an attorney. Such an application will not be set for a hearing in Probate Court No. 2, unless the applicant is the sole beneficiary of the will and is offering the will as a muniment of title only. An individual filing an application without an attorney to be appointed as an independent executor or administrator is, in the opinion of the court, practicing law without a license.
This statement does not appear to mesh with Texas Probate Code § 76 which expressly grants the "executor named in a will or any interested person" the right to apply to the court for an order admitting a will to probate and for the appointment of an executor. "Interested party" is defined in § 3(r) as including beneficiaries and estate creditors, among others.
Special thanks to Michael Hatfield for bringing this matter to my attention.
February 16, 2006 in Estate Administration | Permalink
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Comments
For what it's worth, I've heard the same sentiment expressed by probate court judges in Cook County, Illinois, where I practice. "Unauthorized practice of law" seems like a stretch -- the real problem with laypeople representing themselves is that they don't know what they're doing, and wind up wasting a lot of court and attorney time. In addition -- rightly or wrongly -- judges don't feel like they should be giving legal advice to laypeople who appear before them.
Posted by: Joel S. | Feb 16, 2006 3:51:32 PM
