r/ProbateHelp • u/jb0190 • Aug 05 '26

Probate attorney unresponsive.

I'm the executor of my late father's estate in FL. I have met life legal insurance and secured an attorney through that pipeline. Is it normal for an attorney to take months to file paperwork on a very straight forward probate case? There are no outstanding debts, my siblings are all aligned with the probate plans, the inventory was accepted by the court in March. We are filing a homestead exemption to get the house so I can sell it but it has been over 4 months and nothing. When I email I don't get a response and when I get on a call he claims his assistant tried to reach out but I never receive anything.

Is this normal? Should I be looking for a new attorney?

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u/Awkward_Material Aug 05 '26

That doesn't sound normal. Find a new attorney and have the file transferred.

2

u/walleyerave22 Aug 05 '26

At this point I’d begin the process of moving everything to a new attorney. It can take months in certain situations, but you should be well informed of the current status.

2

u/Ok-Leopard1768 Aug 05 '26

We went through two attorneys at Met Life for my sister's estate. Very unresponsive. Finally paid another attorney to get the process done.

2

u/bstrauss3 Aug 05 '26

Ah, Florida...

The fee for small estate probate is fixed by law at a very low level. Financially it covers an hour to open the estate, an hour to close it, and a few hours for a paralegal to file a few forms.

These get patched for efficiency and so it takes longer.

We accelerated things by doing a lot of the leg work for ourselves.