I currently live in Arizona, and just recently found out my mother died whom I never lived with. My grandmother also died and I am the only survivor. The will is in my name along with a co-op (condo like apartment in Queens county New York) I currently don't have 5000 that all the attorneys are asking for the administrative process and I don't know what to do.

I am about to loose the co-op because of non payment. The company won't speak to me until I prove who I am. They want a birth certificate which I'm not sure is save due to the high rate of indenify theft.

My question. How do I prove to them who I am? And second, can I prepare my own probate papers so that I can then take control of all assests?

Is it difficult? What company has forms for do it yourself? I see a few online but not sure they are ligit. One is 17.00 the others go as high as 400.00

Help!!

Probate fees for attorneys are not cheap. Also you will have to remember that the attorney gets his fees before the Probate case is finished. Yep. You cannot just take the fees out of the estate once you are in control.

Where is the will being probated?

Has any attorney started on this probate yet? If no attorney has started on this may I suggest that you contact the Clerk's Office at the Probate Section of the courthouse where the will is to be probated. The nice personnel at the probate office can assist you in showing you what forms need to be filled out and maybe help you once you have filled the forms out to be sure they are filled out correctly. When I prepared paperwork for probate court, each paper had to be filled out properly and if the paper was not filled out properly, the nice ladies at the probate court would call me and tell me I was missing some information. Probate work is very exacting, believe me, and if all the information is not properly contained in the forms, the Probate Judge will NOT even get to look it over until it is properly filled out.

Oh, yes, do you have the ORIGINAL will? You will need the original if you are going to be doing the probate paperwork yourself.

Who was assigned by the will as executor of the estate?

By the way, even though you might not be able to take the costs of probate out of the estate, you can take it from the proceeds of your inheritance. So the attorney should be willing to wait for his fee.

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