Need an excellent estate attorney in NYC. Integrity a must.

February 10, 2014 6:54 AM

Looking for an estate attorney so good it’ll make us forget how our last estate attorney shamelessly ripped us off.

We are still dealing with this situation, in which my deceased relative’s eldercare attorney, who set up his will and trust, now won’t distribute the the trust or respond to communications. Contacting the lawyer’s boss got us more lies, excuses, and evasions. It’s a soul-sapping years-long nightmare, and it's made me very skittish about lawyers in general.

Regardless, it's now time for me to get my own will set up, and ensure that if my husband and I should both die, our minor child is properly taken care of. This will be a little complex due to our situation. I've been putting it off because, honestly, I'm now kind of afraid of lawyers.

Please help restore my faith in lawyers by recommending an estate attorney who can set up a will and a trust and provisions for custody of our child, and deal with a slightly unorthodox situation. We are good clients, not crazy, not overly demanding, able to understand complex ideas once explained. Please send us to an experienced, businesslike lawyer who takes his or her responsibility seriously and has impeccable integrity. I want someone who keeps commitments no matter what and whose word is bond.

Please only recommend people you have personally dealt with — either they set up your own will/estate/trust plans, or you dealt with them after a relative’s death (perhaps in a probate or trustee situation) and they did a smashing job that has left you forever grateful.

AskMe has not steered us wrong yet. I’m just haunted by the fear that, given the above parameters, this question will get 0 answers…

posted by ROTFL to Law & Government (1 answer total)

Best answer: We had an excellent experience with Jill Kupferberg who helped us settle my father-in-law's estate. My partner was the executor, and the will, which had been done by a different attorney, was rather sloppy. She helped us navigate the difference between what the will dictated, and what we knew my fil's wishes to actually be (the will actually left the lion's share to my partner, but we knew that my fil intended it to be more equitable). She was 100% reliable.
posted by kimdog at 8:56 AM on February 10, 2014 [1 favorite]