Estate Administration · Probate · Pittsburgh
Can I Use a Different Attorney for Estate Administration in Pennsylvania?
Yes. The lawyer who prepared a will does not automatically have to handle the estate. A person named as executor can retain a different Pennsylvania attorney to help with probate, and so can the personal representative once letters issue, unless the will specifically says otherwise. Hiring different counsel does not itself change or invalidate the will.
If you were named executor in a will, you will be the person opening and administering the estate once the Register of Wills issues letters under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3155(a), and you choose the Pennsylvania attorney who helps you do it. The lawyer who prepared your parent’s will does not automatically become the lawyer for the estate. Unless the will specifically says otherwise, the choice is yours.
That matters because the will may have been written years or even decades ago. Many families do use the drafting lawyer, and that is fine when the lawyer is available and the family is comfortable. But that lawyer may have retired, died, moved away, or stopped handling estates, or may simply not be someone you want to work with. Maybe the lawyer is unresponsive. Maybe you met and did not feel comfortable. Maybe you just want your own lawyer.
You were handed the responsibility. You were not handed the lawyer.
Another lawyer’s name on the will is not a reason to wait.
If another lawyer’s name is on the will, call 412-351-4422 or schedule a consultation. We handle estate administration in Allegheny County even when another attorney prepared the will.
Does this sound like your situation?
The estate can proceed. The first task is finding the original will, which may be with a successor or the family.
The original may be with a successor or surviving partner, and a different attorney can start the probate filing now.
A different attorney can start without waiting, and the Register of Wills has a process to compel production of the original if it is not produced.
Where the decedent lived at death generally controls where the estate is probated, and a Pennsylvania attorney can sort out what the will needs.
The fact that another attorney drafted the will does not, by itself, prevent different counsel from handling the administration.
The question changes, and the wording of the will matters. Bring it to the first meeting.
You do not have to have it figured out before you call.
Why Families Assume They Have to Use the Lawyer Who Prepared the Will
Families assume they have to use the lawyer who prepared the will because that lawyer’s name is on the document and the original may be in that office’s vault. The name is typed on the will, printed on the envelope, or written on a letter in the file, and your mother may have dealt with that office for twenty years. You may have met the lawyer once at a signing, or never, and the office still feels like the next stop.
Few people tell a grieving family that the choice of attorney is open, and few tell them it is closed, so the silence starts to feel like a rule. In the ordinary case, it is not one. The family did not miss a form or skip a step. Most people in your position wonder the same thing, for the same reasons.
Occasionally a will contains a sentence suggesting that a particular lawyer be retained for the estate. That language is uncommon, and how much weight it carries depends on its exact wording and the circumstances. If your will has a sentence like that, point it out at the first meeting with whichever attorney you speak with, and do not decide on your own that it can be ignored.
What Role Does the Attorney Who Prepared the Will Have After Death?
The attorney who drafted the will represented the person who signed it in that engagement. Representing the executor in the later estate administration is a separate engagement, and the client in it is the person named as executor, who retains the attorney to prepare and sign the petition for letters. Preparing the decedent’s will does not automatically make that lawyer counsel for the administration. Who the lawyer on the estate actually represents is a point that surprises many beneficiaries, and it is covered in our page on who an estate attorney actually represents.
None of that means the drafting lawyer has no part to play. Some will drafters remain willing and able to handle the administration, and some families prefer that. A drafting lawyer may also have continuing responsibilities in particular circumstances, such as holding the original will or the decedent’s planning file.
Possession of the original will is the practical point that worries most people. Pennsylvania probate generally requires the original, and the original may be with the lawyer who prepared it. Families often start with a written request from the person named as executor, and many offices release the original on that basis, though what happens in a particular case depends on the circumstances. If the original is not produced, the law has a remedy. Under 20 Pa.C.S. § 3137, the Register of Wills, at the request of any party in interest, issues a citation to a person alleged to have possession or control of a decedent’s will, requiring that person to show cause why it should not be deposited with the Register. Absent good cause, the Register orders the will deposited. Most families never need that step, but it is there.
The original will and the attorney’s broader estate-planning file are different matters. The original is the document the Register needs for probate. The planning file, which may include notes about the decedent’s wishes, earlier drafts, and a list of assets from the planning meetings, is a separate question, and whether and how it is released depends on the circumstances. A new attorney can request it, and the estate can generally begin without it.
If the will names the drafting lawyer as executor or trustee, the question changes. That lawyer would be a fiduciary under the will, not only the author of it, and the family should talk that through with an attorney before anyone assumes how it works.
When Families Commonly Choose a Different Attorney
The most common reason is that the lawyer is gone. Wills are often signed ten, twenty, or thirty years before the death, and in that time a lawyer may have died or retired, or the firm may have merged or closed. When that has happened, the original will may be with a successor, a surviving partner, a safe deposit box, or the family, and finding it is the first task. The estate still needs to be administered, and a missing drafter is not a reason to wait.
Other families reach the old lawyer and find the office has gone quiet. Calls are not returned, or the lawyer who drafted the will no longer handles estate administration, or the matter has been handed to someone the family has never met. Letters are what let an executor collect and manage the estate’s assets, and the will has to be presented to the Register of Wills before they issue. The family does not need to stay stalled because the original drafting attorney is unavailable. A different attorney can start work right away.
Distance is another reason. A parent may have signed a will while living in another state and then moved to Pittsburgh to be near a daughter. The family wants an attorney in Allegheny County who knows the Register of Wills and the Orphans’ Court here. A will signed elsewhere is not automatically a problem, though how it is probated turns on where the decedent lived at death and the facts, and a Pennsylvania attorney can sort that out in the first conversation.
And some families simply prefer someone else. The old lawyer drew up the will well and the executor still wants a different attorney, perhaps one who handles estate administration every week, perhaps one the executor trusts personally. Families may prefer different counsel for many legitimate reasons, and the fact that another attorney drafted the will does not, by itself, prevent different counsel from handling the administration.
How This Works in Pennsylvania
Probate runs through the Register of Wills in the county where the decedent lived, which for a Pittsburgh resident is the Allegheny County Register of Wills. The steps are the same whichever attorney you hire: the original will goes to the Register, the Register grants letters, and the executor becomes the personal representative. Our page on what to do first as the named executor walks through them.
Until letters are issued, the person named in the will is a named executor, not yet a personal representative holding letters. A named executor can consult and retain an attorney during that period, and the attorney prepares and signs the petition for grant of letters. That is the point at which most families make the choice this page is about. After letters issue, the executor, now the personal representative, carries the responsibilities described in our guide to executor duties in Pennsylvania.
Changing the attorney handling the administration does not itself change the will. The will says what it says, and the attorney you retain administers the estate under it and applicable Pennsylvania law. A new attorney does not rewrite it or ask the family to sign a replacement. If you are not the person named as executor, the choice of estate attorney belongs to the person who is, subject to anything the will specifically says, and the first practical step may be working out who that is and whether he or she will serve.
What to Look For in an Estate Administration Attorney
Look for an attorney who handles Pennsylvania estate administration regularly, who can explain probate procedure in plain terms, and who is comfortable with the parts of an estate that cause trouble: Pennsylvania inheritance tax, creditors and claims, beneficiaries who disagree, and real estate that has to be sold or retitled. You want someone who will see the administration through to the end, including the accounting and distributions, and who will answer your calls while that happens. The full picture of what the work involves, from the first filing to the final distribution, is on our Estate Administration and Probate page. This page is only about whether you are free to choose.
How to Move Forward With a Different Attorney
The practical step is a phone call. Lebovitz & Lebovitz, P.A. handles routine estate administration for families in Allegheny County and the Pittsburgh area, including estates where another attorney prepared the will. The fact that a different lawyer drafted it does not stand in the way of calling us.
At the first conversation we will want to know who has died and when, whether you have the original will or only a copy, and who is named as executor. If you have a death certificate, bring it, along with whatever you know about the decedent’s assets and the name of the lawyer who prepared the will. If the original is still with that lawyer, we can help you request it. A brief written request from the executor is a common first step, and there is no need to ask the prior lawyer’s permission before retaining us.
From there, the work follows the ordinary path: the probate filing with the Register of Wills, notices to the people who need them, the inheritance tax return, handling the assets, and closing the estate. If you have been waiting on an old attorney’s office and the weeks are adding up, contact us and start now.
Letters testamentary and letters of administration are granted by the Register of Wills in each county under Title 20 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. Estate matters that come before a court are heard in the Orphans’ Court Division of the Court of Common Pleas, and the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System publishes court information for each county.
Lebovitz & Lebovitz, P.A. · Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Serving Allegheny County and southwestern Pennsylvania.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do we have to use the lawyer named in or identified with the will?
No. The lawyer who drafted a will does not automatically become the estate’s attorney. Unless the will specifically says otherwise, the executor chooses the attorney for probate and estate administration, and many Pennsylvania executors choose someone other than the drafter. If the will itself contains language about retaining a particular lawyer, show it to the attorney you consult, because its effect depends on the wording.
What if the lawyer who prepared the will died or retired?
The estate can proceed without that lawyer. The first task is locating the original will, which may be with a successor attorney, a surviving partner, a safe deposit box, or the family. An estate attorney can help trace it, and a different attorney can handle the probate and administration while that search goes on.
Does using another attorney affect the validity of the will?
No. Retaining a different attorney after the decedent’s death does not itself alter or invalidate an otherwise valid will. The new attorney administers the estate under the existing will and applicable Pennsylvania law.
Does the original lawyer have to release the original will or the file?
The original will generally needs to reach the Register of Wills for probate, and a written request from the person named as executor is a common first step. If a person alleged to hold the will does not produce it, 20 Pa.C.S. § 3137 allows a party in interest to ask the Register to issue a citation requiring that person to show cause why the will should not be deposited. The lawyer’s broader planning file is a separate question. A new attorney can request it, and whether and how it is released depends on the circumstances.
Can we change attorneys after estate administration has already begun?
Yes. A personal representative can change counsel during administration, and the new attorney picks up from where things stand, using the filings already made with the Register of Wills. What matters is getting the file and the court papers to the new attorney promptly. Questions about fees for work already done are worth raising at the start with the new attorney.
Can Lebovitz & Lebovitz take over an estate when another lawyer prepared the will?
Yes. We handle estate administration for Allegheny County and Pittsburgh area families regardless of who drafted the will. Call us with the will and whatever paperwork you have, and we will tell you where the estate stands.
Related: Estate Planning Overview | Estate Administration and Probate | Executor Duties in Pennsylvania | You Were Named Executor in Pennsylvania | The Estate Attorney Does Not Represent You | Contact Us