Estate Attorneys

[ballrific 215]

Does anyone have recommendations on attorneys that work/specialize in estates and/or specifically custodial accounts, UTMAs, etc. in the Austin area?  I've had a few people refer me to a guardianship attorney and they've basically said it's outside their expertise and I shouldn't need their services in having a custodian changed for my kid's UTMA account after a death. I think these fall out of probate court, so there's no getting a court order to assist us well.  And Merrill Lynch is being a real bitch to deal with.  

I figured Hornian could help point me in the right direction but I lost his number...

[shadow_operative2.0 15942]

I’ll tag him so he sees it. 

@hornian

[UTPhil2006 3801]

Just DM’d you his info 

[hornian 5210]

You shouldn't need a court order of any kind to change a custodian on a UTMA. However, banks can be a-holes and make you do things without any basis in law because that's just "their way" of doing things. 

But if you did need a court order, the decedent who was the owner of the UTMA can have probate opened and get an administrator of the estate appointed, and the bank would have to talk to the administrator because legally they are the owner and any acts they take are acts of the owner. 

[HouTex 1866]

I had problems with ML (Bank of America) in dealing with my father’s estate’s accounts.  ML has lawyers based NY that review these matters and they are not cooperative and they look for ways to hold things up.  It took us about a year to get things sorted out.