My lawyer, bless 'im, is great. He handled my divorce and is my executor and alternate trustee (not that I have a lot to trust him with but I’ve no relatives nearby).
Would other members of the [very small] firm divvy up the clients or would the clients have to seek out another attorney on their own?
What if my attorney were a sole practitioner?
If your lawyer died, you’d have to find a new lawyer. He’s probably not going to keep representing you from beyond the grave. If he works at a firm, that’s something that you’ll have to work out with the firm. (and you’re probably their client, and not his particularly).
That was fast. You are amazing.
Is it the firm’s responsibility to notify clients of the death?
People “have” lawyers?
I’ve never had a reason to contact a lawyer. If I got hauled into jail or sued I’d probably be looking for one in the phone book.
And then you’d “have” a lawyer and you can be free of your incredulity.
All my dealings with lawyers have been episodic. Each time (4) we bought a house. When we had a property line dispute with a neighbor. When I was offered a generous severance package. When we adopted a child. When I got a bogus traffic ticket. When I made a will, and again when I needed to update it. I don’t consider myself to have a continuing relationship with any of them.
So even though I might be in the top 5% in income and net worth, I don’t “have” a lawyer. My similarly situated siblings don’t either. Each time my business with a lawyer is completed, I get a package of documents that I store myself. I don’t rely on the law firms to keep the records.
I’m pretty sure that at least one or two of these have at least retired, if not expired. I don’t think they would have any way of even finding me to notify, even if there is a continuing firm or successor.
I don’t know that I’d say I “have” a lawyer, but I’ve used one to set up a family trust. We got a referral from a family friend.
Maybe we move in different circles than you.
Sole practitioner checking in. In my jurisdiction, the Bar Association encourages attorneys to designate an attorney who will step into a deceased attorney’s shoes one an emergency basis until clients can hire (or be appointed) new counsel. They also have a team that can go into a deceased lawyer’s office and store and review files, notify clients, return important documents, and deal with retainers and other funds (which must be held in special bank accounts that can be accessed by the Bar in emergencies.) Other than that, Judges grant continances and the living go on.
Thank you, Reloy3, for your answer. I thought there had to be a backup system.
And I do “have” a lawyer who has taken care of me for the past 15 years and I hope he’ll be around for at least that many years to come.
Here in South Florida, the notification part failed for my boss. I don’t have all the details, but he was contesting a traffic ticket via one of those ticket clinic type places. His lawyer died, but he didn’t find out until the courts contacted him for failing to meet some deadline. He called the lawyer’s office and found out what was going on.
Perhaps I can answer this from another perspective on Reloy3’s answer. When I was dealing with my aunt’s affairs I needed to contact her old solicitors for some paperwork. These solicitors had long since retired or died. So I contacted the Law Society to find out with whom the files now resided and from the name of the solicitor they were able to track down the present holders.
It depends. Is your lawyer from a firm or Chambers or a sole practitioner. In the first two instances, chances are that you are not his/her client specifically, but the firm or chambers. If is a sole practitioner or partnership, then you will need to check, although FME, typically the practice is either passed down to a child or a trusted Associate/Junior or sold, and in each case the client is inherited.
If there is no one to inherit, then typically the local Bar will take over…eventually if instructions have not been issued.
In the firm I work for, we took over the practice of an attorney who passed away. We held onto his files, sent his current clients a letter explaining the situation, and gave them the option of hiring us, or finding a new attorney.
I would think each state/jurisdiction is a bit different.
The basic principle I’m familiar with is that “there is no property in a client” - neither the firm nor the particular lawyer has any rights to your business.
This comes up more frequently when a lawyer leaves a firm and wants to “take my clients with me” - the lawyer has to advise the clients of the move, and that they can come, but also advise them that they can stay with the firm if they prefer.
In the case of a death, the members of the firm would likely advise all clients of that lawyer, and invite them to stay with the firm, but it’s the choice of the client, not the firm.
In my jurisdiction, the Law Society would appoint a lawyer to act as trustee, to wind up the deceased lawyer’s business, including advising the lawyer’s clients about the death and providing information about their options.
In Florida, what Reloy3 describes are called inventory attorneys and are actually required; you have to list someone else as your inventory attorney with the bar at all times. It’s not a very appealing job, but if you don’t find one you get censured and eventually suspended or disbarred.
Usually solo practitioners will work out some sort of quid pro quo arrangement with each other. This works fairly well when they practice in the same areas since it means they can offer their services to the deceased/nutso lawyer’s clients. Partners in firms will do the same, obviously.
That’s how it works here, too. In the case of a departing partner, the firm or departing lawyer sends a letter saying “this arrangement will terminate as of some date. You have three options: (1) remain with lawyer X; (2) remain with firm Y; (3) refer your file to another firm. Please check below” or somesuch.
Just for the sake of clarification, do fiduciary duties and duty of care remain with the firm until relieved? Over here the principal applies as you mentioned but that after death, departure or disability the firm or chamber continues to be professionally responsible until relieves, meaning that any necessary filings, appearances, representations in pending litigation or transactions have to be continued until you are expressly told not to.
Another sole practioner checking in. In this state the bar association and the supreme court ( the supreme court issues the licenses and polices the lawyer business) strongly encourages a formal written succession agreement that establishes just who in to wind up a lawyer’s practice on death, disability or retirement. The pressure to do this is pretty strong - to the extent that showing the agreement is part of the annual audit of the lawyer’s trust account.
This all gets a bit touchy because many sole practitioners have a bunch of escrowed deed in their files that are to be delivered to a buyer when a real estate contract is paid off. The deed, and maybe the abstract, my lay in the file for 10 or 15 or 20 years. Trying to run down a deed when the lawyer/escrow agent is dead, or retired to Arizona or is holed up in the senility unit of a distant nursing home is a real pain. Same sort of problem when a lawyer up and dies in the middle of a case. The succession agreement goes a long way toward alleviating this sort of trouble. It at least lets the client know who has the file and that he ought to find a new lawyer.
Do you not have something like the U.K.'s Law Society which keeps track of things like this? I had to recover documents lodged with solicitors ~90 years previously and the Law Society provided an immediate answer.
We have state bar associations which serve many of the same functions, but compliance tends to be patchy among lawyers who wind up their practices.
I thought they were killed and buried with him so they can continue to serve him in the afterlife…