What Level of Services and Fees Should I Expect from an Estate Attorney

My question involves estate proceedings in the state of: California.

My mother passed recently. I am named executor and trustee for her will and trust.
She has a pour-over will. She doesn't have much in the way of assets, but her trust does have a paid-off house titled to the trust.

I'm looking for an attorney to help me with those duties and I'd like to know what range of services I could expect from him or her. Or is there even a range of services?

I don't know if I should expect just a one hour consultation, prepare my questions as comprehensively as I can, take copious notes, and then off I go trying to do everything myself properly on my own; only returning for another hour of consultation if I think of new questions. Kind of like a pay-as-you go engagement.

Or do I explain what I need done, and the attorney quotes me a fixed fee, takes it from there, handling all forms, court visits & filings, notifications, etc, and provide me progress updates along the way and assigns me action items for things I need to do.

Or is it something in between those two extremes?

Also, any ball-park estimates on what I can expect to pay in fees would be appreciated.

What Level of Services and Fees Should I Expect from an Estate Attorney

Interstate Issues: Disputing Paternity of Child Born Within Marriage in Another State

My questions involve a child custody case from the State of: originally Texas, but the child and custodial parent now reside in Florida, and we don't reside in either of those states now.

My husband's first marriage ended when he found out that his wife was having an affair. In the resulting fallout, he ended up homeless and unemployed, and as such, when she filed for divorce, he did not have a lawyer. Within the marriage, a child was born, and my husband believes that the child is the son of the man with whom his wife was having the affair. Even though my husband states that he was homeless and unemployed, Texas decided that he needed to pay child support for the child born within the marriage. My husband does not have a relationship with the child of any kind.

So now that we're in a position to hire a lawyer, we want to know if this child for whom we are providing support is my husband's biological child. If he is not, we want to get the order for support terminated. If he is, we want to establish visitation so that we can get to know the child and he can get to know his father, stepmother, and siblings. This is confusing and complicated for us because the order was established in Texas as part of the divorce, and the ex and the child now live in Florida. Would we contact Florida to request a paternity test, or would it have to go through Texas first, since that was where the order was first established? In addition, because the child support order was established as a part of the divorce decree, how would we even be able to request a paternity test to determine whether or not my husband is the child's father? If he is not the child's father, what steps can we take to terminate the support order? If he is, how would we go about requesting visitation so we can get to know this child?

Thanks for your help!

Interstate Issues: Disputing Paternity of Child Born Within Marriage in Another State

Pay Deceased Credit Card from Her Own Account

My question involves estate proceedings in the state of: California.

I was handling my late mom's accounts and bills in the final months
before her death. She has a pour-over will, and a now irrevocable trust.
The checking account is listed as an asset in her trust. I will be her
executor and trustee. I have access to all of her checking and credit card
accounts online. Not sure if it matters, but there are two beneficiaries of
the trust, and I am one of them. Both the checking and credit card accounts
are in my mother's name.

Can I just call the credit card company and have them take the money
they are owed out of mom's checking account? That's what I was doing
when she was still alive.

Or is this going to be way more complicated than that, since she is now
passed away.

A related question is that my nephew was helping me provide 24x7 home
care for a fee my mom offered to him in the final weeks of her life. A
few days after my mom passed, I did a bill-pay to him for his final payment
from my mom's account.

I later found, on this site, that doing so might have been a felony. The check
is still in processing, but too late to cancel. My nephew has agreed to tear it
up and I will make him whole with a check from my own account, which I plan
on accounting for as a loan to the trust. So the check from my mom's account
will never actually get cashed. Have I narrowly avoided committing a felony,
or should I still be worried about something? The amount was small; $300.

Pay Deceased Credit Card from Her Own Account

Custody and Visitation Issues: Child Custody Jurisdiction Between Native American and Non Native American Parents

I have seen several articles on this topic on the web in regards to the law itself governing native american children and where the buck stops insofar as the final word but nothing specific to a native american and non native american parent custody parameters. Does anyone happen to know a resource for these types of nuances?

Custody and Visitation Issues: Child Custody Jurisdiction Between Native American and Non Native American Parents

Buying Out Brother's Interests in a Property Held in Trust

My question involves estate proceedings in the state of: California.

My brother and I are estranged and have a horrific relationship.
My mother knew that when she made her trust. My mom passed away
recently. There is an outstanding restraining order preventing
my brother from coming near me, my mom's house, or my mom (for
that matter). It will remain in effect until 2022. I was living
in my mother's house when she passed away, and I still reside
there.

My mom wanted me to have the option to continue living
here when she passed away. She wanted to remove any power for
my brother to negotiate or influence how the trust would be
settled in any way whatsoever.

My mom's house is titled to her trust. The trust declares me
and my brother as having a 50/50 interest in her trust. There
are no other beneficiaries. I am the trustee. There is a trivial
amount of cash left. The house is basically her only noteworthy
asset and there is no mortgage.

The trust includes a power to self-deal for the trustee, and
the discretion to distribute benefits in cash or in kind.

I have engaged a certified appraiser who does appraisals
for probate courts to establish a fair market value to resolve
disputes between beneficiaries that could arise out of situations
like this.

So, what I would like to do, simplistically, is take the fair
market value, plus what little cash my mom has remaining (if
any), to establish an initial value for the trust. Then subtract
all debts and expenses. What's left will be split. My brother
would get his share in cash, and I would get my share
in kind.

My brother, as you might imagine, doesn't like this. He wants
to direct me in the specifics of how this trust is settled. He
doesn't have the means to buy me out, and he couldn't even live
here, legally, until 2022, even if he did.

I know the standard advice would probably be to get him to sign
an agreement to this approach, but there is just no way on earth
he would ever do that. I also know the path of least resistance
would be to move out and sell the house. But my mom didn't want
that, and I don't either.

I would appreciate any comments or suggestions about my hoped
for approach. And if this is a possible path forward, is it
really just as simple as putting half the net value of the trust
into a trust checking account and then pay it out to my brother?

From a tax standpoint, would my cost-basis for the house be the
full value of the appraisal? Or would it be something different?
What I mean is I basically already own half of the house. Since
I will be selling appreciated stocks to raise the cash, I'd
rather not sell enough assets to deposit the entire value of the
house, only to turn around and give half of the cash back to
myself.

Any thoughts or comments would be sincerely (and desperately)
appreciated.

Buying Out Brother's Interests in a Property Held in Trust

Boards and Associations HOA Charging Me for File Alarm Inspection Re-Test

My question involves real estate located in the State of: California

This is kind of a complicated issue because the inspection took place before my current HOA management company got hired, and my current HOA management company is trying to charge me for an inspection that took place six months ago.

Six months ago, my building had a fire alarm inspection, and the test failed because of a failing mini-horn in someone's unit. I saw the notice that it had failed, and I remembered several years back I had disconnected my mini-horn before because it was ringing during the night. I told this to my previous HOA mgmt company, and they asked the fire alarm contractor to come out and inspect our place. They eventually came out, and told us that our mini-horns are working fine and there are no problems with our unit.

Now, our new HOA mgmt company is trying to charge me for the re-tests ($500). They claim that they have to charge me because on the original invoice it says that our unit needs to be visited for re-test. There are no records of what happened afterwards.

Can the HOA charge me for just a assumption that my unit caused a re-test? The contractor says they only talk to mgmt companies and the mgmt company says there is nothing that they can do, and it is too bad, but we have to pay.

Boards and Associations HOA Charging Me for File Alarm Inspection Re-Test

Probation and Parole: Probation Warrant

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Georgia

I am currently serving a year for a misdemeanor warrant in Georgia, I am working in Utah. The probation department said I had failed a drug screen with alcohol. I do not drink.
I told them that as well, They want me to turn myself in, so I can sit in jail for 3 months waiting for a probation hearing. or I can do 2 weeks if i accept the violation. However the violation would extend my probation 1 more year.

What I admitted to was not alcohol related.

Probation and Parole: Probation Warrant