Ever wanted to relive a family member's death?
Have them pass away in Rutherford County, Tennessee while you are a working person without extra funds.
In most counties and states the probate process can be completed by a person on their own, without a lawyer, by filling out and filing all of the correct forms. That's all. Just forms. Heck, most of them can be found online and printed out to be mailed and filed. Amazingly simple.
However, in Rutherford County, Tennessee there are no such forms.
They REQUIRE you to have an attorney go through probate. You will not be allowed to even try filing anything (if you knew what to file) unless it is done by an attorney. They refuse to say what you'd have to write in order to file.
This is after them saying "sure we'll mail the forms to you" and then finding out a week later when they didn't arrive that said forms didnt' exist and the person who said that lied.
I have gone round and round with the county clerk's office and the judge's office and they refuse to allow me to go through.
I have talked with lawyers. They are all scum. The cheapest said he'd only charge me $500 to write up the papers and give them to me to file. He said $1000 for him to actually take care of it all.
I'm trying to get the legal papers naming me the executor so I can have an account paid out that is worth only about $1300. And to transfer the car title to my name. A car that bluebooks around $500. And they want $1000?!
If I had that money, do you think I'd be worrying about trying to do this whole mess.
So here I am, months after all this started, still fighting. I called free legal aid here in TN and it turns out they don't cover probate issues though the lady there was the first one who actually seemed sympathetic to my situation. She gave me the name of a place that does free legal advice clinics on Thursdays that might be able to help me.
That's as far as I've gotten.
And every time I have to pick up the phone or even think about calling more people, hearing outrageous fees or be told that I'm dealing with the one county in TN that's living in the Dark Ages for some fucked up reason I end up in tears of utter frustration.
I still can't take the time to breathe and finally learn to accept Nana's gone. Until I finally get that damned paperwork from the court, everything continues to stay so fresh in my mind that it feels like it's going to crush me sometimes.
So yeah....wanna feel that wound reopen every day? Move your loved ones to Rutherford County and let them pass away there with a will that has to go through probate when you can't afford a lawyer.
Stupid fucking people.
In most counties and states the probate process can be completed by a person on their own, without a lawyer, by filling out and filing all of the correct forms. That's all. Just forms. Heck, most of them can be found online and printed out to be mailed and filed. Amazingly simple.
However, in Rutherford County, Tennessee there are no such forms.
They REQUIRE you to have an attorney go through probate. You will not be allowed to even try filing anything (if you knew what to file) unless it is done by an attorney. They refuse to say what you'd have to write in order to file.
This is after them saying "sure we'll mail the forms to you" and then finding out a week later when they didn't arrive that said forms didnt' exist and the person who said that lied.
I have gone round and round with the county clerk's office and the judge's office and they refuse to allow me to go through.
I have talked with lawyers. They are all scum. The cheapest said he'd only charge me $500 to write up the papers and give them to me to file. He said $1000 for him to actually take care of it all.
I'm trying to get the legal papers naming me the executor so I can have an account paid out that is worth only about $1300. And to transfer the car title to my name. A car that bluebooks around $500. And they want $1000?!
If I had that money, do you think I'd be worrying about trying to do this whole mess.
So here I am, months after all this started, still fighting. I called free legal aid here in TN and it turns out they don't cover probate issues though the lady there was the first one who actually seemed sympathetic to my situation. She gave me the name of a place that does free legal advice clinics on Thursdays that might be able to help me.
That's as far as I've gotten.
And every time I have to pick up the phone or even think about calling more people, hearing outrageous fees or be told that I'm dealing with the one county in TN that's living in the Dark Ages for some fucked up reason I end up in tears of utter frustration.
I still can't take the time to breathe and finally learn to accept Nana's gone. Until I finally get that damned paperwork from the court, everything continues to stay so fresh in my mind that it feels like it's going to crush me sometimes.
So yeah....wanna feel that wound reopen every day? Move your loved ones to Rutherford County and let them pass away there with a will that has to go through probate when you can't afford a lawyer.
Stupid fucking people.