A client contacted me last week and said she needs “an actual deed in her name” so that her “document specialist” could transfer the house to her trust.  I re-sent her a copy of the court order that I recorded after her husband died. I explained that we did a spousal property petition, to transfer the property from her husband to her, and thus there is no an actual “deed” but instead the Judge’s signature is what transfers the property.  She told me, “the woman at GO DEED’S won’t accept the court order as an actual deed.  She wants the original deed.  She’s refunding my money and canceling my order.”

I replied to that email by suggesting the person did not sound very sophisticated or knowledgeable and was probably not an attorney.  I told her it was not possible to create a deed in this type of case so the person just flat out does not know what she is talking about.  She replied, “no, she’s not an attorney, she’s a document specialist with Legal Zoom.  She won’t speak to additional parties.  It took a lot of attempts to get her to speak to me.  Yes, you were hired for this work and you did an awesome job. Thank you.”

So my question is, WHAT IS A DOCUMENT SPECIALIST?

I feel like the word “specialist” connotes that someone is knowledgeable or even an expert but that does not seem to be the case. I should add that I have seen client’s get stories confused.  Sort of like the old telephone game – as the message is passed from one person to the next the message gets changed.  Sure that’s possible here but my client seems pretty clear.

So the question then is why are you dealing with a paralegal or document specialist and not a licensed, practicing, and experienced probate ATTORNEY?  Don’t let the above happen to you. Find an experienced probate attorney and get it done right.

My office handles probate matters throughout California.  Let us know if we can help.

-John