AND SO IT CONTINUES,
THE COMMODITIZATION OF THE PRACTICE OF LAW.
Several years ago, the family law bar strongly opposed the Texas Supreme Court’s creation of forms for people to represent themselves in divorces.
What might wills, trusts and probate attorneys think of a similar effort in their area?
The answer might come on March 9, when the Senate State Affairs Committee hears testimony on Senate Bill 512 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo.
Zaffirini’s bill would call on the Supreme Court to create forms and instructions for people to create their own wills and to represent themselves in probate matters. If SB 512 passes the senate, then the high court would have to generate: a small-estate affidavit; a form to probate a will; and forms to create wills for married and unmarried people, both with and without children.
SB 512 mandates that the high court write the forms and instructions in understandable plain language—both in English and Spanish. The forms would have to say that they weren’t “a substitute for the advice of an attorney.”
Court clerks would have to tell people the forms were available. Courts would have to accept such a form, unless someone completed it “in a manner that causes a substantive defect that cannot be cured,” said SB 512.
The high court decided to create the divorce forms on its own. It would be a different procedure for the Legislature to mandate the Supreme Court to create the probate forms.
Senate Committee Considering Pro Se Probate Forms | Texas Lawyer