1975, November, Pg. 2288. CPC Newsletter.

4 Colo.Law. 2288

Colorado Lawyer

1975.

1975, November, Pg. 2288.

CPC Newsletter

2288Vol. 4, No. 11, Pg. 2288CPC NewsletterPARALEGALS IN PROBATE PRACTICE

The spiraling cost of living index is paralleled by the increased cost of legal services. Lawyers finally took a lesson from some of their more innovative professional brethren and within the last five years the concept of the paralegal or legal assistant has become a working part of most law offices. Of course, many lawyers had for some time been utilizing the skills of their secretaries for minor drafting work and for the accounting details of probate administration. But with national training courses and development of training programs by state and local bar associations, the paralegal today is usually an intelligent woman who has received specialized training in a particular area of law.

Estate Planning

As to probate practice, the paralegal has special relevance. The purpose of this article is to explore what probate paralegals in Colorado are doing, what they can do, where you find them and their impact on probate practice under the CPC. The estate planning area, while not the primary topic, deserves some comment. Paralegals can be useful in gathering and refining asset and title data, in preparing tax computations as to the various estate plans the attorney wants to consider, in drafting necessary gift tax returns, in dealing with life insurance companies to obtain desired ownership and beneficiary change forms, and, under the correct controls and with special training, in preparing drafts for review by the attorney of the basic estate planning documents (i.e., wills and trusts, durable powers of attorney, etc.). While the practice in Denver is to utilize paralegals in these estate planning areas, the main role of the probate paralegal is in normal post-death estate administrations where no corporate personal representative is involved.

Estate Administration

The first job is collection of relevant data. The paralegal attends the opening interview wiih the attorney and family members and takes notes and follows up leads to obtain asset information. She, rather than the attorney, may attend the safe deposit box inventory meeting. She then proceeds to contact appraisers to obtain asset valuations and, working closely with the client, resolves questions...