Login | June 04, 2026
How to find a trusts and estates attorney
JULIE JASON
Published: June 4, 2026
When asked to speak on estate planning, I inevitably emphasize the importance of retaining skilled legal counsel.
The job of the estate planning attorney is to learn about your wishes and to create the legal framework to execute those wishes after you pass away.
If you have a small estate, don't assume you don't need estate planning. Without a will, you won't have a say about the assets you own in your own name. Someone (not you) will decide where those assets go after your demise. The "someone" is the probate court applying the state's intestacy laws.
For example, in Connecticut, if you are married without children, a not insignificant percentage of your assets will pass to your parents. That is, when a husband passes away, his wife, as the surviving spouse, will share his assets with his parents (her in-laws).
When planning for large estates, there are additional considerations. You want to leave assets to your children, but do you want to leave assets to your children's "creditors or predators"? To lessen the likelihood of that happening, the trusts and estates lawyer would consider asset protection planning, explained Katherine Gent, a principal in Cummings & Lockwood's Private Clients Group in Greenwich, Connecticut. The future is unknown. Why not protect against something that you may not think of but that trusts and estates lawyers see in their practices all the time?
Given this landscape, it pays to become familiar with estate planning concepts. Start with the Estate Planning Essentials video series, offered at the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) website (tinyurl.com/5em2p3vb). Also see the site's Resource Center. ACTEC is "an organization of trust and estate lawyers and law professors in the United States and around the world."
To find an estate planning lawyer, use ACTEC's searchable "Find a Lawyer" tool (tinyurl.com/3k32ezte). You can search for your location to review ACTEC Fellows (lawyers who "must have more than 10 years of experience in the active practice of probate and trust law or estate planning"). In the state of California, ACTEC lists more than 60 lawyers who handle general trust and estate matters. Connecticut has 25, New York 56 and Florida 53.
You may also want to try an attorney search with the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils (tinyurl.com/4z4a346n). And don't forget your local bar association. (For example, the Connecticut Bar Association has a Find a Lawyer search engine at tinyurl.com/2kb6hvvh.)
Once you've conducted your search, interviewing possible candidates is next. Here are some questions to ask:
1) Tell me about your experience as a trusts and estates lawyer and the types of clients you serve. Attorney Gent cautions that you should not work with people who do not have experience in this area.
2) How do you handle spouses when one spouse is more informed about estate planning and finances than the other?
3) Do you normally consult with the client and the client's financial and tax advisers to review financial accounts and balance sheets?
4) Do you normally address asset protection planning?
5) Do you offer to serve as trustee or executor when a client doesn't have someone in mind? If so, do you provide the client with a written conflicts disclosure? (ACTEC has wise guidance on that point.)
Of course, you will also need to know about the lawyer's fees for estate planning. If fees are based on hourly billing, how long will it take the lawyer to prepare the plan? If there is a fixed fee involved, what does it cover?
You will likely have questions that are unique to your situation -- you need to ask them. Gent points out that you should make sure you feel comfortable sharing sensitive topics with the attorney, as "the more the attorney knows, the more they can protect your family."
The main point of the interview is to help you hire a skilled attorney who fits your personality, can meet your objectives and is transparent about any potential conflicts.
One final thought: Remember that you are the client, and the lawyer works for you. If you don't feel comfortable in an interview with a lawyer, you likely won't be comfortable as a client.
Seasoned investment counsel (tinyurl.com/52nus8hz) and award-winning columnist and author, Julie Jason, JD, LLM, promotes financial literacy and investor protection. Read her latest book, "The Discerning Investor: Personal Portfolio Management in Retirement for Lawyers (and Their Clients)" (tinyurl.com/4u7h9pjs), published by the American Bar Association. Write to Julie at readers@juliejason.com. While all questions cannot be answered, each email is read and reviewed and can lead to discussion in a future column.
COPYRIGHT 2026 Julie Jason, DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106; 816-581-7500