<p>My elderly parents live in central FL, near (but not in) The Villages. I want to help them get all their end-of-life paperwork (wills, power of attorney etc) done and want to find a lawyer nearby to help them with it all. I live across the country but will be there in the fall and could shepard them through the process. They are immigrants.</p>
<p>They have very little assets but need to work around a small complicating factor in their house deed so probably should have a lawyer do it.</p>
<p>How do I go about finding a local lawyer who is not too fancy or expensive and can do a decent job with this? </p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you have names for me to look into. TIA.</p>
<p>This might sound crazy, but we needed to find an out-of-state attorney and used Yelp. We phone-interviewed several with good ratings and picked one, who resolved out problem quickly and charged reasonable rates.</p>
<p>If you have an attorney where you live who works for a large firm, they might have attorneys in that firm close to your parents. And if not in the firm, perhaps at the least a law school colleague. </p>
<p>sseamom: I hadn’t thought of yelp for that. Thanks. There’s only one review, but maybe I can try angies list etc.</p>
<p>VH: tried that. No luck.</p>
<p>missypie: English is fine. It’s just more the logistics of getting it done. I will make arrangements before I go down there in the Fall and get it done while down there. That would be great if you could give me some names to check out. Thanks.</p>
<p>The Villages covers a lot of ground sprawling over 3 Florida counties: Lake, Marion, and Sumter. Maybe first identify which county your parents are in and then call the Florida Bar referral service and ask for help finding an attorney in their county who specializes in estate planning, elder law, and real estate law.</p>
<p>The kind of lawyer you want is one who concentrates/specializes in elder law. I am one of those, and we are regularly asked to help with referrals to attys in other parts of the country. Most of us who do this full time belong to a wonderful organization called National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA). There is a search feature on the NAELA website (naela.org) that you can use to find someone local in FL. You can search by zip code, or town, and distance. You will get links to the attorney websites, etc. Once you narrow your choice, you could call the local Council on Aging or Senior Center to ask for recommendations. There are many of my colleagues in FL, and I’m sure you will find someone good. Good luck!</p>
<p>Look up an attorney through the Martindale Hubbell (Martindale com). You can narrow your search rapidly by state and area, principle practice area, etc.) Martindale Hubbell rates attorneys so you can find a good one. Ratings are peer based and high ratings mean some one with both years of experience and expertise in their field.</p>
<p>I got referrals to estate lawyers from our accountant. He was very clear about which estate lawyers understood money issues and which we should avoid. </p>
<p>I expect if you search the internet for their town and “estate lawyer” you would get listings. You can then call and talk to them about their process and experience level. You’re looking for estate lawyers who have been in business long enough to be needed both in writing and in executing end-of-life legal matters.</p>