Weird question about lawyer stuff and ethics

[masraum]

This question is in 2 parts.

1 Is there someone that we can call (like the Texas Bar Assn) and ask if a particular situation is an ethical problem for a lawyer? Is there anyplace that we may actually get an answer to a question like that?

2 Is the following situation actually an issue/ethical problem where we were told it was?

The situation. My wife is one of a group that are beneficiaries of a trust. Her father and his siblings are the folks that the trust was left to, but her father passed and so now she splits her father's portion with her sister. We had wills made up earlier this year. During the process, the lawyer that made our wills looked at the paperwork that we had for the trust and said that it seemed ambiguous if she had power of appointment for the trust or if it was locked into decendents (per stirpes). He didn't believe that she had power of appt, but said that the wording was unusual. Our wills were completed a few months ago.

My wife decided to contact the lawyers that handle the trust and are the executors of the will to get the power of appt/per stirpes thing clarified so she wrote a letter to the lawyer asking for confirmation

I recently updated my will and other estate paperwork. My attorney indicated that as no Power of Appointment was attached to the trust we could not will our shares away. That on our passing, shares would automatically pass to our children or back to the trust in the absence of children.

Then asked for the lawyer to clarify.

She didn't receive a response from the lawyer, so she called. When she called, she got an assistant or secretary or something, no the actual lawyer. The person on the phone checked the file and said that they had mailed a letter to the lawyer that had made our wills (she had included their name in the letter). When my wife said that she would like to know what the letter said, the girl said that she couldn't tell my wife because it would be unethical. We have had the lawyer that made up our wills send a letter to the trust lawyer stating that he is not representing us. My wife has not yet heard anything from the other lawyer. She wants to call and if they give her any trouble, tell them that she has checked with <________, Texas State Bar?> and been told that there is no question of ethics.

Dealing with this situation makes my wife anxious for reasons that I won't get into, and since I'm not in the trust, I don't think I can call the lawyers and get an answer (but I'm going to try).

So, what say you?

Thanks

[stomachmonkey]

Why can't/don't you just ask the lawyer doing your wills for the letter?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Why can't/don't you just ask the lawyer doing your wills for the letter?

She did, they said they never received one.

[Tobra]

^this^
simple is best, I don't get how there could be possibility of an ethics issue.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Tobra

^this^
simple is best, I don't get how there could be possibility of an ethics issue.

Yep, we don't either.

[1979 930]

They get to charge the trust each time you call or send emails ! File with the state bar ! Just the filing will get you your answers .

[masraum]

They get to charge the trust each time you call or send emails ! File with the state bar ! Just the filing will get you your answers .

File what with the state bar?

[1990C4S]

Ask for a copy of the letter to be faxed to your lawyer. The trust lawyer doesn't know who you are and shouldn't answer questions over the phone.

Alternatively your wife, as a beneficiary, should be allowed to request access to the trust file. The letter should be in there.

I smell some legal bills in the offing....

[masraum]

OK, I checked the Texas state Bar website and there is a number to call in case you have a minor issue that you can't work out, but you don't feel like you need to file a grievance. So that's one option.

The second option would be to call the trust lawyer and ask for a copy of the file to be sent to us.