I have a question about paralegals and their roll as it pertains to writing a will.During a meeting with a lawyer a friend of mine was left ...

Question

I have a question about paralegals and their roll as it pertains to writing a will.

During a meeting with a lawyer a friend of mine was left questioning the roll a paralegal played. I know that a paralegal has to be supervised and she was most of the time. While discussing the details of the will the paralegal sat in to take notes, the lawyer had to leave and left the paralegal to gather the rest of the information from the client. This leads me to my first question, is that not the unauthorized practice of law (being that there was no lawyer present). The paralegal also suggested a type of will that she (my friend) might think about having. Is this legal?

- George

Answer

A paralegal should not be drafting wills or other documents without review by the attorney. Nor should the paralegal be representing people in court or giving legal advice. That said, I see nothing wrong with leaving the paralegal to gather basic information from the client about the client's estate plan.

With regard to recommending a will, I cannot jump to conclusions as I was not present. I do not know if the paralegal in fact made such a recommendation or if the paralegal was simply stating something along the lines of "based on the information you provided, you might want to ask the lawyer about a _____ will."

However, your statement makes no sense. There is only one kind of will. For people who have trusts prepared, there is a special will called a pourover will, but it is still a will. It just directs assets to be "poured over" into a trust instead of being distributed outright to the beneficiaries. The only other distinctions I know of are where the will directs that a special needs or other type of testamentary trust be created. However, this is still the same type of will and only the directions for how the assets are to be distributed differ.

Unless you are the client, that is between the client and the lawyer. If the client has concerns, she should raise them with the attorney, not you.