Depends. Do you need someone to file paperwork, or has the family started hiding the silver?
Probate starts with death and paperwork, and for a while that is all it is. Then somebody finds an old will in a desk drawer. A trustee stops returning calls. An account comes up light. A stepchild remembers a promise nobody else heard. By the time the lawyers show up, Thanksgiving has turned into a crime scene.
For the first kind of case, Los Angeles has plenty of good probate lawyers built for the work. They know the forms, the deadlines, and how to move an estate through the system without creating fresh trouble. https://www.schomerlawgroup.com/uncategorized/hire-probate-attorney/
For the second kind, the list gets shorter.
I have spent enough years in and around the Los Angeles probate courts to know that the clerk behind the counter often understands how a problem moves through the courthouse better than the loudest lawyer in the hallway. I have learned to treat court staff accordingly. Sounds obvious, but common sense gets scarce the minute lawyers walk in carrying expensive briefcases.
The work covers probate litigation, trust disputes, conservatorships, estate administration, and the ugly financial elder abuse cases nobody wants to believe happened in their own family.
The State Bar calls me a certified specialist in estate planning, trust and probate law. That is its dry way of saying it checked the years, the work, the education, the references, and the exam. Courts have appointed me to represent people in contested probate matters and, on occasion, to serve as a probate expert. I have also sat on the other side of the bench as a judge pro tem, which teaches you things no amount of arguing ever will. These days I teach trusts and wills at Loyola Law School, mostly so the next generation doesn’t have to learn it the hard way.
None of that, standing alone, tells you whether I am any good. What tells you is what happens when a case turns bad.
You want a Los Angeles probate attorney who can tell a wounded relative from a thief, and an honest mistake from an accounting built by carnival people. Someone who knows when to settle, when to push, and when to lay the documents on the table and let the judge smell the smoke.
That kind of judgment does not come from a bar card. It comes from years of watching decent families do foolish things under pressure, and foolish people do dangerous things for money.
So yes, I know a good probate attorney in Los Angeles. Ask around and you’ll hear my name eventually — might as well save yourself the trouble. Tell me what happened. Leave out the adjectives. I’ve heard most of them.
Want to read more? Check out my substack at: https://substack.com/@trustprof
- Can You Recommend a Good Probate Attorney in Los Angeles? - August 21, 2026
- The Estate Plan You Think You Have - August 20, 2026
- How a No Contest Clause Can Help Your California Estate Avoid Probate Litigation - August 17, 2026
