Finding a DC probate attorney: free, low-cost and paid help

Most families settling a DC estate have never hired a probate lawyer and do not know where to start. The District actually has a well-organized ladder of help, from free forms assistance at the courthouse to volunteer lawyers to a free referral service for paid counsel. Here is each rung, what it can and cannot do, and how to pick.

The short version

1. Court staff help with forms, not advice. The Probate Self-Help Center helps you fill out and print the required forms, but neither the Register of Wills nor any Probate Division staff member may give legal advice.
2. Free lawyer advice exists at the courthouse. Volunteer attorneys from the Probate Legal Assistance Network (PLAN) give brief, same-day advice on probating an estate, by appointment, two mornings a week.
3. Longer-term free help is limited and runs through three nonprofits: the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center, Legal Counsel for the Elderly (age 60+), and DC Affordable Law Firm.
4. To hire a lawyer, the D.C. Bar runs a free referral service, MyDCLawyer, and a public member directory you can use to confirm a lawyer is licensed.
5. The estate usually pays the lawyer, and any interested person can ask the court to review whether the fees were reasonable (D.C. Code § 20–753).

Free help at the courthouse: the Probate Self-Help Center

The DC Superior Court's Probate Self-Help Center gives the public general information about wills, small and large estates, and guardianships and conservatorships. You can complete the required probate forms online and print them at the Center before filing them with the Probate Clerk's Office.

• Where: Court Building A, 515 Fifth Street NW, Room 318. The Probate Clerk's Office, where papers are filed, is Room 314 in the same building.
• When: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Phone: Self-Help Center (202) 508–1681; Probate Division general information (202) 879–9460.

The limit to know up front: the court states plainly that neither the Register of Wills nor any member of the probate staff is permitted to give legal advice. They can tell you which form exists and how to fill in a blank; they cannot tell you whether to open a small estate or a standard one, whether a sale is a good idea, or what to do about a relative who objects. What the Center can do is give you contact information for pro bono and volunteer attorney programs — which is the next rung.

If you have not opened the estate yet, read how to open probate in DC before your visit so you arrive knowing which petition you are likely to need.

Free lawyer advice: the Probate Legal Assistance Network (PLAN)

PLAN is a partnership of three nonprofit legal services providers — the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center, Legal Counsel for the Elderly and DC Affordable Law Firm — that helps DC residents with probate estate administration. According to the court's current PLAN flyer:

• Same-day advice at the courthouse on probating the estate of someone who has died, by appointment on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 9:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in the Probate Division, 515 Fifth Street NW, 3rd floor, Room 319. You book by signing the appointment book outside Room 319; walk-ins are taken first-come, first-served when possible.
• A PLAN attorney can answer probate estate questions, explain the process, give limited general legal advice, and help prepare probate estate forms.
• A PLAN attorney will not represent you at a same-day court hearing, will not help with guardianship or conservatorship, and will not ordinarily file papers for you — you file and report to the court yourself. The advice is brief and does not by itself create an ongoing attorney-client relationship.
• It is confidential and independent. PLAN is not part of the court; the court lets the organizations help on site, but none of their attorneys work for the court.
• Need more than one visit? A PLAN attorney can refer the matter to one of the three organizations to be considered for longer-term help.

Bring the death certificate, any will, a list of what the person owned (including the deed or address of any DC real estate), and any papers the court has already sent. A short visit goes much further with documents in hand.

Calling the nonprofits directly

If you cannot get to the courthouse on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning, the PLAN flyer lists direct contacts:

Each organization sets its own eligibility rules and capacity, and free representation through a full estate is not guaranteed — ask about eligibility on the first call. The D.C. Bar's public estates resource page also points to LawHelp.org/DC, a directory of free legal information and programs in the District.

A realistic expectation: free programs are strongest on getting an estate opened and the forms right. An estate with a house, several heirs and a sale usually needs a lawyer for longer than a clinic can give, which is where paid counsel comes in.

Hiring a lawyer: the D.C. Bar's free referral service

The D.C. Bar runs MyDCLawyer, a free lawyer referral service. You describe the problem in your own words, answer a few questions, and get a personalized list of lawyers whose practice matches it. Per the Bar:

• It is free to use; you pay only if you hire someone.
• Referred lawyers are licensed D.C. Bar members in good standing who meet the service's eligibility criteria.
• You are under no obligation to hire anyone on the list, and the Bar says your information is not shared, stored or sold.
• MyDCLawyer lawyers do not offer pro bono services — for free help, the Bar points you to its Pro Bono Center.

Describe it as a DC probate estate administration with real estate, and mention anything unusual: no will, heirs in other states, a tenant in the house, a mortgage or reverse mortgage, or an earlier death that was never probated. Those details steer you toward someone who has handled that situation before.

Check any lawyer before you sign. The D.C. Bar's public Find a Member directory shows whether someone is a member, and its attorney-discipline pages publish disciplinary decisions. A lawyer filing in DC probate court needs to be able to practice in the District.

Do you actually need a lawyer?

Sometimes not. For a small estate — DC's limit is $80,000 in probate assets — the statute says no attorney is required (§ 20–354(a)); see small estates in DC. Many families also open a standard estate on their own with help from the Self-Help Center and PLAN.

Where we see families get real value from a lawyer is when the estate includes a house and any of these are true:

• The heirs don't agree on selling, keeping or buying out — see when heirs disagree and partition actions.
• Someone in the family wants to buy the house from the estate, which DC treats as an insider sale that can be voided unless an exception applies (§ 20–743.01) — see when the PR or an heir buys.
• Title is tangled: an earlier owner's death was never probated, heirs are missing or unknown, or a will turns up late — see never-probated houses.
• The estate is supervised, or the letters restrict the personal representative's power to sell — see supervised vs unsupervised probate.
• There are claims that may exceed the estate, a Medicaid recovery claim, or a reverse mortgage on a deadline — see Medicaid estate recovery and reverse mortgages.

How the lawyer and the real estate agent split the work on a sale is covered in probate attorney vs realtor.

Who pays the lawyer, and who checks the bill

The personal representative has a statutory power to employ attorneys (along with accountants, appraisers, brokers and others) to advise or assist in administering the estate, and to pay them reasonable compensation and costs out of the estate (D.C. Code § 20–741(17)). In practice that means the estate, not the PR personally, normally pays the estate's lawyer.

The bill is not unchecked. On petition of any interested person (other than someone who consented after fair disclosure), or on motion in a supervised estate, the court can review the need for and scope of any attorney's employment and the reasonableness of the pay; anyone paid more than the court finds reasonable can be ordered to refund it (§ 20–753(a)). The court weighs, among other factors (§ 20–753(b)):

1. the relationship of the fee to the work actually done;
2. any estimate of the fee given to the personal representative;
3. the time spent and the usual hourly rate for that work;
4. the complexity of the matter, difficulties encountered and results achieved; and
5. whether the deadlines were met.

That second factor is why a written estimate at the start matters. We do not publish fee figures: rates and structures (hourly, flat fee for opening, or a mix) vary by lawyer and estate, so ask each lawyer for theirs in writing.

Questions to ask before you hire

• How many DC probate estates do you handle a year, and how many involved selling a house?
• Will you represent me as personal representative, the estate, or one heir? (It matters when family members disagree.)
• How do you bill, what is your written estimate through closing the estate, and who in your office does the work?
• Will fees be paid from the estate, and when?
• What do you need from me in the first 30 days, and what deadlines are running now?
• How will you coordinate with the title company and the listing agent or buyer if we sell?

Write down the answers. If the bill later looks out of line with what you were told, the estimate and these notes are exactly what § 20–753 asks the court to consider.

If something goes wrong: mediation, fee disputes and complaints

• Family dispute in the case. A probate judge can refer a case to the court's Probate Mediation Program; once referred, attendance is required. Mediation is held remotely unless everyone agrees to meet in person, it is confidential (with exceptions for credible threats of violence and abuse reports), and any agreement is entered in the court record and enforced. If you have no lawyer, the court encourages you to consult one before the session.
• Disagreement over your own lawyer's bill. The D.C. Bar's Fee Dispute Program (the Attorney/Client Arbitration Board) arbitrates fee disputes between clients and lawyers. Estate-paid fees can also be reviewed by the probate court under § 20–753.
• Misconduct. The Office of Disciplinary Counsel investigates complaints that a DC lawyer violated the Rules of Professional Conduct; the D.C. Bar's discipline pages explain how to file.

Where we fit

We are a District real estate brokerage, not a law firm, and we are not affiliated with the court, PLAN or any program on this page. We do not refer families to specific lawyers for a fee, and nothing here is legal advice.

What we handle is the property side once you have legal footing: a free written opinion of value for the inventory and the sale decision, access, clean-out and vacancy logistics, coordination with the personal representative, heirs, lawyer and title company, and then either a full listing or a direct as-is cash offer — whichever nets the estate more. Related reading: selling a house in DC probate, the DC probate process step by step, what a DC personal representative has to do, and how an inherited DC house is valued.

Sources: DC Superior Court, Probate Self-Help Center, Probate Legal Assistance Network flyer and Probate Mediation pages; D.C. Bar, Hiring a Lawyer (MyDCLawyer), Fee Dispute Program and Attorney Discipline pages; D.C. Code §§ 20–354, 20–741, 20–743.01 and 20–753, read at code.dccouncil.gov. All read October 2026. Hours, rooms and phone numbers change — confirm with the office before you go. We are not affiliated with any program listed, and nothing here is legal advice.