Aloha everyone,

The Situation: My mother's mother passed away recently after succumbing to six weeks in hospice for cancer, and caregiving for her for seven years. My mother is Deaf and English isn't her first language, so I (hearing, multilingual, English is not my first language either) have been helping her with the paperwork. I'm up to my head in this so I respect everyone going through this, so I'd appreciate the help! Mahalo! Thank you for your patience.

Details: My grandma and grandpa before their deaths (2022, 2010 respectively). Hired an attorney in Honolulu for $2000 to set-up an estate plan. The receipt details,

Meeting with New Estate Clients; Analysis of Estate, Draft Estate Plan Documents: Trust, Wills, POAs, Healthcare Directives, Open New Case File

My grandma had a Last Will and Testament, Revocable Living Trust Agreement (complete with three parts, 1: disposition of the trust estate, 2: trusteeship, 3: definitions, powers, and provisions, and Schedule A).

Details: My mother and I went to the bank, Navy Federal Credit Union, in order to settle grandma's account. Unfortunately, we were told that because of the six-figure amount spread over three accounts/assets, we were unable to obtain it. We were unable to obtain it because my grandma never signed any paperwork designating my mother as the beneficiary, or officiary (the recipient), and that the Trust nor Will specifically says, "IRA or High-Yield Savings Account from Navy Federal Credit Union". I was told that if I find a trust or will document that was notarized that specifically states that bank, then we could forego the court process. The service representative then told me that there is no Estate that was communicated, or created, that would transfer the assets, but I thought that my grandparents already created an estate???

I'm confused. I thought a trust/will that blanket states that the appointed trustee (my mom) would be subject to inherit any income, principal, assets, or tangible material. I read through the trust and will and there was no mention of the word bank or credit union, as much as the jargon kept stating that my mother would simply be appointed the person to receive any asset or income or principal. Now the bank is telling us we need to get the Will Probated and bring the will, trust, and any other forms that may support our case in order to possibly get a "Letter of Administration" that appoints my mother as the beneficiary.

I did speak with the attorney who made the estate plan with them. Despite my politeness over the phone, he was quite rude and short, and tried to cut the conversation short (only ten minute call). He asked that we set up a consultation for $275 and $75 fee for him to open the case file, review the file, and print it, and he'd drive to our house.

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Questions:

Do I actually not understand what an estate is? Is an estate plan the same thing as an actual estate, what the heck is the Estate that should've been made to transfer the bank? (This part confuses the hell out of me)

Would it be wise to go with the original estate planning attorney and hire him to help us sift through this, despite his high price cap (which I guess would be covered if we get the bank account money)?

Or do we find a different estate attorney, or does that become complicated because the original estate plans were made with a different attorney?

Would we need to even go forward with a probated will if we somehow found an estate?

If we do need to go forward with the probate, what's next?

Should I expect this same issue if we plan to transfer titles of cars, deeds of the properties (in and out state), and life insurance policies?

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Appreciate your patience as I sift through this! ^__^

Let me know if I need to condense this or figure out a better way to phrase my sentences.