It Pays To Advertise… Usually…

A friend of mine was appointed executor of their mother’s will. Not knowing what to do, they asked my help. There were a few issues that needed addressing: a joint savings account naming [Friend] and their late mother, a bequest to friends of the late mother, and a brother of my friend who had not been named as a beneficiary, any of which alone would have been too complex for [Friend] to deal with without legal representation.

I asked my attorney, who had drafted my will, how to proceed. My attorney doesn’t do estate law, so they referred me to a colleague.

After some preliminary conversations by phone with [Colleague], my friend and I visited their office and were greeted by their assistant. We waited and waited and waited until finally [Colleague], who’d been on the phone all that time, came in looking somewhat bemused.

It seems that, about the time we’d arrived at [Colleague]’s office, [Brother] had phoned [Colleague] for a free phone consultation — in response to [Colleague]’s advertising, we presume — and was looking to employ [Colleague] on his behalf. [Colleague] had spoken to him seriously about his case until it became obvious that he was referring to exactly the same mother and will that [Colleague] was present to consult about, and that there would be a serious conflict of interest if [Colleague] accepted [Brother]’s case!

A couple of years after the fact, [Attorney] mentioned that they still marveled over that coincidence.