Two weeks ago at an online celebration I was honored with the “Leading the Charge” award from the DeKalb Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (DVLF). I shared this award with attorney Ed Kirkland and Emory Law student Jenna Hunter for our contributions to the DeKalb Probate Court’s pro bono clinic known as the Probate Information Center (PIC).
DVLF accepts requests for assistance from the potential clients and coordinates with the Probate Court to set up sessions every other Thursday at which the clients can meet with volunteer attorneys. During the meeting, the volunteer attorney assists the client in navigating the probate and estate administration process. This often includes identifying heirs, preparing petitions, and setting out a game plan for next steps for the client to take out on their own. There’s no doubt that many of the clients are in difficult and complicated straits; even experienced attorneys find some of these matters to be very challenging.
In the past (and hopefully in the future), the Probate Court hosted these in-person meetings, but during the COVID-19 pandemic, this sort of close contact is not possible. Jenna, Ed, and I worked with DVLF and the Probate Court to develop a plan for hosting these meetings remotely. (Jenna definitely took the laboring oar in this process, making enormous contributions to the PIC.) For now, attorneys and clients are using Zoom or phone calls as substitutes for in-person meetings. The processes developed during the pandemic, though, will prove useful moving forward. Zoom and phone meetings can expand the reach of the PIC to the homebound or to those who cannot make arrangements to visit downtown Decatur.
Unresolved estates can be enormous problems, tying up property and assets, sometimes for generations. PIC, as a collaboration between the volunteer attorneys, the Probate Court, and the DVLF, takes on these challenges, benefiting both the clients and the community at large. I’m very proud to be a part of it.
