Can I do a probate of my mother's will on my own, or do I have to get an attorney?

If you have complications such as you mention I would get a good Trust and Estate attorney or even a probate attorney. There are things in life worth paying for. Looks as tho you are getting a home out of this. Your Mom's will, with you as executor, allows for her estate to pay the attorney. GET THE ATTORNEY and let loose of some of this money. Tell the attorney that you will do the leg work, going to file the will, getting the EIN number online (IF YOU ARE CAPABLE of doing this) and that will cut down your costs by a lot. I ended up using my Trust and Estate attorney for 1 1/2 hours at the cost of 350.00 per hour two years ago. I cannot tell you how worth it to me this was, and I had HER get the EIN number online for me. So easy and simple for her, but if you do it wrong, say answering when the will or trust was created or some such, can be a nightmare.
Use the attorney. YOU WILL BE GLAD, in my humble opinion that you did. This isn't something you can afford to do wrong.

I've done probate on my own 3 times. It wasn't difficult.

If her estate is cut and dry I see no reason to use a lawyer. If she set up her accts right they are yours without probate. I would go to Probate first and see what you need to do. May not have to Probate. You can't do it until a certain time after the death. My State its 9 or 10 days after the death. Also, in my State its 8 months before probate can be closed.

I'm sorry for your loss

Yes you can most of this yourself . You may want to consult an attorney to be sure everything you need to do is done correctly

You have my sympathies for the loss of your mother.

1. Are you the only child?
2. Are there any contentious relatives?
3. Did your mother have a will?
4. Have you read the will carefully?
5. Are you the executor or personal representative named in the will?
6. Is the house in the will?
7. Have you filed the will with the probate court?
8. Did your mother owe anyone money?
9. Do you know in whose name the house is titled?
10. Do you know where you're mother's financial documents are?

After a person's death, there are usually several things the executor has to do in a timely fashion. Some include inserting a notification of your mother's death in a local newspaper. You also have to alert Social Security that your mom has died. You will want to pay all bills you know of or should know of, such as hospital bills.

AlvaDeer's advice is spot on. Particularly because the estate contains real property that will most likely have to be retitled, it would be wise to find a good probate attorney. If you do, call the attorney's office and find out if they bill a flat fee or by the hour.

If the flat fee works for you, go with that. If you prefer to be billed by the hour and you want to save money, ask what documents you should bring with you. In addition, you can find probate checklists online to help you figure out what needs to be done and when. Look at at least two. They are not fool-proof and you have to remember that laws differ from state to state.
These are suggestions and not legal advice.

I've never heard of it being necessary to hire a lawyer to probate a will.
If you are the sole heir to your mother and the named executor of her will then all you have to do is bring it down to the probate court and file it. There may be some fees that you will have to pay and if she owed any bills whomever they were owed to can submit a claim.
I never heard of a person having to hire a lawyer to probate a will.

First, you have my condolences on your loss. Second, your mom just passed you're planning a funeral and even though your mom was 97, you're probably in shock and grieving. The first thing you need to get through is planning-though I'm surprised it wasn't preplanned-and attending the funeral.
If you're planning to use some money in your mom's will to help pay for the funeral, you could probably look up the information on an estate website.
My husband died of a heart attack unexpectedly at the age of 57. I know nothing about wills neither did his siblings. It was my brother who dealt with his estate. However, by the time my brother dealt with the will, two years had passed.
What I'm saying is, yes if you understand estate law, by all means do it yourself and save money. But please don't try doing it now. Give yourself time to get through the funeral and the mourning process. Then, after say three to six months, log onto an estate probate page which may be able to help you through the process with having to hire an attorney.
God Bless

If you have a will it is way easier. If there isnt a will they have do it yourself probate kits that are state relevant for both situations that have all the necessary documents, If there isn't a-lot of debt,  it should be fairly simple to do if your the only heir/beneficiary. Although there are a number of things that must be done. First you need To be named executor or representative of the estate after filing the particular paperwork you need to get your letters of representation also known as letters of testamentary. Secondly you have to post a letter to creditors in the paper stating That you represent The estate And a good phone number to reach you, we did ours in the journal of commerce. Notify Department of health services, do an inventory. File taxes Both personal and estate, pay Creditor claims etc. if you feel capable of doing all of those things in the final distribution and all that and I don’t see a reason why you would have to pay an attorney however if you don’t have that kind of time, And all of these things require a lot of time. just whatever you do, if you have someone else do it make sure that they do not have powers of non-intervention and also that they have an Insurance bond that will protect you if they steal from the estate, Also if you feel the need to look over their shoulder, you have that ability unfortunately we learned the hard way.

I would not recommend you do it by yourself. I was my mother's executor and had an attorney help me through the probate process. It cost me $6000, but was worth it. Managing probate court on your own is not an easy task. Unless the estate is very small and there is a will, I would not recommend doing it yourself. My mother had everything in order, but it was a monumental task as an executor even with the guidance of a probate lawyer.

Please note, the original posting was posted back in June 2022.