Questions

Ask these before you ask anything else.

If the answer is long, it is on purpose. Short answers in this category are usually hiding a fee or a lawyer.

We are not taking cases yet. Arizona and North Carolina are first. We will not open in a state until a lawyer licensed there has reviewed a complete filing packet we produced, because the alternative is finding out we were wrong using somebody’s actual estate. Ask us to write when that changes.

Are you a law firm?: No. Their Matters is a technology and fulfillment company. Where a case needs a lawyer, a lawyer licensed in that state does that work and signs it. The longer version is on the legal page.
Do you hold the estate's money?: No. The executor opens the estate account and every payment out of it is made by the executor. We record what happened. We cannot move the money, and the system is built so that we cannot.
What does it cost?: First Days is free. Core is $1,500. Complete is $4,500, $6,500, or $8,500 depending on how complicated the estate is — not on what it is worth. Fiduciary starts at $12,000, in some states only. The table is on the price page.
Which states?: None, yet. Arizona and North Carolina first, then Texas. A state does not open until a lawyer licensed there has reviewed a complete packet we produced. Arizona, North Carolina, Texas.
How long does this take?: Plan on nine to twenty months if the estate needs probate. The creditor claim period alone is three to six months in most states, and that clock cannot be shortened. What we shorten is the year of callbacks around it. Non-probate and small-estate work is faster, often weeks to a few months.
What if the heirs disagree?: We do not take contested estates. If there is already a fight, or one starts, we send you to a litigator. Administration software in the middle of a family lawsuit makes everything worse.
Will I talk to a person or to software?: A named Case Lead, with a phone number that reaches them. Software does the letters, the calendar, and the chasing. The person you know is a person.
Do I still need a lawyer?: If anything is being filed with a court, or anyone is being told a legal position, yes — and that lawyer is part of Complete, not an extra invoice you find later. If the estate is non-probate, many families do not need a lawyer at all. First Days is how you find out which of those you are.