National Probate Coordination

The Garretson Firm (TGF) offers a national probate coordination service that navigates the approval of the settlement in probate courts nationwide for decedents, incompetents or minors. Our procedures help parties develop probate plans that take into account the claimant’s settlement goals while controlling costs and “fast tracking” the probate process.  When short-form administration is available, TGF focuses its efforts on ensuring those rules are integrated into the probate plan.  TGF evaluates and coordinates among the multiple parties, including:

• Claimant’s counsel,
• TGF personnel 
• The personal representative for the claimant, and
• Local counsel for specific county and state jurisdictions where necessary.

Our national probate coordination services include:

• Evaluating each file (serving as information conduit)
• Developing a plan specific to the circumstances, whether the claimant is a decedent, a minor, or otherwise incompetent under the law.
• Coordinating with our extensive national database of probate specialists
• Negotiating legal fees with local counsel and obtaining necessary approvals for litigation counsel.

Often the parties’ attorneys are unsure of the proper steps to complete settlement where there exist derivative claims for minors or where the claimant has died or become incapacitated during the settlement process. Litigation firms struggle today with understanding the complexities of probate and often times end up paying too much to local probate attorneys based on an incomplete understanding of the process.  TGF’s national probate coordination service addresses this “point of pain”.

National Bankruptcy Coordination

Similar to the proficiencies provided by our healthcare lien evaluation and resolution practice, The Garretson Firm (TGF) provides a proven, scalable and cost-effective process for addressing bankruptcy coordination issues in mass torts and class actions.  Our services allow our clients to find closure more quickly in their complex settlements while allowing them to focus on their core, revenue-generating competency (representing their clients).

TGF’s national bankruptcy coordination services manage the disbursement process with bankruptcy trustees throughout the country.  Our bankruptcy coordination services include:

• Locating the appropriate bankruptcy court
• Communicating with the court and the case trustees
• Determining whether the litigation was listed on the schedules as an asset
• Noting which cases where filed as Chapter 7’s or 13’s
• Seeking claimant’s counsel’s appointment as special counsel for the Trustees as required by law.

The federal bankruptcy rules often conflict with other settlement rules. For example Medicare reimbursement recovery in the case where a claimant filed for bankruptcy is largely dependent on the timing of the petition’s filing. Unfortunately, the qualifications of a bankruptcy trustee do not require attorneys to serve in that capacity. As a result, there are differing levels of aptitude in the trustee community creating inconsistent results throughout the country. As a result, TGF’s uniform approach is in high demand in the settlement community.