How to find legal help to ask questions?

How old is your friend.

One path would be to ask at the church or at her bank.

A grief counselor wouldn't know the legal things, but they would know the general "this is what comes next" progression.

Your friend would need to consult specialists about how to do that "next thing", but it sounds like she wants a general map of what comes next in what order.

I am an estates and trusts paralegal in Maryland. I don't know what state you're in, but my suggestion is to contact the Register of Wills in the county where her dad lived. She will need a death certificate before any paper work can be filed, which will need to be done despite the fact that he die intestate (without a Will).

Generally speaking, my advice is to hold off distributing any property, including stuff in the house, and definitely hold off doing anything with his bank accounts, assuming he has any.

The reason to contact the Register of Wills and file paper work with them is so that they will appoint someone (it can be her) to serve as Executor, meaning she will be in charge of figuring out what debts there are, what income there is, what tax returns need to be filed, and where the assets are.

Depending on how complicated it is, she may want to contact an estates and trusts attorney (aka probate) for some help. They could talk to her over the phone, especially since they'd likely charge by the hour, and could mail things quite easily.

Hope that helps.

If her mother is still alive the estate will (probably) go to her. In that event there is no probate to open. She probably doesn't get anything.

She should try and find out if he had an attorney set up anything for him already.

If he had a will registered at the Registry of Wills or Probate Department, she should be able to see if there was an attorney who helped him set that up.

If her big problem is a ride, there should be a taxi or a ride service or mass transit.

The question for HER to ask is, "how can I hire you without having to get there?".

She may have to fax and overnight signed forms and aa check, but this is done all the time by out of state clients,

Depends on her age and if her Mother was still married to her Father and if he left a Will.

Not sure what rights she wants. Not enough info here.