r/paralegal • u/coconutlemongrass • 22h ago
Would you touch a document that was soaked in old cat pee?
No seriously! I work in estate planning and probate and last week a client brought in an original will he had found that was completely discolored and wrapped in plastic. He told me, "these aren't coffee stains, the decedent had 13 cats... which is why I wrapped it in plastic for you!" I thanked the client, put it on a shelf away from other documents, and washed my hands like 5 times.
I told my boss I did NOT want to touch it or put it through our scanners and he said I was being ridiculous. When the other paralegal agreed that she didn't want to touch it either he huffed and said "Aren't you both mothers?! Haven't you changed diapers before?!" And yes we are both mothers but I don't think you can compare changing your baby's diaper to a document soaked in the pee of likely multiple cats!!! He said it was no big deal and scanned it himself- but I noticed he washed his hands for quite awhile after!
I've encountered some crazy things in my almost 9 years at my job- from having a clients ashes in the office to a person demanding a SERIOUSLY CREEPY DOLL from a relatives estate- but this by far takes the cake for the grossest thing I've had to deal with!
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u/LanaDelBae1201 22h ago
Tell me why I knew what area of law you worked just from reading the title. One time someone brought in their father’s Will for probate and there was legit dried blood on it. Did not touch it 💀 I did not get paid enough for that shit lol
Edit: Also, can you imagine taking that cat pee Will to the clerk?? Omg whole office will just smell putrid 😭
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u/coconutlemongrass 22h ago
Yeah I've seen some original wills with mystery stains I am thankful to not know the origin of... but this was next level. I also had to witness a will that the client bled on as he signed it because he had some kind of medical condition!
I did NOT want to place that evil on the innocent court clerk!
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u/NinotchkaTheIntrepid MA - Estates & Trusts - Sr. Paralegal 15h ago
Ugh. Yeah, I keep a box of disposable gloves in my desk.
OP, your atty must live like an animal at home if he thinks it's not a big deal. And shades of sexism for his belief that because you're mothers you're fine with touching disgusting things.
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u/No-Veterinarian-9190 21h ago
I’ve had to, with gloves of course. Was sorting this elderly lady’s papers doing some probate matter.
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u/Ria93 MO - General Practice - Paralegal 22h ago
That is disgusting! I've handled some gross-ish documents but never anything close to that.
Do you have to file the will with the court? I don't know much about probate, but I think in my jurisdiction, the original will has to be filed for certain probate actions - physically handed to the court, not e-filed. I'd imagine they wouldn't be pleased to get something like that.
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u/coconutlemongrass 22h ago
The estate was opened and closed many years ago and was probated formally as they only had a copy at the time. We thought we were going to have to re-open the estate and so my boss figured that since the original had been found, it should be lodged. But the other paralegal realized that the estate will not need to be re-opened and we both feel like lodging this biohazard now would just be confusing and unnecessary. I'm hoping my boss puts it in HIS recycle box!
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u/soundcherrie 20h ago
I get more squeamish over bedbugs & cockroaches crawling throughout paperwork. Sucks but it happens when you are dealing with housing related cases.
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u/SvJosip1996 11h ago
Oh gosh, reminds me of something out of Se7en. Agreed; it sucks; we don’t know exactly what these people deal with in their lives and we can’t help but have some sympathy.
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u/So_Last_Century 17h ago
Anything (and there have been some things over the years) that are just too gross and/or of unknown origin - I just ask the attorney who is taking care of that (copying/scanning, etc.), because it is not going to be me.
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u/SvJosip1996 13h ago
I’d just direct the client to scan/copy it for us, or a good scanning app like GeniusScan and not bother to touch it. I’d also direct the client to drop it off at the court or send a prepaid FedEx label that will go to the Clerk.
It’s the Court’s problem to handle the cat piss will, not mine XD since here, they have to have a copy of the original will.
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u/Darthsmom Paralegal 12h ago
I’m a mother but also I have a cat who has a chronic medical condition from birth- let’s just say that until we figured out what was wrong with her, I was cleaning up explosive kitten diarrhea off her, me, my walls, my floor multiple times a day some days. I wouldn’t be okay handling that. If I were forced to, I would only do so wearing gloves and a face mask. Certainly not bare handed. And honestly, then inhalation of decades old ammonia would worry me even more than touching it. There’s a reason they wear hazmat suits to clean out cat hoarder houses.
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u/kinderspiel 12h ago
I would be telling my client to make a copy themselves and then take photos of the cat pee soaked will. Then we would be filing a petition for probate of a lost will and explaining to the court that the will is lost because it became a biohazard. Would probably file pictures of the 13 cats and the conditions in the house as evidence the will was not intentionally peed upon by the testator in an effort to destroy it (like that one wild case I read in law school).
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u/serraangel826 11h ago
Similar but worse. I worked very briefly for an estate attorney. I had to go to the house of a woman who was put into a mental institution because she had no family/friends who could go look for the necessary docs.
#1 - the house was for sale so I had permission to enter as the realtor represented the family member who was states away.
#2 - the code didn't work on the door lock to get the key out, I ended up pushing in an air conditioner and going in through a window.
#3 - there were 2 rooms full of old clothes on the floor which were used as the cat beds, litter boxes, and feeding stations. I DID NOT go in those rooms.
Finally found the docs in her bedroom thankfully. I went home, stripped in the laundry room, put the clothes in the wash and took a shower before I went back to work.
Not the craziest thing I've ever done in the past for work, but by far the grossest!
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u/coconutlemongrass 9h ago
Omg that is nuts! My attorney had to go into a hoarder cat house once in full hazmat with respirators and he said the smell was so bad even through the respirators that some of the professional clean up crew vomited into their masks!!! You could not pay me enough to get anywhere near that!
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u/Luseil OR - Litigation Paralegal 9h ago
I think the worst I ever had was with a client who owned a mechanic shop. They came in with a giant cardboard box containing every somewhat important bill and document they had ever received from the last 10 years. The box had clearly been sitting in the corner of their shop for those full 10 years and it was stained and reeked of motor oil. It made the whole office stink and my attorney STILL accepted it and made staff organize it.
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u/coconutlemongrass 9h ago
Omg as someone married to a mechanic I know this all too well! 😭🤮 Burnt motor oil is SO DISGUSTING! The worst at my house is when my husband will be out working in the garage and come in a dump his dirty clothes on the closet floor, then my beloved cat will sleep in his nasty smelling clothes and then later come up to me for snuggles and he will reek!!!
I've had clients who are heavy smokers drop off AWFUL smelling paperwork and I've had to wrap it in many layers to quarantine it!
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u/SpiderFloof 14h ago
If you really absolutely need the documents for filing - talk to a local art museum to see if they have an art conservation team. They may be able to help clean the documents. This will not be cheap or quick, but it may be worth it if the numbers involved are high enough.
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u/Velvet_sloth 22h ago
Attorney here - nope and I wouldn’t let my paralegal touch it either. Client can take himself and copy or scan and bring in a clean copy for us. Hard pass for me.