{"id":23656,"date":"2026-02-25T01:31:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=23656"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:32:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:32:37","slug":"states-that-require-real-estate-attorney-at-closing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/states-that-require-real-estate-attorney-at-closing\/","title":{"rendered":"Some States Require a Real Estate Attorney at Closing \u2014 Does Yours?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Buying or selling a home isn\u2019t always as straightforward as it seems. There are a number of laws responsible for regulating real estate transactions, and they vary nationwide. In fact, some states require a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/house-closing-attorney\/\">licensed real estate attorney<\/a> to conduct the closing of your home sale.<\/p>\n<p>Even if you don\u2019t need an attorney, there are a number of complex scenarios in which agents often recommend hiring an attorney. If you\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/i-inherited-a-house-and-want-to-sell-it\/\">selling on behalf of a deceased relative<\/a>, for instance, or if you\u2019re purchasing a property from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-a-house-from-out-of-state\/\">out of state<\/a>, you may encounter certain roadblocks come closing time.<\/p>\n<p>Whether your situation warrants an attorney\u2019s assistance or your state mandates it, you won\u2019t want to miss a beat when it comes to the biggest transaction of your life. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve done the research and consulted the advice of a top real estate agent in an attorney closing state to help you prepare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--dark widget-cta--dark-blue-gradient\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/logo-small-cta.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">Connect with a Top Agent to Sail Through to Closing<\/h3>\n                        <p>Working with a top agent can help you get to closing day faster \u2014 and get you more for your home sale. We analyze over 27 million transactions and thousands of reviews to determine which agent is best for you based on your needs.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/find-agent\/quiz\/seller?#\/qaas=0\/\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Get Started<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you\u2019re buying or selling a home, you have plenty of paperwork to review at closing. Your state may require a real estate attorney to lead the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":218,"featured_media":45030,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[322,341],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-logistics","category-closing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Some States Require a Real Estate Attorney at Closing \u2014 Does Yours?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Whether you\u2019re buying or selling a home, you have plenty of paperwork to review at closing. But which states require a real estate attorney to close?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/states-that-require-real-estate-attorney-at-closing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some States Require a Real Estate Attorney at Closing \u2014 Does Yours?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whether you\u2019re buying or selling a home, you have plenty of paperwork to review at closing. But which states require a real estate attorney to close?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/states-that-require-real-estate-attorney-at-closing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-25T09:31:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-28T00:32:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Untitled-design-2024-06-28T025933.862.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"563\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kate Van Pelt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kate Van Pelt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Some States Require a Real Estate Attorney at Closing \u2014 Does Yours?","description":"Whether you\u2019re buying or selling a home, you have plenty of paperwork to review at closing. 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