If you are dealing with a loved one’s estate, these answers can help you understand when probate may be required, what the California probate process involves, and why early legal guidance can help prevent costly mistakes.
What Is Probate in California and When Is It Required?
Probate is a court-supervised process used to transfer assets after someone dies. It is usually required when a person owned assets in their name alone without a living trust, joint ownership, survivorship title, or beneficiary designation.
Probate can be expensive, time-consuming, public, and paperwork-heavy. It may involve court costs, attorney fees, executor fees, appraisals, delays, family stress, and a loss of privacy.
A common range is about 9 to 18 months, though some cases may take longer depending on court calendars, assets, real estate issues, creditor claims, tax matters, or family conflict.
Probate costs may include court filing fees, publication fees, appraisal costs, bond premiums, executor fees, attorney fees, and other professional fees. California often uses a statutory fee schedule for ordinary probate services.
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Experience and Expertise. Estate planning and post-death administration are all we do. Our attorneys have over 70 years of combined expertise in the field, and and all of our attorneys have passed an additional Bar examination and peer review process to become State Bar Certified Specialists in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law. Two of our attorneys also have Master’s Degrees in Tax Law, giving us unique insight into how estate tax and income tax will affect your family’s inheritance.
Customization and Attention to Detail. Before we create or update your estate plan, we get to know you, your goals, and what matters to you most. We take the time to listen to your concerns and attend to each of your unique needs and desires as if they were our own. When we complete your plan, we perform a detailed quality control process to help ensure your objectives are met. We also provide you with a personalized Owner’s Manual containing all of your important documents, and and provide your successor Trustee with a Manual containing helpful, plain-English checklists and easy-to-follow procedures to follow when the time comes to act.
Lifetime Relationship. All of our estate plans include a free ongoing service package. We take phone calls any time you have questions, perform free estate planning checkups every three years, and keep you abreast of changes in the law and planning strategies with our complimentary newsletters and educational seminars. And, when the time comes, we will be there to help your trustee and loved ones.
