By Corcoran Smith Law Corp. · Updated 2026-09-18

California Probate & Inheritance Guides

Plain-language answers to the questions families actually search when an inheritance goes wrong — written against the same statutes and procedures as the site’sreference pages, and pointing back to them for every number and deadline.

Start with the reference pages

Every guide here rests on the site’s core references — the pages that carry the statutes, the current dollar limits, and the deadlines, each verified against primary sources:

• Probate administrationSettling an estate through the court: whether you need probate at all, opening the case, the four-month inventory, creditor claims, the statutory fee schedule, and final distribution.Read the overview
• Trust administrationThe successor trustee’s job after the settlor dies: the notice that starts every clock, the duties the Trust Law imposes, what a trustee may charge, and the accounting beneficiaries are owed.Read the overview
• WillsWhat makes a California will valid, and what unmakes one: execution and handwriting, undue influence, capacity, fraud and forgery, plus the heirs a will left out by accident rather than intention.Read the overview
• Trust disputesDisputes over a living trust: contesting the instrument, removing or surcharging a trustee, and recovering what left the trust.Read the overview
• Probate disputesContested estate administration: who serves as personal representative, what belongs to the estate, and how property that left it is recovered.Read the overview
• CalculatorsThe statutory probate fee on any estate value, and the trust contest deadline from your notice date.Run the numbers
• Finding a probate attorneyCompare roles, questions to ask, attorney costs and local California court information.Choose the right help