Inheriting From a California Estate When You Live in Another State or Country

California decides who inherits by the will, the trust, or the order of relatives set by statute when there is no will. None of those turns on where the recipient lives. For heirs, the Probate Code says so directly: under section 6411, no person is disqualified to take as an heir because that person, or a person through whom the person claims, is or has been a person who is not a citizen or national of the United States. Under section 7000, title to a decedent’s property passes at death to the people the will names or, without a will, to the heirs, subject to administration of the estate. The administration is what takes time, and it happens in California whether or not you do.

Sources: Probate Code s.6411 - Noncitizens not disqualified as heirs · Probate Code s.7000 - Title passes at death to devisees or heirs · Probate Code s.7001 - Property remains subject to administration · Verified 2026-10-02.

Distance does not extend a deadline. When a probate petition is filed, notice of the hearing must be delivered to the known heirs and to the people named in the will at least 15 days before the hearing. Where they live does not change that. A petition to revoke the probate of a will must generally be filed within 120 days after the will is admitted. For a trust, a person served with the trustee’s notification under section 16061.7 generally has 120 days from service to bring a contest, or 60 days after a copy of the trust terms is delivered during that period if that is later. Those periods are measured from events in California, and mail to another country can use up a good part of them. Keep the envelope, note the date on the notice and the date it reached you, and have the dates checked promptly.

Sources: Probate Code s.8110 - Notice of hearing on a petition for administration · Probate Code s.8120 - Publication of notice of hearing · Probate Code s.8121 - Publication of notice of petition · Probate Code s.8270 - Petition to revoke probate of will · Probate Code s.16061.7 - Trustee notification · Probate Code s.16061.8 - 120-day contest period · Verified 2026-09-21.

Many California court papers do not require a notary or a trip. Code of Civil Procedure section 2015.5 allows a matter that would otherwise need a sworn statement to be supported by a written declaration that is signed, states the date, and recites that it is true under penalty of perjury. When the declaration is signed anywhere outside California, in another state or another country, it must say that it is declared under the laws of the State of California. The statute gives the wording: “I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct.”

Sources: Code of Civil Procedure s.2015.5 - Declarations under penalty of perjury · Verified 2026-10-02.

Living in another state does not bar you from serving as personal representative of a California estate. It does add three things. Under section 8571 the court may require a nonresident personal representative to give a bond in an amount it determines, even where the will or the beneficiaries have waived bond. Under section 8572, accepting the appointment makes the California Secretary of State your attorney for service of process in actions about the estate. And under section 8573 you must sign and file a statement of your permanent address and promptly file any change. Living outside the United States is different. Section 8402 provides that a person who is not a resident of the United States is not competent to act as personal representative, with one exception: the bar does not apply to a person named as executor or successor executor in the decedent’s will.

Sources: Probate Code s.8570 - Nonresident personal representative defined · Probate Code s.8571 - Bond of a nonresident personal representative · Probate Code s.8572 - Secretary of State as attorney for service · Probate Code s.8573 - Statement of permanent address · Probate Code s.8402 - Who is not competent to serve as personal representative · Probate Code s.8480 - Bond required before letters issue · Probate Code s.8481 - When a bond is not required · Verified 2026-10-02.

A will does not have to be signed in California, or in the California manner, to be valid here. Under section 6113 a written will is validly executed if its execution complies with California’s own rules, with the law of the place where it was executed as that law stood at the time, or with the law of the place where the testator was domiciled, had a place of abode, or was a national, either when the will was executed or at death. A will in the form of an international will is valid as regards form wherever it was made. Where a person who lived outside California left property here and the will has already been admitted to probate in another state or a foreign nation, section 12520 provides a route for its probate in a California ancillary proceeding.

Sources: Probate Code s.6113 - Wills executed under the law of another place · Probate Code s.6381 - International will valid as to form · Probate Code s.12520 - Will admitted to probate in a sister state or foreign nation · Verified 2026-10-02.

California imposes no inheritance tax and no estate tax, so you do not pay California tax for receiving an inheritance, wherever you live. Federal estate tax, property tax on California real estate and income tax on a later sale are separate questions, covered in the California inheritance tax guide.

Sources: Revenue and Taxation Code s.13301 - No gift, inheritance or estate tax · Revenue and Taxation Code s.13302 - Estate tax equal to the federal credit for state death taxes · 26 U.S.C. s.2011 - Credit for State death taxes (repealed) · Verified 2026-09-27.