California Probate Administration
Probate administration is the court-supervised process of settling a California estate: opening the case, being appointed personal representative, inventorying assets, paying creditors, and distributing what remains. Most estates take a year or more, and the fees are set by statute.
What administration actually involves
Probate administration begins with a petition. Probate Code section 8000 lets any interested person, at any time after the death, ask the court to determine the date and place of death and to appoint a personal representative, admit the will to probate, or both. Nothing happens on the strength of the will alone: section 8400 provides that no person has power to administer the estate until letters are issued, and the appointing order must carry a capitalised warning saying so. A person named executor may, before that point, pay funeral expenses and take necessary measures to maintain and preserve estate property, and nothing more. Once letters issue, the clock starts. The personal representative must file a combined inventory and appraisal of estate property with the court clerk within four months, subject to the court allowing further time where the circumstances make that reasonable. Partial inventories are permitted, but everything must be on file before that window closes.
Sources: Probate Code s.8000 - Petition commencing administration · Probate Code s.8400 - No power to administer until letters issue · Probate Code s.8800 - Inventory and appraisal, four-month deadline · Verified 2026-08-20.
Why probate exists at all
The usual explanation — that probate transfers title — is not what the code says. Probate Code section 7000 provides that title to a decedent’s property passes on death to the person to whom it is devised in the will or, absent a devise, to the heirs under intestate succession. Title has already moved before anyone files anything. Section 7001 supplies what probate is actually for: the decedent’s property is subject to administration under the code, and subject to the rights of beneficiaries, creditors and other persons as provided by law. Administration is the process by which those competing claims are identified, tested and cleared, so that what the beneficiary already owns in principle becomes something they can sell, refinance or register in practice. That is why a house can be legally yours the day a parent dies and still be untransferable a year later, and why section 8000 lets any interested person start the proceedings that resolve it.
Sources: Probate Code s.7000 - Title passes at death to devisees or heirs · Probate Code s.7001 - Property remains subject to administration · Probate Code s.8000 - Petition commencing administration · Verified 2026-08-21.
The stages, and what each one is for
| Stage | What happens | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Will delivered to the clerk | Custodian has 30 days from knowledge of the death | Prob. Code §8200 |
| Petition for probate | Interested person asks the court to open the estate and appoint a representative | §8000 |
| Hearing | Set 15–30 days out, or 30–45 on request; notice cannot be shortened | §8003 |
| Letters issued | Appointment becomes effective; only now can the representative act | §8400 |
| Inventory and appraisal | Everything the estate holds, valued and filed — within four months | §8800 |
| Creditor claims | Claims by the later of four months from letters or sixty days from notice | §9100 |
| Final distribution | Once debts are paid or provided for, the court orders distribution | §11640 |
| Outer deadline | Petition to distribute or report status within one year, or eighteen months with a federal estate tax return | §12200 |
Do you actually need probate?
Often not, or not for all of it. Probate reaches only what passes through the estate, and California provides several routes around full administration. Working out which applies is the first question worth answering, because it decides whether the rest of this page is relevant at all.
| Situation | Route | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Assets titled in a living trust | Trust administration — no probate | None |
| Property held in joint tenancy | Affidavit of death | None |
| Recorded transfer on death deed | Passes outside the estate | None |
| Property passing to a surviving spouse | Spousal property petition | None |
| The decedent’s primary residence | §13151 petition | $750,000 |
| Money and personal property | §13100 affidavit | $208,850 |
| Trust signed but an asset never retitled | Heggstad petition | None |
| Anything else | Full administration | — |
The two dollar figures apply to deaths on or after 1 April 2025 and are adjusted every three years. Both are measured on gross value, before deducting a mortgage.
What it costs, and how long it takes
Compensation for ordinary services is fixed by statute rather than negotiated — four percent of the first $100,000, three percent of the next, two percent of the next $800,000 — and the estate pays it twice, once to the representative and once to the attorney. A $1,000,000 estate therefore carries $46,000 in statutory fees before anything extraordinary. The calculator returns the exact figure and shows what it takes from actual equity once a mortgage is accounted for. On timing, most uncontested estates run nine to eighteen months, with section 12200 setting the outer marker.
Filing by county
Probate Code section 7051 fixes the county for you: administration belongs in the county where the decedent was domiciled, regardless of where they died. These pages set out the court, the county seat, and where to confirm current filing requirements.
Not the county you need? The process, deadlines and statutory fees are identical statewide — only the court changes.
When administration turns into a dispute
Most estates close without a fight. Some do not, and the transition is usually visible early: a representative who will not produce the inventory, assets that move before anyone is appointed, a will that surfaces late, or a beneficiary who cannot get an answer. Those are contested probate questions rather than administration ones, and the remedies differ — recovering property under §850, or a claim for transfers made before the death.