I often have clients or potential clients who come to me to discuss when to open probate when their parents, or other loved one’s, house is almost upside down.  That is, what’s enough equity to make it worthwhile to file for probate?  Upside down, or when the mortgage balance is higher than the value of […]

I don’t know if my mom or dad had a will – what do I do?  I have been asked some version of this question countless times over the years. A recent one was something like, “my brother is living in dad’s house, he says dad gave him everything, I don’t know if there is […]

I have had a few cases recently where a person, who has now died, had been the beneficiary of a trust.  However, in all the cases the person who has now died never got their beneficial share from the trust before they died. So what happens?  When does a trust beneficiary require a probate in […]

If you are reading this page you probably had the question: “How quickly will I receive my California probate court ORDER?” There are many different probate court orders so we will talk about the two most common. Also, every county in California does things differently and in some cases majorly different. As I have a […]

You are looking at starting probate without meeting your attorney in person. Can this really be done?  YES!  We do this all the time.  Some simple reasons why this is so: I have clients that live all around the country, and even the world, who lost a loved one in California. Most of my clients […]

What can you do when your California probate court date is way out?  By WAY OUT I mean way out in the future.  Let me backtrack a little first…. In the old days, when I was a young attorney, court dates were often given 4 weeks out from the date you filed your petition. Back […]

If you found this blog post you probably have a question about restitution payments in a probate. I am a California attorney so my blog can only give information about California probate law. If you are in any other state you might take my information and share with an attorney in that state to see […]

Filing for probate when there are a bunch of children often requires planning and thinking. That is a probate when the decedent had many children can bring pitfalls to the petitioner for probate. This is particularly true when there is no will (i.e. intestate succession) or a poorly drafted will or a will that is […]

Ok, maybe nobody uses the exact words “Why should I not hire the cheapest probate attorney?”  However, I think it’s human nature to try to save a few bucks.  I like to get a deal just like the next guy.  On the other hand I know when I get what I pay for. I am […]

How can I file a probate during the Covid-19 crisis?  If you have asked this you are probably not the first person.  I have the answers because this is all I do for a living. I don’t dabble in probate like many attorneys. I am 100% probate ONLY.  I do not know of any other […]