What Is Probate And When Does It Occur?
Probate means that the probate court oversees the administration of a deceased person’s estate who had who had more than $184,500 in assets in his or her individual name and only had a will, or no will at all. The court that oversees the administration is the probate department of the Superior Court in the county where decedent resided or died owning property.
Probate proceedings will occur when a person dies (decedent) who:
- Had more than $184,500 in assets in sole name
- Did not have a trust
- Had assets that were not properly transferred to a trust
- And/or did not have jointly held assets or beneficiary designations on all assets
In these cases, probate proceedings will likely be necessary to distribute the decedent’s assets.
Not all court probate proceedings are long, drawn out affairs. There are simple proceedings that require only one petition filing and a court hearing.
A couple examples of simple petitions are spousal property petitions to transfer or confirm property to a surviving spouse, or Heggstad petitions to get a court order to transfer an item of property mistakenly not transferred to decedent's valid trust prior to death. If any particular probate petition or legal document is required, we have the experience to recognize this and prepare the correct legal document.
When a traditional, full probate court proceeding or administration is required to distribute decedent's assets, it generally takes at least a year to complete.
What Is The Probate Process?
If the decedent left a will, then the court will use that to determine distribution of the assets. If there was no will, the court will use the probate code guidelines to distribute property to the decedent's heirs at law.
Other probate administration tasks are similar to a trust administration including:
- Creditors being paid
- Notifications being made
- Taxes and other issues being cleared up
- Estate distribution
The process may be slower than a trust administration due to required court petitions and court hearings. The attorney fees for representing you as a personal representative of an estate are based on the value of the estate and are paid from the estate at the end of the probate court administration process. The breakdown of attorney fees for probate court administrations can be found below or in California Probate Code 10810.
We are experienced at representing personal representatives (also called administrators or executors) in all phases of the process; we will help you through the probate process in as painless and quick a manner as possible.
Also, if you are a beneficiary of an estate and would like assistance in determining or asserting your interests and rights, we would be happy to represent you on an hourly basis. Those hourly fees would be paid personally by you.
How much does probate cost?
Probate fee amounts are set by the California probate code 10810, which sets the amount that attorneys and charge for probate. An administrator/representative/executor may charge the same amount. These fees are separate from the costs required in a probate including but not limited to court filing fees, publication fees, and appraisals. The fee percentages for attorneys and administrators are:
4% of the first $100,000
3% of the next $100,000
2% of the next $800,000
1% of the next $9,000,000
.5% of the next $15,000,000
