California Probate Guide
County-specific probate filing-office contacts, filing fees, required forms, and step-by-step guidance for families settling an estate in California.
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Types of Probate in California
California offers several probate procedures depending on estate value and circumstances. The timeline varies by type: Full Probate typically takes 8-18 months, Small Estate Affidavit takes 40+ days, and Primary Residence Petition or Small-Value Real Property Affidavit can often be completed in 1-3 months.
See the full comparison of California probate typesWhich procedures exist, who qualifies, and how the timelines compare.Find your county
California Probate Filing Offices by County
Choose your county to get its probate court contacts, filing fees, and required forms. 58 counties have detailed data.
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Find a probate attorney in California
Connect with a probate attorney through your state's certified Lawyer Referral Service. Browse the certified directory to find one near you.
State Bar of California certified Lawyer Referral ServicesSettled Estate is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.
California Probate Guides
View all guides
California Probate Process: Complete Step-by-Step Guide (2026)
How to Avoid Probate in California: 7 Proven Strategies (2025)
How Long Does Probate Take in California? 2025 Timeline Guide
California Executor Duties: Complete Responsibility Guide
Letters Testamentary in California: How to Obtain & Use
California Advance Health Care Directive Guide
Browse California guide topics
Jump to court, executor, tax, planning, property, and probate-avoidance guides that match your next task.
Browse California guide topics
Jump to court, executor, tax, planning, property, and probate-avoidance guides that match your next task.
Probate Basics
9- California Probate Process: Complete Step-by-Step Guide (2026)
- California Debt Payment Priority in Probate
- California Exempt Property in Probate
- California Intestate Succession: Who Inherits Without a Will
- California Pretermitted Child: Rights of Omitted Children
- California Will Requirements: How to Make a Valid Will
- Can You Handle California Probate Without a Lawyer?
- Omitted Spouse in California: Your Inheritance Rights
- Surviving Spouse Rights in California: Complete Guide
Forms & Court
6- Letters Testamentary in California: How to Obtain & Use
- California Ancillary Probate: Out-of-State Property
- California Full vs Limited Authority in Probate (IAEA)
- California Independent Administration of Estates Act (IAEA) Guide
- California NOPA Form DE-165: When It's Required (and When Not)
- California Trust Modification: How to Change an Irrevocable Trust
Executor Duties
5Taxes & Deadlines
12- How Long Does Probate Take in California? 2025 Timeline Guide
- California Community Property Probate: Complete Guide
- California Conservatorship vs. Probate: Key Differences
- California Creditor Notice Requirements in Probate
- California Family Allowance in Probate
- California Probate Creditor Claims: 4-Month Deadline Guide
- California Probate Fees: $46,000 on a $1M Estate (2026)
- California Probate Referee Fees (2026): The 0.1% Appraisal Fee Explained
- California Proposition 19: Inherited Property Tax Rules
- California Step-Up in Basis: Double Step-Up Tax Advantage
- Federal Estate Tax for California Residents
- How to Contest a Will in California
Planning Documents
5Property Transfer
3California Probate Self-Help and Online Resources
California probate resource map by source type
State court, form, statute, agency, and self-help sources for general probate and estate-settlement questions.
County court, clerk, register, or filing-office pages for local probate divisions, filing paths, local forms, fee references, and courthouse-specific resources.
Public law library research paths for probate, wills, trusts, classes, guides, and community legal-information resources.
Referral paths for finding certified lawyer-referral services when a family wants help locating counsel.
All California self-help resources (66 links)Official court, form, law-library, referral, and legal-education links, plus how to use each source
For California probate, the most useful authoritative resources are the California Courts Self-Help Guide for general procedures, the Judicial Council forms library for statewide DE-series forms, California Legislative Information for the Probate Code, county Superior Court probate divisions for local forms and probate notes, and public law libraries for legal research support. The California Probate Code sections covering will lodging, small-estate affidavits, real-property shortcuts, and full administration are the legal text behind many procedure points.
Which California probate source should you use?
- Start with California Courts Self-Help for general probate process questions and the formal-probate overview.
- Use the California Courts Forms Library for current Judicial Council probate forms and form-number lookup.
- Use California Legislative Information for Probate Code text, not case-specific filing advice.
- Use the county Superior Court links below for local probate divisions, clerk contacts, filing paths, probate notes, local rules, fee references, and courthouse-specific resources.
- Use public law libraries, referral services, and legal-education resources as research or referral paths; verify current filing steps with the court, clerk, public law library, or counsel.
Statewide process, forms, and code sources
State court, form, statute, agency, and self-help sources for general probate and estate-settlement questions.
- California Courts Self-Help: Wills, Estates, and Formal Probate
Court-operated self-help starting point for wills, estates, property transfer after death, and formal probate overview pages.
- California Courts Self-Help: If You Need Formal Probate
Court-operated overview of the formal probate process, including opening a case, notice, publication, administration, court reports, closing the estate, common forms, and typical fee categories.
- California Courts Forms Library
Search statewide Judicial Council forms by topic or form number, including probate DE-series forms and current form instructions.
- California Legislative Information - Probate Code
Official state code table of contents for Probate Code sections used in California probate and estate-settlement research.
County filing-office sources
County court, clerk, register, or filing-office pages for local probate divisions, filing paths, local forms, fee references, and courthouse-specific resources.
- Los Angeles Superior Court - Probate Division
Local Los Angeles County probate division entry point for probate forms, filing fees, probate courthouses, rules, and online services.
- Orange County Superior Court - Probate
Orange County probate forms, examiner notes, and self-represented resources.
- San Diego Superior Court - Probate
San Diego County probate division resources and local rules.
- San Bernardino Superior Court - Probate
San Bernardino County probate department entry point for estates, trusts, conservatorships, guardianships, probate notes, local forms, and fee-schedule links.
- Sacramento Superior Court - Probate
Sacramento County probate entry point for e-filing, case search, appointments, forms, fees, probate calendar notes, and decedent-estate information.
- Santa Clara Superior Court - Probate Division
Santa Clara County probate division entry point for probate resources, forms, FAQs, local rules, e-notices, and court contact information.
- Alameda Superior Court - Learn About Probate
Alameda County probate self-help page with wills and estates links, property-transfer resources, probate rules and forms, fee schedules, and courthouse context.
- Riverside Superior Court - Estates, Wills & Trusts
Riverside County self-help page for decedent estates, wills, trusts, local forms, probate notes, fee schedules, and small-estate procedure links.
- Fresno Superior Court - Probate
Fresno County probate division page with filing location, examiner notes, e-filing links, probate forms, and decedent-estate resources.
- San Francisco Superior Court - Probate Court
San Francisco probate court page with department links for wills and decedent estates, trusts, conservatorships, guardianships, tentative rulings, calendars, and court contact information.
- San Mateo Superior Court - Probate Division
San Mateo County probate division page with petition-document links, conservatorship and guardianship filing resources, records-index access, e-filing, and clerk contact information.
- Marin Superior Court - Probate
Marin County probate page with decedent estate and trust links, guardianship and conservatorship resources, probate examiner context, court investigator contacts, and filing procedure links.
- Monterey Superior Court - Probate
Monterey County probate page with court-supervised estate information, probate notes, examiner contact context, publication resources, hearing schedules, fee schedule, and forms links.
- Contra Costa Superior Court - Probate
Contra Costa County probate page with wills, trusts, estates, conservatorship, guardianship, probate form packet, facilitator, filing-fee, and where-to-file links.
- Ventura Superior Court - Probate
Ventura County probate page with courthouse hours, remote appearance information, wills, estates, trusts, guardianship, conservatorship, forms, fee-schedule, and self-help links.
- Santa Barbara Superior Court - Probate
Santa Barbara County probate page with probate forms, probate notes, examiner context, facilitator information, clerk contacts, fee schedule, and court-investigator resources.
- San Joaquin Superior Court - Probate
San Joaquin County probate page with hearing-location notices, probate resources, case-management, filing-fee, local-rule, probate-form, remote appearance, and ex parte links.
- Placer Superior Court - Probate Division
Placer County probate division page with decedent estate, trust, guardianship, conservatorship, local-form, local-rule, tentative-ruling, calendar-note, and remote-appearance links.
- Sonoma Superior Court - Probate Division
Sonoma County probate division page with calendars, trust and decedent-estate hearing location, ex parte procedures, probate records-copy path, clerk contact, and local-resource links.
- Kern Superior Court - Probate
Kern County probate page with examiner notes, case-search instructions, probate office contact, document-request links, fee-waiver forms, guardianship investigations, and conservatorship resources.
- Solano Superior Court - Probate & Conservatorship/Guardianship
Solano County probate page with decedent estate, trust, conservatorship, guardianship, clerk contact, pre-grant notes, forms, filing instructions, and case-search links.
- Stanislaus Superior Court - Probate
Stanislaus County probate page with probate examiner context, probate notes, FAQs, glossary, decedent-estate, probate-referee, guardianship, conservatorship, research-window, and newspaper links.
- Tulare Superior Court - Probate
Tulare County probate page with decedent estate, trust, guardianship, conservatorship, investigation, filing-preparation, civil legal filing contact, probate-referee, case-search, and forms/local-rules links.
- Santa Cruz Superior Court - Probate Division
Santa Cruz County probate page with property-transfer, trust, conservatorship, guardianship, minor-compromise, pre-approval, hearing-scheduling, law-library, e-filing, fee, local-rule, local-form, and clerk-contact links.
- Shasta Superior Court - Probate Division
Shasta County probate page with wills, conservatorship, guardianship, mental-health, minor-compromise, name-change, special-trust, courthouse-contact, filing-fee, form, local-rule, and tentative-ruling links.
- Merced Superior Court - Probate
Merced County probate page with decedent-estate, trust, guardianship, conservatorship, minor-compromise, filing-location, probate-unit contact, probate-note, court-investigator, local-form, local-rule, and tentative-ruling links.
- Nevada Superior Court - Probate Division
Nevada County probate page with open-case, inventory, property-transfer, simplified-transfer, formal-probate, forms-and-packets, e-filing, local-form, rule, law-library, remote-hearing, and tentative-ruling links.
- San Luis Obispo Superior Court - Probate
San Luis Obispo County probate page with probate notes, court-file copy request, wills, trusts, conservatorship, guardianship, filing-location, fee-schedule, remote-appearance, e-submission, FAQ, form, and local-rule links.
- Madera Superior Court - Probate Court
Madera County probate page with probate, guardianship, conservatorship, joint-tenancy termination, small-real-property affidavit, fact-of-death petition, fee, form, filing-contact, local-procedure, location, local-form, and local-rule links.
- Butte Superior Court - Civil/Probate
Butte County civil/probate page with probate-division location, estate, trust, guardianship and conservatorship scope, tentative-ruling, e-filing, local-rule, form-packet, remote-appearance, case-information, calendar, and clerk-contact links.
- El Dorado Superior Court - Probate Division
El Dorado County probate page with decedent-estate, guardianship, conservatorship, trust, filing-location, case-index, record-request, e-filing, remote-appearance, tentative-ruling, local-form, and local-rule links.
- Imperial Superior Court - Probate
Imperial County probate page with courthouse location, decedent-estate, trust, guardianship, conservatorship, probate-note, public-portal, form, calendar, local-rule, self-help, remote-appearance, and case-access links.
- Mendocino Superior Court - Probate Division
Mendocino County probate page with clerk office locations, public-counter hours, tentative-ruling, form, filing, fee, copy, law-library, guardianship, court-investigator, local-form, and court-rule links.
- Alpine Superior Court - Probate Division
Alpine County probate page with estate, trust, guardianship, conservatorship, remote-appearance, fee, fee-waiver, records-request, local-rule, filing, self-help, probate-referee, publication, and courthouse-contact links.
- Amador Superior Court - Probate
Amador County probate page with courthouse contact, case-search, conservatorship, decedent-estate, guardianship, LPS proceeding, form, local-rule, tentative-ruling, remote-appearance, self-help, and referral-navigation links.
- Glenn Superior Court - Probate
Glenn County probate page with probate overview, will, heir, beneficiary, estate-value, debt, asset-transfer, fee-schedule, certified-copy, case-search, local-form, local-rule, and self-help links.
- Inyo Superior Court - Probate and Conservatorship
Inyo County probate and conservatorship page with Independence and Bishop contact details, estate, trust, guardianship, conservatorship, FAQ, court-form, court-location, calendar, and self-help links.
- Calaveras Superior Court - Probate Division
Calaveras County probate division page with conservatorship, guardianship, investigation-fee, local-form, local-rule, court-calendar, tentative-ruling, e-filing, fax-filing, self-help, and court-location links.
- Del Norte Superior Court - Probate
Del Norte County probate page with courthouse contact, office-hours, form, Judicial Council, fee, fee-waiver, conservator-handbook, local-rule, case-portal, court-record, and self-help links.
- Lassen Superior Court - Probate
Lassen County probate page with probate overview, will, heir, beneficiary, estate-value, debt, asset-transfer, court-location, fee-schedule, local-form, fax-filing, remote-appearance, record, and self-help links.
- Mariposa Superior Court - Probate and Conservatorship
Mariposa County probate and conservatorship page with probate-referee, courthouse-contact, probate FAQ, trust, conservatorship, court-calendar, CourtCall, local-rule, public-access, and location links.
- Colusa Superior Court - Probate
Colusa County probate page with estate, trust, conservatorship, guardianship, self-help, form, court-investigator, court-calendar notice, and local assistance links.
- Humboldt Superior Court - Probate and Conservatorship
Humboldt County probate and conservatorship page with Civil Division contact details, probate FAQs, trust, conservatorship, self-help, referral, and wills-and-estates links.
- Modoc Superior Court - Probate
Modoc County probate page with probate overview, filing-location, records, fee-waiver, remote-appearance, court-calendar, local-rule, local-form, and self-help links.
- Mono Superior Court - Probate and Conservatorship
Mono County probate and conservatorship page with courtroom-notice, filing-contact, state-form, fee-schedule, fee-waiver, investigation, local-rule, and self-help links.
- Kings Superior Court - Forms and Filings
Kings County forms and filings page with probate e-filing, probate clerk extension, statewide fee schedule, local rules, California Courts forms, case-search, and filing-information links.
- Lake Superior Court - eFiling
Lake County eFiling page with probate e-filing, local-rule, California Rules of Court, court-form, EFSP, fee-waiver, filing-status, and clerk-contact links.
- Napa Superior Court - Civil Division
Napa County Civil Division page with probate overview, Civil Division probate contact, filing-location, eFile, case-lookup, local-form, tentative-ruling, and California self-help links.
- Plumas Superior Court - Probate
Plumas County probate page with probate overview, filing-location, record-search, remote-appearance, fee-schedule, local-form, local-rule, tentative-ruling, and self-help links.
- San Benito Superior Court - Probate Division
San Benito County probate division page with probate overview, conservatorship context, external self-help links, court contact information, probate FAQs, and e-filing support links.
- Sierra Superior Court - Probate and Conservatorship
Sierra County probate and conservatorship page with decedent-estate, trust, guardianship, conservatorship, remote-appearance, form, code, and courthouse-contact links.
- Siskiyou Superior Court - Civil and Probate
Siskiyou County civil division page with probate matter context, conservatorship and estate self-help links, trusts guidance, local forms, local rules, fee-waiver, and courthouse-contact links.
- Sutter Superior Court - Probate
Sutter County probate page with probate court overview, wills, estates, trusts, conservatorship, guardianship, clerk contact, FAQ, local rules, online case access, and self-help links.
- Tehama Superior Court - Civil and Probate
Tehama County civil and family law page with probate, guardianship, conservatorship, remote-appearance, civil filing, fee-waiver, local-rule, court-calendar, and division-contact links.
- Trinity Superior Court - Probate
Trinity County probate page with decedent-estate, wills, trusts, conservatorship, guardianship, Judicial Council self-help, form-packet, and get-help-filling-out-forms links.
- Tuolumne Superior Court - Probate and Conservatorship Office
Tuolumne County probate and conservatorship office page with probate overview, courthouse location, clerk phone, self-help, local-form, local-rule, tentative-ruling, and court-resource links.
- Yolo Superior Court - Probate Court Services
Yolo County probate court services page with decedent-estate, trust, conservatorship, guardianship, form, self-help center, filing, and court-contact links.
- Yuba Superior Court - Probate Division
Yuba County probate division page with probate, trusts, guardianship, conservatorship, probate notes, Civil Division contact, California Courts self-help, and State Bar referral links.
- Sacramento County Public Law Library - Estates, Wills, and Trusts
Public law library topic page with estate-planning forms, how-to guides, and community resources for California residents.
- State Bar of California - Los Angeles Lawyer Referral Services
State Bar listing for certified Los Angeles-area lawyer referral services, including the Los Angeles County Bar Association SmartLaw service; use as referral navigation, not an endorsement.
Public law library sources
Public law library research paths for probate, wills, trusts, classes, guides, and community legal-information resources.
- LA Law Library - Probate, Estate Planning, and Illness Planning
Public law library topic page with probate, inheritance, wills, trusts, classes, and legal research resources.
Referral-navigation sources
Referral paths for finding certified lawyer-referral services when a family wants help locating counsel.
- Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) - Trusts and Estates
California-specific practitioner research and education for trusts and estates; paid/professional material, not a substitute for court forms or attorney review.
Settled complements these authoritative sources with plain-language explanations, county-specific filing packets, fee calculators built from California court fee schedules, and step-by-step executor guidance, pulling the procedural detail from the sources above into one consumer-translated workspace for the named executor or personal representative.
California Estate Law Overview
California Estate Tax Info
California tax information for estates
Federal estate tax info
Federal estate tax only applies to estates exceeding $15,000,000 (2026).
Who Inherits Without a Will?
Intestate succession determines how a person's property is distributed when they die without a valid will.
View order of inheritance (no spouse)
- 1ParentsEqually to both parents, or all to surviving parent
- 2Siblings and their issueEqually to siblings; deceased sibling's share to their descendants per capita at each generation
- 3Grandparents and their issueHalf to maternal grandparents (or survivors/descendants), half to paternal grandparents (or survivors/descendants)
- 4Issue of predeceased spouseTo children and grandchildren of a predeceased spouse
- 5Next of kinTo nearest blood relatives in equal degree
- 6Parents of predeceased spouseTo parents of a predeceased spouse, or their issue
California Homestead Protection
California homestead law provides protection from forced sale by creditors, but unlike Florida, it has dollar limits and is NOT automatic. California homestead does not restrict how you devise (transfer at death) your home.
Exempt Property
California provides several exemptions that protect certain property from estate creditors and make sure the surviving spouse and children have basic necessities during probate administration.
Family Allowance
Reasonable amount determined by court - no statutory maximum - The surviving spouse, minor children, and adult children who were dependent on the decedent are entitled to a reasonable allowance for maintenance during probate.
California Probate Questions
How much does probate cost in California?
How long does probate take in California?
Do I need an attorney for probate in California?
Which California probate source should I start with?
Are California county probate court links different from statewide California Courts links?
Does the California Probate Resource Map replace attorney review?
Latest California Articles
Recent California probate and estate updates from the blog
Avoid Probate California: 10 Practical Ways to Protect Your Family
Avoid probate California with 10 strategies. From TOD deeds to living trusts, find tools that save your family time and money.
California Ancillary Probate Costs and Taxes: Multi-State Estate Checklist
What California ancillary probate costs for a multi-state estate: statutory fees, taxes, timeline, and a practical checklist for out-of-state property.
California Community Property Explained: What Happens at Death
California community property for probate and inheritance. Learn what qualifies, how it passes at death, and the double step-up tax benefit.
California Creditor Claims: Common Executor Mistakes and the One-Year Bar
Avoid the costly creditor-claim mistakes that expose California executors to personal liability, and learn how the one-year absolute bar protects you.