How does one START the probate process in California?  I get asked questions like this a lot.  Probate is mysterious and mystical. It’s an unknown. It’s long. It’s expensive.  People say so much about probate but most people do not even know how it starts.  Today we are going to break down the starting point of probate in California.  With just a few bits of information the attorney can start your probate for you!

I am contacted all the time by potential clients. They want to start a probate for someone that died but they have no idea what to do.  They think it will involve multiple meetings at my office, some number of visits to the courthouse, and maybe even cutting off their left pinky.  That last one is a joke by the way. Just seeing who is reading.

As I type this it is Monday morning at 7:30. If you contact me today I will have your probate filed in any county in California THIS WEEK.  That’s not even rush service!  Rush service would be SAME DAY in any county in California. Yes, really!

The only information I need to get started with your probate case, in addition to a few other questions I will ask you, is as follows:

– Name of decedent, residence address at death, date of death, place of death;

– Proposed Administrator/Executor name, address, phone, and relation to decedent;

– Name, address and age of every single person named in will (if there is a will) and every relative to the second degree;

– Did anybody named in will or any heir at law die before the decedent;

– Name, address and age of any issue of a predeceased person from above question;

– Was decedent married, divorced, widowed, and name(s) of any predeceased spouse;

– Estimated value of all probate assets;

That’s really it. I have a few other questions but the bulk of it is above.

Call me now and you tell me when you want your probate case filed. We will get it done for you!

Click here to go to our probate cost calculator.

-John