A lot of us were thinking it was heading in the right direction, right?  We had flattened the curve, right?  The death rate was going down, right?  Unfortunately it seems that once we opened stuff up the numbers started going back up!  As a California probate attorney my focus, especially here in my blog, is on the California probate process.  How does the Covid crisis apply in a California probate?

I have one Covid probate deep into the process as the decedent was an early death. I had a call this week about another Covid death but so far that’s it in my personal law practice. However, I do fear that more are to come in the coming months.

The problem with a Covid death, a Coronavirus death, and basically any death in the Covid world is that the probate courts of California are in a bad place. Many of them are significantly behind after being closed for 3 months, many have limited staff, and I believe all of them are only allowing court appearances via Zoom or CourtCall.

It is taking forever to process documents at court these days. Most people want their court order and letters testamentary pretty fast. In the post-Covid world nothing is fast in the California probate courts… and some courts are REALLY REALLY REALLY slow!

I am not knocking the courts as it is what it is. They had limited hours if not being totally closed for three months or more. In particular the counties that were totally closed they are still processing mail and catching up on things. That’s just a sad reality of the situation.

Get your probate filed right away!  There will be delays in court so do not delay getting things filed and started!