Well the California probate courts must be busy. We just got a crazy court date in a matter in Orange County probate court. That is, we filed a final petition last week to end a probate. So let’s say we e-filed it on January 10th and we got a court date… wait for it… of… […]

I have been asked how fast a probate can be filed in California many times. In my office fast can be REALLY FAST and in some cases the same day as initial contact is made. You can read about that down below. In most probate cases, I find, my clients want to get to the […]

Unless you live under a rock, deep in a cave, you have heard about the new tax act that Congress is putting together. This is not a political commentary on that act. More importantly a few things to remember: – With regards to estate tax very few people reading this need to worry about that […]

I had an interesting case lately. The decedent had money in another jurisdiction that was not in their trust. However, it’s in a different jurisdiction, with different laws, and it sounds like the bank account has some funky titling not normal in the United States. It simply wasn’t clear what the banker wanted to clear […]

SCAM ALERT An old friend lost her husband recently. He was a really great guy but that’s not the point of this post. She told me that within days of the death she received a call where the caller said, “hi Grandma it’s your grandson Michael….” I don’t remember the details of what she told […]

On January 1, 2017 the California legislature enacted a new law, California Civil Code 2920.7 (pasted below) which aims to help the survivor deal with a mortgage company when their name is not actually on the mortgage. It’s like a survivor’s bill of rights in a way. How does this happen? The most common situations […]

You just lost a loved one… now what? As a probate attorney for over 20 years I have dealt with well over 1,000 deaths at work. I have also dealt with the deaths of several family members and close friends. It’s a part of life… death and taxes! So, you just a loved one what […]

I have had multiple cases recently where title companies have refused to honor deeds recorded around the time of death. That is, the person just before death signed a deed to transfer the property to another. In each case the facts are slightly different. Before I explain more let me tell you that, in my […]

On March 11, 2016 I got the call of a lifetime… and I do not mean that in a good way. I got the call from the police, in Logan, Utah, that my mother had been shot to death by her husband. This is not a post about domestic abuse, gun control or mental health […]

You likely know that CaliforniaProbate.info tries to stay up on all “Heggstad” related news. As the owner of www.heggstadpetition.com it is imperative that I keep up-to-date on these cases. We advise clients, and potential clients, almost daily about the nuances of a Heggstad petition. As you likely know a “Heggstad” petition is a probate court […]