California Probate Guide

RIDLEY LAW

California Probate

A Complete Guide for Personal Representatives, Executors, and Administrators

Ventura County · California

ridleylawoffices.com

Important Notice - Please Read First

This guide is provided by Ridley Law for general educational purposes. It explains how California probate generally works but does not constitute legal advice for your specific situation.

Probate law is complex, court procedures vary by county, and the consequences of mistakes can be severe - including personal liability for the personal representative, surcharge, and delayed or lost inheritances.

Do not rely solely on this guide to administer a probate estate. Use it to understand the process and communicate effectively with your attorney. If you do not have an attorney, consult one before taking any significant action.

All statutory citations are to the California Probate Code unless otherwise noted. Verify all deadlines and procedures with your attorney, as laws and local court rules change.

How to Use This Guide

This guide walks you through the California probate process from start to finish. Each chapter focuses on a specific phase or topic. Use the chapter headings to find what you need, or read straight through for a complete picture.

Symbol

Meaning

⚠ Warning

Stop and read carefully. Mistakes here can cause serious problems.

✓ Tip

A practical suggestion to make the process easier or safer.

ℹ Info Box

Background information that provides important context.

☐ Checklist

A task to complete and check off.

[verify]

A deadline, statute, or figure you should confirm is still current with your attorney.

About the Author

Eric Ridley

Law Office of Eric Ridley | Port Hueneme, California

Eric Ridley is a California estate planning, trust administration, and probate attorney based in Port Hueneme. He founded the Law Office of Eric Ridley after a personal experience watching an inadequate estate plan leave his family vulnerable - a loss that transformed his view of what estate planning must actually accomplish.

Eric has been practicing California estate planning and probate law since 2010. He is admitted to the State Bar of California and to the United States District Courts for the Central, Eastern, and Southern Districts of California. He is a member of the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys (AAEPA) - which requires 36 hours of continuing legal education annually in estate planning, elder law, probate, and trust administration - as well as the Ventura County Bar Association and the Beverly Hills Bar Association. In 2025, he was recognized as the Best Estate Planning Attorney in Ventura County.

To schedule a consultation:

(805) 244-5291 | eric@ridleylawoffices.com | ridleylawoffices.com

Preface

If you are reading this, you are probably a personal representative - the person named in a will, or appointed by a court, to administer a California probate estate. You may have just learned of your appointment. You may be months into a process that is taking far longer than you expected. Either way, you are doing one of the most technically demanding jobs the law asks a non-lawyer to perform, often while also grieving.

California probate is supervised by the Superior Court. That means there are filing deadlines, notice requirements, mandatory appraisals, creditor claim periods, court hearings, accountings, and a final petition for distribution - all governed by the Probate Code, the California Rules of Court, and local court rules that vary by county. The statutory timeline from opening to closing runs roughly nine months at a minimum, and often one to two years. Along the way, dozens of decisions need to be made correctly, and most of them cannot easily be undone.

This guide was written to give you an honest, plain-language map of that process. It is not a substitute for an attorney, and it does not provide legal advice. What it does is explain what is happening at each stage, what the legal requirements are, what common mistakes look like, and what questions you should be asking your lawyer. The goal is to make you an informed participant in your own estate administration - not to prepare you to do it alone.

You will find, as you read, that probate is more than paperwork. It involves fiduciary duties that can expose you to personal liability if violated. It involves relationships - with beneficiaries, creditors, the court, and the decedent's financial institutions - that all need to be managed carefully and simultaneously. And it involves deadlines that are not forgiving.

The guide is organized chronologically, roughly tracking the order in which events unfold during a California probate. Chapter 1 explains what probate is and when it is required. Chapter 2 covers your role as personal representative....