1) Find the original will. The executor named in the will (or other interested party) contacts a lawyer.
2) The lawyer files the original will with the Application for Probate of Will and Issuance of Letters Testamentary.
3) The County Clerk issues citation and they post notice at the courthouse that an Application for Probate of Will has been filed (Probate Code Section 33(f)(2)).
4) After notice has been posted for 10 days, the lawyer calls the court to which the case has been assigned and gets a hearing date.
5) The lawyer and the named executor attend the court hearing where the facts of death are proved up. If the will was self-proven, only the executor needs to give testimony. If the will was not self-proven, a witness to the will must also testify at the hearing that the will was executed as required by law.
6) When the judge approves the Application for Probate of Will, the executor and the lawyer go to the County Clerk's office where the executor takes the Oath of Executor.
7) Letters Testamentary are then ordered from the County Clerk's office. They usually mail them to the lawyer's office within the week. Letters Testamentary are official documents issued by the court authorizing the executor to act for the estate. They are the proof to others that the executor has been qualified by the court.
8) A Notice to Creditors is prepared by the lawyer and sent to a newspaper for publication within one month after receiving Letters Testamentary (Probate Code Section 294).
9) Within four months after receiving Letters Testamentary, the executor shall give notice of issuance of such Letters to (1) mortgage companies and other with recorded claims against the estate of the deceased and (2) other persons having outstanding claims against the estate if the executor has knowledge of the claim.
10) The newspaper prints the notice and sends a copy of the notice, along with a Publisher's Affidavit about when the notice ran, to the lawyer. The lawyer then files the Affidavit and notice with the court.
11) The executor, with assistance from the lawyer, prepares an Inventory, Appraisement and List of Claims that shows the assets of and claims against the estate as of the date of death. The inventory is filed with the court within 90 days after the executor is qualified by the court (Probate Code Section 250).
12) A final federal income tax return for the year the deceased died is due by April 15 of the following year.
13) Federal estate taxes may be due for larger estates.
14) If any creditors make a claim on the estate, the executor must, within 30 days, either accept or reject the claim or any part of it (Probate Code Section 309).
15) The estate is disbursed as provided for in the will.
16) Proper notices are filed in the Deed Records for real estate.
17) New titles are filed for cars, boats and other titled property.
Written by Donald Ray Burger, Attorney at Law
Last revised: June 26. 1997.
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