Some Typical Probate Concerns, ProbateOnly.com

The Cybersuite of the Law Offices of Jay H. Davison

1. Probate Code Section 401 provides that an executor must be a person who has not been convicted of an infamous crime (felony).

2. Is the named executor a resident of California? If the Petitioner for the Probate is a nonresident, a bond must be posted. Our office will handle this matter for you.

3. Did Testator marry after making his Will? Did he or she have children after making their Will? Probate Code Section 70 provides a marriage after the execution of a Will enables the new spouse to take as though no Will had been made. Probate Code 71 provides that any child born after the making of a Will shall take as their share as though the decedent left no Will.

4. Was Decedent a resident of Los Angeles County? If so, the probate proceeding must be commenced here no matter where he died or left property.

5. Was Decedent a nonresident of Los Angeles County? If decedent is a nonresident of California but left property in Los Angeles County, a probate proceeding must be commenced in Los Angeles County.

6. Holographic Will - A Holographic Will is one entirely written, dated and signed in the handwriting of the decedent.

7. Money Only In Estate - The executor should determine if someone else has an interest in the fund.

8. Funeral Bills - Funeral expense are debts payable out of the decedent's estate and not out of the surviving spouse's community property share. (Probate Code Section 951.1)

9. Expenses of last illness - usually given priority only as to last onset which resulted in hospitalization.

10. Did testator devise property to children and "issue"? What effect if child adopts child after decedent's death but before distribution of estate? Was adoptee adult or minor? When was adoption process initiated? Did decedent's child die testate or intestate?

11. How many Wills are there? None - one - or more than one.

12. Is the Will ambiguous?

13. Who signed (witnessed) the Will? What is their relationship to the testator?

14. Did the testator make changes to his Will? How?

15. Can the heirs be located?

Law Offices of Jay H. Davison

We handle Probate Administration and Estate Litigation in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Cities we serve include Alta Loma, Arcadia, Azusa, Baldwin Park, Chino, Chino Hills, Claremont, Colton, Corona, Covina, Duarte, El Monte, Fontana, La Puente, La Verne, Monrovia, Montclair, Norwalk, Ontario, Palm Springs, Pasadena, Phillips Ranch, Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Dimas, Upland, West Covina, Whittier and many others.

Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.... Albert Einstein