Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

I have accepted the privilege of being a friends Executor of his Will. He lives in Paris California. I live in Wyoming. I have all his paperwork, and all his last wishes and Will.. I am to sell his trailer, and property, and the money is to be divided between three Charities, less the money he is giving me to travel there and conduct his last wishes. My question is this.. Does California require me to File a probate action in court, before I can take care of his Estate, or does his Will cover this action?? This guy is very old, and I need to know what actions I will have to take and the sequence, before he passes away. I am on a tight schedule, and do not have the money to make numerous trips to California just for petty stuff. I will need all the time to prepare his property for sale and sell his personal effects to put into an account for distribution to his requested Charities. Could you provide me with a basic Idea of what I can do in advance, or what I will need to do at the time of death to speed up the process?? Thanks Ed Stubert


Asked on 2/26/10, 11:16 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michele Cusack Pollak & Cusack

Dear Ed,

If your friend's estate is worth $100,000 or more when he dies, and he has a Will only, you will have to file a Petition for Probate after his death. If he has a living trust naming you as successor trustee and his assets are properly titled, probate can be avoided.

You probably would not have to spend any more time in California to administer the estate with a probate than without. When an estate goes through probate, legal fees and executor fee are usually higher than legal fees/trustee fee for settling a trust estate, and it will probably take a few more months for the estate to be administered and distributed. It wouldn't necessarily take any more of your time, though, because your attorney would take care of preparing and filing the formal documents and any court appearances that might be required. With charitable beneficiaries, you're going to have to do a formal accounting either way. Most people in California with families and substantial estates have living trusts, but your friend may be understandably reluctant to incur legal fees to do more than a simple will since he has no kids to benefit from the savings in probate fees after his death.

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Answered on 3/03/10, 11:42 am


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