Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: Expiration date

Find out from the Superior Court Probate Dept. in the county in which they person lived how you can look up whether a file exists [sometime just put the name into the County web site and it will show you aspects of the case; sometime you have to go there and look up the file and in general to see everything in the file you must do that]. Then contact the administrator of the Will [it has to be on file with the court]or the estate and ask your questions. Ther may be a lot more that you have to do, but first get this done to see whether their is any point in going further.

Re: Expiration date

If you have not received notice of a probate, there may have been none. If there was a trust, the law requires all beneficiaries to be notified and provided a copy of the trust by the trustee. If there was real estate, check in the land records of the county recorder to see what name the real estate is in and how it got that way. Also check in the Superior Court, with the Probate clerk to see if a probate has been opened. Or better yet, an attorney can do these things for you very inexpensively.