Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

His wife would get everything that is not covered by a Will. Only those who have a possibility of getting anything need to be notified. You need to try to find out if there was a Will or Trust. Please see prior questions on this topic to see how that might be done.

The County Recorder's Office would not have a will, as wills are hardly ever recorded. What you would find at the County Recorder's Office is title documents that showed how title is held. That may clue you in to how property was probated, or whether it was probated.

For example, if you found a document titled "court action conveyance" then it would contain a probate case number, and you could use that case number to go to the court house. If you found a document titled "affidavit of death of joint tenant" then your father probably had his property in joint tenancy, and there may have been no need for probate.

I'm not trying to sound rude, but you have to know what you are looking at, to give you the clues to point you in the right direction. It's like an experienced radiologist looking at a radiograph, he knows what it is when he sees it.

Shers is wrong. The wife only gets everything if everything was community property. If your dad held any property that would have been separate property in a divorce, the wife has to split it with the children of the decedent.