Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California
My fathers sister died. She left no will. We are filing probate papers. However there is a renter on her property who has not been paying her rent since november and we can't locate a rental agreement. For now what can we do to make sure she pay's rent, and then we want to serve her with termination of tenancy. Can we do that only after we have paperwork. Pasadena Court house we were told will take a week to a month to get our paperwork back. Any suggestions pls. We were told to start the paperwork and only after we were established with probate papers can we file to terminate tenancy.
Thanks,
Vikky B
2 Answers from Attorneys
Unfortunately, you cannot do anything until you are issued Letters of Administration. Letters of Administration are what give and define the scope of the adminstrator or administratrix authority to handle the probate estate's matters. The fact that there is no lease does not make her a squatter, so a lease is irrelevant to the issue of whether she is a tenant. The payment of rent in the past alone makes her a tenant. If she is not paying rent, you will have to serve her with a three (3) day pay or quit notice once you have letters, assuming that the letters give you that authority. ( I hope that you asked for that authority, in your application.)
You can petition to be named as a special administrator of the estate for the sole purpose of addressing the rental issue. That can be done in about 3-4 days.
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