Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

If your question involves law that does not involve California, then you need to repost the question in the state that the probate is pending. This may be one or more states, depending on whether your mother died in another state.

For example, if she was living in Missouri, probate as to personal property occurs where the decedent was domiciled at the time of her death. Probate as to real property occurs where the real property is, regardless of where the decedent was domiciled at death.

Any attorney is going to need to know how the bank account was held, for example whether it was a joint account, or a POD account, etc.

It depends on how she was "on" the account. If joint tenant or POD, it should not be part of the probate estate, but if she was an authorized signer, or a signer under a power of attorney, the account is part of the estate.