Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: probate

If the will is in writing, is signed and has two attesting witnesses, it can be proved up. If the will is all in the handwriting of the decedent and signed by the decedent at the end of the will, it is a holographic will and can be proved up. Otherwise it is not valid.

Regardless, the personal representative of the estate, your boyfriend or anyone else, must be appointed in a probate proceeding in court.

You experience shows the importance of getting a little education on these issues.

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Re: probate

Well.... First of all, wills don't have to be notarized in California, in fact they should be witnessed by two (or more) indivuals and signed by those individuals as witnesses when created (they have to witness the signature). With regards to the camera, unfortunately California does not recognize video wills, so the video does you little good. If he hand wrote it (the whole thing), dated and signed it, and was specific on what he wanted done (and very clearly stated it was his last will and testament), then it might be valid without the video and without the witnesses.

With regards to what you need to do, you need to probate the will. It doesn't sound like your friend had much assets (under 100,000 with no real property (a house, etc)). If that is the case you probably can get away without a full probate, but you still need to have the will lodged with the court. Since you are in Sacramento, I would call the Voluntary Legal Services Program (unless your friend did have more assets then I believe, in which case you should contact an attorney), I know they do assist low income individuals with probate. Lawguru will not let me leave their number, but you can do a search on Sacramento and "Voluntary Legal Services Program".

Hope this helps.