Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Re: Probate

You get get the Nolo Press book on How to Probate an Estate and try and doit by yourself- but I expect that you will spend a lot of time trying to do it right and then wind up hiring a lawyer anyway to finish it.

I also agree witht the advice you received here from another attorney here that you really should consult an attorney to see what your responsibilites are with the trust.

While trusts do eliminate probate- they do not eliminate the need for you to get good legal advice.

Re: Probate

You can try. No one can answer that question but you. The attorney fees are not high enough from an attorney's perspective, since in real terms it does not richly reward the attorney the time, effort and resources that will be expended.

Re: Probate

you should retain an attorney, not only to handle the probate but to advise you regarding your duties and responsibilities as trustee.

see probate code sections 16000, et seq.,; 16400, et seq.; 16500 et seq.; 18000 et seq.; & 19000 et seq. at:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=prob&codebody=&hits=20

Re: Probate

After you go through the probate process you might find that paying an attorney $4,000 to probate the estate is a good deal. Some attorneys would not want to take on such a small estate because they would make enought to justify their time. If you need to post a bond, then do some research in advance, some bond companies don't sell bonds to pro pers in probate cases.