Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in California

Probate Self Help
My mom died on 1/27/08. Most of her assets are non-probate items,i.e.house and checking accounts. However one account which is a mutual fund with Scudder valued at about $113,000 was not included in her lving trust-it is under her name only. Trust does have a pour over will. I know in order to get to this account we will have to go to probate. Is this something that I could probably do myself- the attorney charges set by probate law seem too high, especially for only one asset to be probated.

Asked on 2/23/08, 9:48 am

3 Answers from Attorneys

0 users found helpful

0 attorneys agreed

Re: Probate Self Help

Depending on what documents you have possibly you can do a PC 17200, "Heggstad" petition. A qualified attorney, who does a lot of probate court work, can help determine if a Heggstad would work. A standard Heggstad would probably cost about $2,000 in legal fees plus $320 court filing fee. On the other hand if your documents do not have the intent necessary to support a Heggstad then a full probate would be necessary. While you could do it yourself it's typically much harder than you might think. There is a reason competent probate attorneys get paid for our work; we do it right the first time thus avoiding delays. I can all but guarantee that I would do the probate quicker than you would if you did it yourself. I will do it in 7 months and you will not be able to; I promise. Plus, there are a lot of other things we point out to the Executor that they might not think of without our help. I highly encourage you to talk to an experienced probate attorney. I do probates throughout California and would be happy to help you. -John

Answered on 2/23/08, 5:51 pm

Mark as helpful