How to settle a parent’s estate in California when there’s a will but no trust

When your parent left a will but no trust, you settle the estate by working in order: secure the original will, order certified death certificates, inventory every asset and how it’s titled, then figure out which path each asset takes: beneficiary designation, a small-estate shortcut, or probate. The will doesn’t let you skip court. It tells the probate court who inherits. So your real job is to identify what actually needs probate and what doesn’t, and a good share of an estate often doesn’t.

Finding the will is a relief, but it isn’t the finish line. A will is the instruction sheet for probate, not a way around it. Below is the path I walk families through, in the order it actually happens.

First, the honest truth about what a will does

A will does not avoid probate. It directs it. If your parent owned assets in their name alone with no beneficiary named, the will is the document the court follows to decide who gets what. That’s its job. People often assume “Mom had a will, so we’re covered,” and then are blindsided when the court still has to be involved. The will names an executor and lists who inherits; it does not transfer anything by itself. Transfer happens through probate, a small-estate procedure, or because the asset was already set up to pass outside the will.

The ordered path: how to actually settle the estate

Settling a California estate follows a sequence, and skipping steps causes most of the messes I get called to clean up. Work it in this order.

Secure the original will and order death certificates. Find the signed original, not a copy; the court generally wants the original. Order several certified copies of the death certificate; banks, the county, and insurers each want their own.
Inventory every asset and check the title on each. Make one list: real estate, bank and brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, vehicles, business interests. For each, write down exactly how it’s titled and whether a beneficiary is named. Titling is what decides everything that follows.
Sort each asset into its lane. Assets with a named beneficiary or pay-on-death designation, and assets held in joint tenancy, pass outside the will on their own. What remains in your parent’s name alone is the “probate estate,” and that’s the pile that determines your path.
Determine the procedure. If the probate estate is small enough, a streamlined affidavit or petition may apply. If not, you open full probate. (Details below.)
Handle creditors and required notices. Once a personal representative is appointed, you give legal notice to creditors and to heirs and beneficiaries, and you don’t pay debts out of order or out of your own pocket.
Pay valid debts and taxes, then distribute. After the claim period runs and valid claims and final taxes are handled, you distribute what’s left according to the will and get the court’s sign-off to close.

“My mom had a trust, but it’s still going through probate — why?”

If your mom had a trust and the estate is in probate anyway, the cause is almost always the same: the trust was never fully funded. A trust only controls assets that were actually retitled into its name. The classic example is the house. The trust was signed, but the deed moving the house into the trust was never recorded, so the house is still in your mom’s individual name and falls outside the trust. When that happens, a house can sometimes be confirmed into the trust with a focused court petition instead of full probate. Other forgotten assets may need a small-estate procedure or probate of their own.

This is the most common defect I see, and it happens to organized, careful people. If you’re untangling this, two reads will save you time: what to do when the house was left out of the trust, and what a successor trustee actually has to do for the part of the estate that is in the trust. Many estates are a mix: some assets in a trust, some governed by the will, and you handle each lane on its own track.

“I keep finding accounts my mom never told anyone about”

When you find accounts no one knew existed, write each one down, leave the money where it is, and check the title before touching anything. Don’t move funds or close accounts on instinct. How an account is titled changes whether it’s even part of the estate. An account with a named beneficiary or a pay-on-death designation passes directly to that person and never enters probate. An account in your mom’s name alone becomes part of the estate and counts toward whether you qualify for a small-estate shortcut or need full probate.

Keep a running inventory and update the total as new accounts surface, because that total is what decides your procedure. Finding one more account after you’ve filed isn’t a disaster, but it’s far easier to find them all first. Check old statements, tax returns, and her mail for a few months — institutions keep sending it.

When a smaller estate can skip full probate

Not every estate needs full probate, and California recently raised the limits, so don’t assume the worst before you do the math. Two procedures matter most for a parent’s estate:

Small-estate affidavit for personal property. Under AB 2016, effective April 1, 2025, you can collect personal property such as bank accounts (no real estate) by affidavit when the qualifying estate is worth $208,850 or less. This avoids opening a probate case for those assets.
Petition to Determine Succession to a Primary Residence. Effective April 1, 2025, a streamlined petition (Probate Code sections 13150–13158, form DE-310) covers a decedent’s primary home worth up to $750,000, avoiding full probate of that house. The home is excluded from the $208,850 personal-property figure, so the two procedures can be used together.

So a parent who owned a modest home and some bank accounts may qualify to transfer the house through the residence petition and the accounts by affidavit, and skip a full probate entirely. If the estate is over those thresholds, you’re likely in full probate, where attorney and personal-representative fees are set by statute (Probate Code section 10810) based on the gross value of the estate, not the hours worked (Probate Code section 10810). On a roughly $1 million estate the statutory attorney fee is in the ballpark of $23,000, with the same amount allowable to the personal representative.

“Do I need a probate attorney or a trust administration attorney?”

You need whichever fits what your parent actually left, and you find that out from the documents, not from a job title. A will plus assets in your parent’s name alone points to probate. A funded trust points to trust administration. A lot of estates are both at once: a trust that holds some assets and a will that catches the rest. The practical move is to bring everything to a California estate attorney who handles probate and trust administration, lay out the will, the trust if there is one, and your asset list, and let the facts sort the path. Don’t pre-diagnose and then go shopping for the matching specialist; you may be wrong about which one you need.

Creditors and the claim period

Settle debts on the estate’s timeline, not your own, and never pay a creditor out of your own money. The deadlines depend on which procedure you use. Absent the optional trust creditor-claim procedure (Probate Code section 19000 et seq.), the general limitations period for claims against a decedent is one year (Code of Civil Procedure section 366.2); the section 19000 procedure can shorten it to roughly four months. In a probate, the personal representative formally notifies known creditors, which opens a defined window for them to file claims, and gives you a process to reject claims that don’t belong. Because the timing turns on the path you take, confirm the exact deadlines before you start paying anyone. (If you’ve heard of a flat “two-year claim period,” that’s a misconception—the controlling outer limit is the one-year period under Code of Civil Procedure section 366.2.)

The honest caveat

Finding the will doesn’t avoid court, and no document your parent signed can change that after the fact. A will is the rulebook for probate, not an exit from it. The only thing that reliably keeps an estate out of probate is a trust that was funded while your parent was alive — which is the real lesson for your own plan, once you’re through theirs. For now, the good news is real: a meaningful share of many estates passes outside probate through beneficiary designations and the small-estate procedures above, and what’s left is a process you can work step by step.

Talk to a real California estate attorney

If you’re holding the will, a stack of statements, and a list of questions, you don’t have to map the path alone. I’ll look at the will, the asset list, and how each thing is titled, then tell you plainly what needs probate, what can skip it, and what the deadlines are — including the creditor timing that trips people up.

Talk to Eric Ridley — a free 60-minute consultation by phone or Zoom, anywhere in California. Or call (805) 244-5291. You’ll leave knowing where you stand, whether or not you hire me.

Frequently asked questions

How do I settle my mother’s estate when there’s a will but no trust?

Start by securing the original will and ordering certified death certificates, then list every asset and check how each one is titled. The titling decides the path: assets with named beneficiaries or joint owners pass on their own, a smaller estate may qualify for a streamlined affidavit or petition, and what’s left in your mother’s name alone usually goes through probate, where the will tells the court who inherits.

My mom had a trust but the estate is still going through probate. Why?

Almost always because the trust was never fully funded. A trust only controls assets that were actually retitled into it, so anything left in your mom’s name alone falls outside the trust and into probate. A house left out may be confirmable into the trust with a Heggstad petition; other forgotten assets may need a small-estate procedure or full probate.

I keep finding accounts my mom never told anyone about. What do I do?

Write each one down, don’t move any money, and check how each account is titled before you act. Some accounts have a named beneficiary or pay-on-death designation and pass outside probate entirely. Others, held in your mom’s name alone, become part of the estate and count toward whether a small-estate shortcut or full probate applies. Keep a running inventory.

Do I need a probate or trust administration attorney for a parent’s estate in California?

It depends on what your parent left, not on the lawyer’s title. A will with assets in your parent’s name alone points to probate; a funded trust points to trust administration. Many estates are a mix of both. Bring the documents to a California estate attorney who handles probate and trust administration and let the facts decide.

What is the claim period for creditors after a death in California?

Absent the optional trust creditor-claim procedure (Probate Code section 19000 et seq.), the general limitations period for claims against a decedent is one year (Code of Civil Procedure section 366.2); the section 19000 procedure can shorten it to roughly four months. In a probate, the personal representative gives formal notice to known creditors, which starts a shorter window. Confirm the exact deadlines before paying anything.

Can I sell the house during probate in California?

Usually yes, but only after the court appoints you as personal representative and gives you authority to sell. With full authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act you can often sell with notice to the heirs; without it, the sale may need court confirmation. You can’t sell a house still titled in your deceased parent’s name until that authority is in place.

How long does probate actually take in California?

Most California probates run roughly one to two years from filing to final distribution. Clean estates with cooperative heirs can finish closer to a year; disputes, hard-to-sell property, creditor issues, or a backlogged court push it longer. The will doesn’t speed this up — it only tells the court who inherits.

This is general information about California law, not legal advice for your situation.

Settle a Parent’s Estate With a Will but No Trust (California)