You Are the Executor in Another State and the Estate Owns California Property

You have been appointed executor or administrator of an estate in your home state, and the person who died also owned real property in California. In most cases, the answer to whether you need a separate California proceeding is yes: this is called ancillary administration, and it exists because your home state’s probate court, however thorough its proceedings are, has no jurisdiction over real property located in California. California law requires its own courts to supervise the transfer of California real estate, and that means a second, related probate case, filed in California, governed by Probate Code §§ 12500 through 12591.

I practice trust and estate planning and probate administration in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles Counties, and out-of-state executors dealing with a California vacation home, a rental property, or a parent’s former residence are a recurring part of my practice. This is rarely a case where anyone did anything wrong. It is almost always a case where nobody retitled the California property into a trust, and the property’s location, rather than anyone’s planning choices in the home state, is what triggers the second proceeding.

What Is Ancillary Administration, and When Is It Required?

Ancillary administration is the California probate proceeding required when the deceased person was domiciled in another state or country but owned property located in California, defined in Probate Code § 12501 as proceedings for administration of the estate of a “nondomiciliary decedent,” with a nondomiciliary decedent defined in § 12505. The primary probate proceeding, wherever the person actually lived, is called the domiciliary administration. Ancillary administration is generally required whenever California real property needs to be transferred out of the decedent’s name and there is no non-probate mechanism, such as a funded trust, joint tenancy, or a transfer-on-death deed, already in place to move it. If the only California asset is a small amount of personal property, such as a modest bank account, Prob. Code § 12570 allows a sister-state personal representative to use the same small-estate affidavit procedure available generally under § 13100, currently $208,850 as of April 1, 2025, instead of opening a full ancillary administration.

Domiciliary Versus Ancillary Administration

The domiciliary administration is the primary probate proceeding, opened where the decedent actually lived at death, and it governs the estate as a whole, including personal property wherever located and any real property in that home state. The ancillary administration is a secondary, subordinate proceeding, opened only in California, governing only the California real property and any California personal property not handled through a small-estate procedure. The two are coordinated but not merged. The domiciliary personal representative generally has priority to serve as, or to nominate, the ancillary personal representative in California under Probate Code § 12513, but the California court supervises the California proceeding under California law regardless of what has already happened in the home state.

Which California County Has Jurisdiction?

Under Probate Code § 12511, the proper county for an ancillary administration proceeding is determined under § 7052, which generally directs the case to the county where the decedent’s California real property is located. If the decedent owned real property in more than one California county, the proceeding is generally filed in the county containing the greater part, by value, of the California property. This is different from ordinary California domiciliary probate, where the proper county is where the decedent lived; in ancillary administration, the property’s location controls, because the decedent never lived in California at all.

Can a Non-Resident Serve as Personal Representative? What About Bond?

Yes, California generally permits a non-resident to serve as personal representative, including in an ancillary proceeding, and the ancillary statutes contemplate that the out-of-state domiciliary personal representative, by definition a non-resident, may serve directly or nominate someone else with the same priority. You generally do not need to find a California resident to stand in for you.

Bond is a separate question from residency. Under Prob. Code § 8571, the court has discretion to require a nonresident personal representative to give a bond, even where a bond might otherwise be waived by the will or by beneficiary agreement. Ask the court and your California counsel early whether bond will be required in your specific case, since the cost and logistics of obtaining a bond as an out-of-state fiduciary can take time to arrange.

Statutory Fees Under Prob. Code § 10810: Calculated on the California Property

California’s statutory fee schedule for the personal representative and the estate’s attorney, set out in Probate Code § 10810, is based on the gross value of the estate accounted for in the proceeding: 4% of the first $100,000, 3% of the next $100,000, 2% of the next $800,000, 1% of the next $9,000,000, 0.5% of the next $15,000,000, and a reasonable amount as determined by the court above $25,000,000. In an ancillary proceeding, this schedule is applied to the value of the California property being administered in that proceeding, not to the value of the entire estate being handled in the home-state domiciliary case. A modest California rental property is not going to generate statutory fees based on the value of the decedent’s entire out-of-state estate, only on what is actually inside the California ancillary proceeding.

These are separate, additive fees, one schedule for the attorney and one for the personal representative, each calculated on the same California property value, and either can petition the court for additional compensation for extraordinary services beyond the ordinary administration.

How Long Does Ancillary Administration Realistically Take?

Ancillary administration generally follows the same procedural framework as an ordinary California probate, including creditor claim periods, notice requirements, and court hearing calendars, under Probate Code § 12512. In practice, expect a timeline measured in many months rather than weeks, often in the range of eight months to well over a year depending on the county’s court calendar, whether the will requires probate or the case proceeds by appointment of an administrator, whether any beneficiary objects, and whether the property needs to be sold as part of the administration. Because the case depends on both the home-state proceeding’s status and the California court’s own calendar, coordinating the two timelines, rather than assuming they move in lockstep, is one of the more frustrating parts of serving as an out-of-state executor with California property.

Comparing Ancillary Administration to the Alternatives

How to Avoid This Entirely Next Time: Trust or TOD Deed

The two standard ways to keep a future estate out of ancillary administration are the same two tools that avoid ordinary probate generally: transferring the California property into a properly funded revocable living trust during the owner’s lifetime, or recording a California revocable transfer-on-death deed naming a beneficiary for the property. A trust is the more flexible and durable option, particularly if the property might later be sold, refinanced, or if the owner’s plans change, and it also lets the owner coordinate the California property with out-of-state assets in a single overall plan. A transfer-on-death deed is simpler and less expensive to set up for a single piece of eligible residential real property, but it offers less flexibility and fewer protections if circumstances change or if there are multiple potential beneficiaries with competing interests. Either tool, done correctly and before death, removes the California property from probate entirely and prevents the next executor, wherever they live, from having to open a California ancillary proceeding at all.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a California attorney if I already have a probate attorney in my home state?

Yes. Ancillary administration is a California court proceeding governed by California law and California local court rules, so you need California counsel to handle the California filing, even if your home-state attorney continues handling the domiciliary estate. The two attorneys typically coordinate directly.

Can I sell the California property before the ancillary proceeding is finished?

Generally no, not without court authority, since the property remains part of the probate estate until the appointed personal representative has authority to sell, whether under independent administration powers or with specific court approval, depending on how the case is structured.

What if the will was already admitted to probate in my home state? Do I have to re-prove the will in California?

California allows admission of a will already probated in another jurisdiction to be recognized in the ancillary proceeding through a streamlined process under Probate Code §§ 12520-12524, rather than requiring you to fully re-litigate the will’s validity from scratch, though the specific procedure depends on your facts.

Is the California property subject to California estate tax?

California has no separate state estate tax, so there is no California estate tax on the property itself, though the property remains part of the gross taxable estate for federal estate tax purposes if the estate is large enough to be subject to the federal exemption, currently $15,000,000 per person as of 2026 under recent federal law.

Who pays the statutory fees, the estate or me personally?

Statutory attorney and personal representative fees under Prob. Code § 10810 are paid from the estate’s assets, specifically from the California property or proceeds administered in the ancillary proceeding, not out of the personal representative’s own pocket.

This page is attorney-authored general information about California ancillary probate for an out-of-state executor. It is not legal advice for your specific situation, and the correct procedure depends on the county, the value and type of California property, whether a will exists, and the status of your home-state proceeding. If you are serving as executor elsewhere and need to open, or want to avoid needing, a California ancillary proceeding, call Ridley Law at 805-244-5291 or schedule a consultation.