Heggstad Petition: Definition and How It Works in California

By Eric Ridley, attorney, Ridley Law. Updated September 2026.

A Heggstad petition asks the probate court to confirm that an asset the settlor never formally transferred into their living trust already belongs to it, so the family can avoid full probate for that one asset.

How it works in California

The petition takes its name from Estate of Heggstad (1993) 16 Cal.App.4th 943, where a settlor’s own signed, written declaration that he held certain property as trustee was enough to bring that property into his revocable trust, even without a recorded deed. The petition is brought under Prob. Code, § 850, which lets the court resolve a claim over property held by, or owed to, an estate or trust. For the full mechanics of filing one, see the Heggstad petition guide.

The petition works because the evidence shows the settlor already intended the asset to be trust property; the missing deed or account change was an oversight, not a decision to leave it out. The court isn’t creating a new transfer. It’s recognizing one that already happened.

Why it matters

For example, a family finds a house still titled in the deceased parent’s name years after the parent signed a trust that specifically listed that house on its schedule of assets. Instead of opening full probate for a single piece of real estate, the successor trustee can file a Heggstad petition and, if the schedule and other evidence support it, bring the house into the trust without a full probate administration. For more on this exact situation, see the house was never put in the trust, now what.

Common mistakes

Assuming any unfunded asset qualifies. Weak or missing evidence of the settlor’s intent, such as a trust that never mentions the asset at all, makes the petition harder to win. Waiting so long that other issues, like a sale or a lien, complicate what should have been a straightforward filing. For the step-by-step timeline, see the Heggstad petition process.

Related terms

• Living trust: the trust the asset is being brought into.
• Probate Code section 850 petition: the broader category of petition a Heggstad petition falls under.
• Trust funding: the step that didn’t happen correctly and that the petition fixes after the fact.
• Trustee: the person who typically files the petition on the trust’s behalf.

Part of the California estate planning glossary. For the full treatment, see The Heggstad Petition: Rescuing an Asset Left Out of the Trust.