What Does “Probate a Will” Mean?

Short answer: “Probating a will” means opening a formal court case that validates the will, appoints an executor, and gives that executor legal authority to collect the deceased person’s assets, pay debts and taxes, and distribute what is left to the beneficiaries. In California, a formal probate case is required whenever the estate’s assets subject to probate total more than $208,850, gross value, under Probate Code § 13100, for deaths on or after April 1, 2025.

What Happens When You File a Probate Petition?

The person named as executor in the will starts the process by filing a petition for probate, along with the original will, at the superior court in the county where the deceased person lived. Whoever physically holds the original will has a legal duty to lodge it with the court clerk within 30 days of learning of the death. The filing fee for that is $50, under Probate Code § 8200.

The court reviews the petition to confirm two things: that the will was properly executed under California law, and that the person who signed it had testamentary capacity, meaning they were an adult with the legal and mental ability to understand what they were signing at the time. If the court is satisfied, it appoints the executor and issues Letters, the document that gives that person legal authority to act for the estate.

What Does the Executor Have to Do Next?

Once appointed, the executor has to build a complete inventory of everything the estate owns: real property, bank and brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, business interests, vehicles, and personal effects, then have that property appraised. California requires the executor to file this Inventory and Appraisal within four months of receiving Letters, using Judicial Council Form DE-160.

The executor also has to notify creditors, resolve valid claims, and pay the estate’s debts and taxes before any beneficiary receives a distribution. Most California probate cases take 9 to 18 months from the date the court appoints the executor, according to the California Courts Self-Help Guide. If the case is still open at 18 months, the executor has to file a status report explaining what is left to do.

What if the Deceased Person Did Not Leave a Will?

When someone dies without a valid will, California calls that dying intestate, and the intestate succession statutes decide who inherits, not the family’s sense of what the deceased would have wanted. Under Probate Code § 6401, a surviving spouse takes all of the couple’s community property. For separate property, the spouse’s share depends on who else survives: all of it if there are no surviving children, parents, or siblings; half if there is one child or no children but a surviving parent or sibling; and one third if there are two or more children. If nothing passes to a spouse, Probate Code § 6402 sends the estate down a fixed line, starting with children, then parents, then siblings, and outward from there. Stepchildren who were never legally adopted, and unmarried partners, generally inherit nothing under these rules.

If a will was last known to be in the deceased person’s own possession and cannot be found after death, California law presumes the person destroyed it on purpose, meaning they revoked it. That presumption can be challenged, but it puts the burden on whoever wants the missing will enforced. Either way, dying without a will does not avoid probate. An intestate estate above the small estate threshold still goes through the same court-supervised process, under the same statutory fee schedule, as an estate with a will.

Can a California Estate Skip Formal Probate?

Not every estate needs full probate. If the estate’s assets subject to probate fall under the $208,850 threshold, an heir can generally collect personal property using a simplified affidavit instead of opening a court case, once at least 40 days have passed since death and no probate case is pending. Real property other than a primary residence has its own affidavit procedure for estates worth up to $69,625, with a six month wait, recorded with the county recorder, under Probate Code § 13150. A surviving spouse, domestic partner, or child can also petition to inherit a primary residence worth up to $750,000 without full probate, under Probate Code § 13151.

Beyond those thresholds, certain assets pass outside of probate no matter the estate’s size: property held in joint tenancy, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts, and life insurance or retirement accounts with a named beneficiary. A properly funded revocable living trust also avoids probate for whatever is titled in it, though a will by itself never does. A will still has to go through probate to take legal effect; it names who the deceased wanted to inherit and who should administer the estate, but it does not skip the court process. If you want a rough sense of what a given estate would cost to probate, our probate calculator walks through the statutory fee schedule.

Figures verified July 2026.

What to Do Next

If you have been named executor, or you are trying to figure out whether an estate needs formal probate, start by locating the original will, or confirming there isn’t one, and putting together a rough list of the estate’s assets. From there, an estate planning attorney can tell you within one meeting whether you are looking at a simplified transfer, a formal probate case, or something in between, and what the executor’s actual next steps are.