Most people facing an estate in Contra Costa County did not choose this job. Some are adult children sorting a parent's papers at the kitchen table. Others are surviving spouses trying to keep the household running, or people who just learned they were named executor or successor trustee, with brothers, sisters or cousins waiting to hear what happens next. This page points to the court and county offices involved here and explains, in order, how an estate moves from a death to a finished transfer. California law is the same in every county, so the rules below apply in Contra Costa County as they do anywhere else in the state.
How Estate Settlement Works in Contra Costa County
Estate settlement is the whole job after a death: finding the will or trust, gathering assets, paying debts and moving property to the people entitled to it. Probate is one path within that job. The court's probate page describes probate as the process in which "the court supervises the distribution of a person's assets and payment of the person's debts after their death." Under Probate Code section 7050, the superior court has jurisdiction over proceedings concerning the administration of a decedent's estate. Here, that is the Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa.
Three paths are common:
- Full probate. The court appoints a representative and supervises the estate, usually because property was in the person's name alone.
- A simplified procedure. California offers shorter routes for smaller estates and for property passing to a surviving spouse or domestic partner.
- Trust administration. A successor trustee manages property held in a living trust under the trust's terms, generally without court supervision.
Property held in joint tenancy or with a named beneficiary often passes outside all three paths. Which path applies depends on how each asset was titled. For a fuller look at that question, there is a guide on whether an estate needs probate.
The Contra Costa County Probate Court: Where Cases Are Filed
The Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa handles probate alongside conservatorships, guardianships and trust matters. Its Probate page is the starting point for local information. It offers a downloadable form packet and links titled "Where to file your probate, conservatorship or guardianship case," "General Probate Departments," "Probate General Information," "Ex Parte Hours and Locations" and "Court filing fees and costs." Current locations, departments and fees come from those linked pages, not from a summary like this one.
The court's page gives (925) 608-2613 as the number for information about wills, trusts and estates. The page also describes a Probate Facilitator, an attorney employed by the court. The page limits the Facilitator's help to self-represented people seeking guardianship or limited conservatorship of a person only, so that resource does not cover a family settling an estate.
One step can arise before any case is opened. Probate Code section 8200 provides that, unless a petition for probate of the will is filed earlier, a person who has custody of a will must do two things within 30 days after learning of the death. The custodian must deliver the original to the clerk of the superior court of the county where the estate may be administered. The custodian must also deliver a copy to the named executor if that person can be located, or otherwise to a named beneficiary.
Full Probate: When the Court Supervises the Estate
Full probate generally applies when the person who died owned property in their name alone and the estate does not qualify for one of the simplified procedures. Those procedures have value limits that are adjusted over time. The California Courts and the Contra Costa court's probate pages publish the current figures. The comparison of when probate is required walks through the difference.
The court appoints a personal representative, the person given court authority to administer the estate. An executor is the person named in a will to do this. An administrator is appointed when there is no will, or when the will names no executor who can serve.
The case usually moves through these stages:
- A petition is filed with the Contra Costa County Superior Court.
- The notices California law requires are published and sent.
- Creditors have the period the law gives them to file claims.
- The estate's property is inventoried and appraised.
- The court is asked to approve the final distribution.
The creditor claim period is set by California law. Its length is a question for the court's general information pages or an attorney handling the estate, and this guide does not restate it.
Under Probate Code section 8800, the inventory and appraisal is one combined document. It must be filed within four months after letters are first issued to a general personal representative. Letters are the court document that gives the representative authority. The court may allow more time when that is reasonable, and partial inventories are permitted within the allowed time.
The court generally appoints a probate referee to value many noncash assets. A probate referee is an appraiser appointed by the court for that purpose. California law also sets the compensation of the personal representative and the attorney in an ordinary probate by a formula tied to the estate's value.
How much a representative can do without returning to court, for example in selling property, depends on the authority the court has granted. California provides a framework for administering estates with less court supervision, and the scope of that authority in a given case is set out in the court's orders and letters.
Simplified Procedures: When Full Probate May Not Be Required
Smaller estates and spousal transfers can often skip full probate. The Judicial Council names four procedures:
- The affidavit for collection or transfer of personal property. A successor uses this to collect personal property without a court case.
- The affidavit for real property of small value. This applies to real estate of limited value.
- The petition to determine succession to the decedent's primary residence. This is a court petition for the home.
- The spousal or domestic partner property petition. This is a petition filed with the Contra Costa County Superior Court, asking the court to confirm that property passes to, or belongs to, a surviving spouse or domestic partner without a full probate.
The first procedure is the one used most often, and its rule appears in Probate Code section 13100. If at least 40 days have passed since the death, and the gross value of the person's real and personal property in California is within the limit that section sets, a successor may act without letters or a probate of the will. The limit is adjusted periodically, and certain property is left out of the count. Under that procedure, the successor may collect money owed to the person who died, receive tangible personal property, and have securities, debts owed to the decedent and similar interests transferred. The affidavit is presented to whoever holds the asset, such as a bank, rather than filed with the court.
Real property is treated differently from personal property. A house generally needs one of the real-property procedures, or full probate. The guide to settling estates without full probate compares the four procedures and the waiting period for each.
Trust Administration in Contra Costa County
A living trust, also called a revocable trust, often keeps property out of the Contra Costa County Superior Court. Property held in the trust passes under the trust's own terms. The successor trustee is the person the trust names to manage and distribute that property after the person who created the trust has died.
For a successor trustee, the work is real even without a judge. It includes notifying beneficiaries, finding and listing trust assets, paying debts and taxes, keeping records, and distributing property as the trust directs. California law requires a successor trustee to give notice to beneficiaries and heirs after the death. It sets what the notice must contain and when it must go out, and an attorney can confirm those requirements for a particular trust.
Real property held in the trust still involves the county. As the next section explains, a change in ownership statement is due when the trustee holds property that passes because of a death.
When beneficiaries disagree, or someone questions how a trustee is acting, the matter becomes a contested one. That is a different subject, handled by an attorney who litigates trust and probate cases.
Real Property in Contra Costa County Estates
A house is real property, while furniture, cars and bank accounts are personal property, and the law handles the two differently. The Assessor's change in ownership form states that beneficial interest passes to heirs on the date of death, "however, a document must be recorded to vest title in the heirs." The kind of document depends on how title was held and which path the estate takes. The Clerk-Recorder's Recording Requirements page lists format rules for documents, such as signatures and acknowledgment. Its Recording Requirement FAQs say the office does not supply forms or give legal advice.
Change in ownership statement. A death is a change in ownership for property tax purposes. Under Rev. & Tax. Code section 480, the statement is filed in one of two ways:
- If the property is in probate, the personal representative files it with the county recorder or assessor before or at the time the inventory and appraisal is filed.
- In other cases, including a trust, the trustee or the transferee files it within 150 days after the date of death.
The statute's required notice says that failing to file within 90 days after the assessor mails a written request can bring a penalty. The Contra Costa County Assessor's change in ownership form for the death of a real property owner asks for a separate statement for each parcel.
The parent-child exclusion. For a transfer on or after February 16, 2021, Rev. & Tax. Code section 63.2 can keep a parent's or grandparent's principal residence from being reassessed. A grandparent-to-grandchild transfer qualifies only when the grandchild's parents who are the grandparents' children have died. Several other conditions apply:
- The home must become the heir's principal residence within one year.
- The heir must file for the homeowners' or disabled veterans' exemption within a year of the transfer.
- The claim must be filed with the Assessor by the earliest of three points: three years after the transfer, before the property transfers to a third party, or before the heir stops living there.
- Alternatively, a claim is timely if it is filed within six months after the mailing of a supplemental or escape assessment notice.
Value above a limit in the statute may still be reassessed. The Assessor's office reviews whether a particular claim qualifies. A CPA, an enrolled agent or a tax attorney reviews income-tax and basis questions.
Property tax bills. While the estate is being settled, bills keep arriving. The Tax Collector's Secured Property Taxes page says the first installment is delinquent after December 10 and the second after April 10.
Selling. Whether a sale of estate real property needs court confirmation depends on how the estate is being administered and what authority the court has granted. The question of selling property during probate looks at that in more detail. Keeping, renting or selling an inherited house are separate choices for a family to weigh.
Finding Professionals and Resources in Contra Costa County
Choosing help is easier once the role of each is clear. These resources and kinds of professionals are the ones Contra Costa County families most often turn to:
- The court's own pages. The Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa's Probate page links its general probate information, form packet and fee schedule.
- The California Courts self-help materials. The Judicial Council publishes statewide forms and explanations of the simplified procedures.
- Lawyer referral services and legal aid organizations. These are categories of help a family may look into, depending on income and the kind of question.
- A probate attorney. This lawyer advises a personal representative or trustee and prepares court filings.
- A CPA or enrolled agent. These professionals handle the final income tax returns and any returns for the estate or trust.
- A probate referee. This court-appointed appraiser values estate assets in a probate case.
The estate settlement checklist sets the tasks in order. Silver Lining Estate is a California educational resource. Its questionnaire asks a few questions and points to the guides and the kinds of professionals that fit.
