Estate Settlement Checklist

If you have just been named executor, are the successor trustee of a parent's trust, or are the adult child everyone in the family is suddenly looking to, you are probably holding a stack of papers, a set of house keys and a lot of questions nobody prepared you for. Most people facing this process have never done it before, and the hard part is not any single task but knowing which one comes first. This checklist puts the tasks in the order they usually happen in California, says what each one is for, and marks the ones that usually involve a professional.

Use it as a working list. Some steps apply only to a probate, some only to a trust, and some to every estate.

Before You Start: Documents to Gather and Decisions to Make

A few documents and a few clear answers make every later step easier.

• Find the will and any trust. Note where each original is kept. Under Probate Code section 8200, a person holding a will must, within 30 days after learning of the death, deliver it to the superior court clerk in the county where the estate may be administered and deliver a copy to the named executor (or, if the executor can't be located, to a named beneficiary), unless a petition for probate has already been filed.
• Order several certified death certificates. Banks, agencies and the court commonly ask for a certified copy.
• Note the date of death. Many California deadlines run from it, and others run from the date the court first issues letters.
• Identify the roles. An executor is the person named in a will to manage the estate. An administrator is appointed by the court when there is no will or the named executor cannot act. Personal representative is the term for the person the court appoints to represent the estate in probate, whether executor or administrator. A successor trustee is the person who takes over managing a trust after the original trustee dies. Heirs or beneficiaries are the people with a legal right to receive the property.
• Sort real property from personal property. Real property is land and buildings; personal property is everything else. California's procedures treat them differently.
• Make a rough inventory. List real estate, bank and investment accounts, vehicles, business interests, digital accounts, and debts.
• Find out whether there is a trust. Assets titled in a living trust are handled by the successor trustee. Assets left outside it may still need probate or a simplified procedure.

Step 1: Secure and Protect Estate Assets in the First Days

The first job is practical, not legal: keep things as they are so nothing is lost or damaged while the family works out the legal path.

• Tell close family. Later, formal notices go to heirs and beneficiaries under the rules described in Step 3.
• Secure the home. Change locks on a vacant house, forward mail, and keep insurance and essential utilities in place.
• Hold off on handing out belongings. Under the court's statement of duties, DE-147 Duties and Liabilities of Personal Representative, a personal representative who acts without required court permission may be removed or required to reimburse the estate from personal funds, or both.
• Notify banks and investment firms. Institutions usually ask for a death certificate and, for probate accounts, letters from the court.
• Preserve digital accounts. Write down online accounts, subscriptions and passwords you can locate, and close nothing yet.
• List bills with due dates. Mortgage, property insurance, property tax and utilities keep running after a death.
• Ask about any safe-deposit box. Each institution sets its own access requirements, so confirm them before anyone removes contents.

Step 2: Determine Whether Probate Is Required

How each asset was titled matters as much as what it is worth. According to the California Courts' Guide to property after someone dies, depending on the amount and type of property, a family may or may not need to go to court, and an estate may need probate even if there was a will.

• Separate assets that pass outside probate. Trust assets, accounts with a named pay-on-death or transfer-on-death beneficiary, joint accounts with right of survivorship, and life insurance or retirement accounts with named beneficiaries go to the named recipient.
• Flag accounts in the decedent's name alone. With no beneficiary named, these are part of the probate estate.
• Check the simplified procedures. Each has its own value limit and waiting period, set out below.
• Expect full probate otherwise. Formal probate generally applies when the assets that remain are above the limits and no simplified procedure covers them.

California's simplified procedures:

• Affidavit for collection or transfer of personal property. Under Probate Code section 13100, once 40 days have passed since the death and the decedent's California property is within the limit, a successor can collect money owed, receive tangible personal property, or have accounts and securities transferred without letters. Per DE-300, for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, the limit is $208,850 (with certain excluded property).
• Petition to determine succession to the decedent's primary residence. Under Probate Code section 13151, once 40 days have passed, a successor to the decedent's California primary residence may petition if its gross value is within the limit — $750,000 for deaths on or after April 1, 2025, per DE-300.
• Affidavit for real property of small value. No sooner than six months after the death, a successor may file this affidavit with the superior court, with an inventory and appraisal made by a probate referee attached (Probate Code section 13200). DE-300 lists $69,625 for California real property of a decedent who died on or after April 1, 2025.
• Spousal or domestic partner property petition. This is a separate court procedure for a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner.

The court's simple-transfer page says these amounts are updated every three years, next on April 1, 2028.

Step 3: Open Probate or Begin the Simplified Procedure

Starting the legal process is what gives someone the authority to act, and that authority is what banks and the county recorder ask to see.

• File in the right county. The court's Overview of formal probate says to file where the decedent lived, or, if the decedent lived outside California, in the California county where they owned property.
• Petition the court to appoint a personal representative. The executor named in the will usually petitions. Without a will, Probate Code section 8461 sets the order of priority for an administrator, starting with the surviving spouse or domestic partner, then children, grandchildren and other issue, then parents, and the list continues.
• Receive letters. Letters testamentary (with a will) or letters of administration (without one) are the court document showing the personal representative's authority. Usually with a probate attorney.
• Ask about independent administration. The court can grant authority to take many actions without a hearing, subject to notice requirements. Authority granted as "limited authority" does not include the power to sell real property (Probate Code section 10403). Other actions still need court approval.
• For a simplified procedure, use the right path. The personal property affidavit is presented to whoever holds the property, not filed in court. The primary-residence petition is filed in superior court, and under Probate Code section 13151 the petitioner delivers notice to each named heir and devisee within five business days of filing.
• Trusts: Under Probate Code section 16061.7, when a revocable trust becomes irrevocable because of a settlor's death, the successor trustee serves a notification on each beneficiary and each heir of the deceased settlor (and, for a charitable trust supervised by the Attorney General, on the Attorney General). The deadline is 60 days after the death, or 60 days after the trustee learns of a person entitled to notice. If the trustee's office was vacant, the 60 days begin when the new trustee starts serving. The notification includes the settlor's identity and the trust's date, each trustee's contact details, where the trust is administered, any information the trust requires, and the recipient's right to request a copy of the trust terms.

Judicial Council forms and filing information are on the California Courts self-help guide.

Step 4: Notify Creditors and Settle Debts

Creditor notice is often where a careful executor feels the most pressure, because the rules protect both the family and the people the decedent owed.

• Publish the notice. Probate requires a published notice. Under Probate Code section 9050, mailed notice to creditors is in addition to that publication.
• Mail notice to known creditors. Under Probate Code section 9050, the personal representative gives notice of administration to known or reasonably ascertainable creditors, including anyone who has demanded payment.
• Track the claim deadline. Under Probate Code section 9100, a creditor files a claim by the later of four months after letters are first issued or 60 days after notice was mailed or delivered to that creditor.
• Send the 90-day agency notices. Under Probate Code section 9202, within 90 days after letters are first issued, notice goes to the Franchise Tax Board in every estate. Notice also goes to the Department of Health Care Services if the personal representative knows or has reason to believe that the decedent received Medi-Cal health care or was the surviving spouse of someone who did. If the personal representative or the estate's attorney knows that an heir or beneficiary is or has been confined in a prison or jail, the Victim Compensation Board receives notice. For letters first issued on or after January 1, 2026, the Department of Child Support Services receives notice if the decedent had a court-ordered child support obligation.
• Review each claim. The personal representative approves or rejects each claim. The Probate Code sets the order in which debts are paid. Usually with a probate attorney.
• Wait before paying or distributing. Paying out early can expose the representative personally, as Step 1 notes.

A trust administration has its own creditor procedure, separate from probate.

Step 5: Inventory, Appraise, and Manage Estate Assets

This step turns the rough list from the start into a formal record, and it sets values that matter for taxes later.

• File the Inventory and Appraisal. Under Probate Code section 8800, the personal representative files it within four months after letters are first issued, and the court may allow more time. Partial inventories are allowed within that period.
• Work with the probate referee. DE-147 says a court-appointed referee values the property unless the court waives the appointment, while the representative values certain cash items.
• File the certification with it. Under Probate Code section 8800, the inventory comes with a certification that either the decedent owned no California real property or a change in ownership statement has been filed in each county where they did (see Step 6).
• Record date-of-death values. Under 26 U.S.C. § 1014(a), the income-tax basis of inherited property is generally its fair market value at the date of death, with exceptions in the statute. A CPA, enrolled agent or tax attorney can say how that applies to a particular asset.
• Open a separate estate account. DE-147 requires estate money to be kept apart, in an account titled to the estate, never mixed with personal funds.
• Keep the property insured and the taxes paid. Selling or renting a house depends on the will and the court's authority.

A successor trustee inventories trust assets in a similar way, usually without a court filing.

Step 6: Handle Property Taxes and the Proposition 19 Reassessment Rules

For many families the inherited house is the center of everything, and property tax is often their first worry about keeping it. A transfer at death can lead the county assessor to reassess the house to current market value.

• File the change in ownership statement. Under Rev. & Tax. Code section 480, in a probate the personal representative files it with the county recorder or assessor before or with the inventory. In other transfers at death, including through a trust, the trustee or the person receiving the property files it within 150 days after the death.
• Check the parent-child exclusion. Under Rev. & Tax. Code section 63.2, for transfers on or after February 16, 2021, the exclusion requires that the home was the parent's principal residence and becomes the child's within one year. The child must also file for the homeowners' or disabled veterans' exemption within a year. Grandchildren qualify only if their parents who are the grandparents' children are deceased.
• Know the value limit. The State Board of Equalization's Proposition 19 Fact Sheet says the limit is taxable value plus $1,044,586 for transfers from February 16, 2025, through February 15, 2027; value above it is added.
• File the claim on time. The BOE fact sheet says to file with the county assessor within three years of the transfer and before transferring to a third party, or within six months after the assessor's supplemental or escape assessment notice. A late claim applies from the year it is filed.
• Spouses. The BOE's Change in Ownership FAQ lists transfers upon the death of a spouse among exclusions applied automatically.

The county assessor's office handles reassessment questions and exclusion claims.

Step 7: File Required Tax Returns

Tax filings sit apart from the court case, but the personal representative is usually the one who signs them.

• File the final individual return. IRS Publication 559 says the personal representative files the decedent's final Form 1040 for the year of death and any unfiled earlier returns; a surviving spouse may file in some cases.
• Ask about estate income-tax returns. Rent, interest or dividends earned during administration may require federal and California estate returns. Usually with a CPA or enrolled agent.
• Know what is not income. Publication 559 says an inheritance is not income to the beneficiary, but income the property later produces is.
• Ask whether federal estate tax applies. That depends on the estate's size. A CPA or estate-tax attorney can answer it.
• Keep property tax separate. Reassessment (Step 6) is the county assessor's matter, not the IRS's or the Franchise Tax Board's.

Filing dates depend on the date of death and how the estate reports income, and a CPA, an enrolled agent or a tax attorney is the right person for those questions.

Step 8: Transfer Real Property and Other Assets to Beneficiaries

Transfers are where the work becomes visible to the family, and each kind of property moves by its own paperwork.

• Probate real property. It moves by court order, either one confirming a sale or the order for final distribution, recorded with the county recorder.
• Trust real property. The successor trustee records a trustee's deed with the county recorder.
• Joint tenancy or survivorship community property. The survivor records the required affidavit with a certified death certificate; no probate is needed for that property.
• Primary residence petition. The court order from Step 3 is the transfer document.
• POD and TOD accounts. The beneficiary presents a death certificate and identification to the institution.
• Vehicles. The California DMV has its own transfer procedures.
• Personal property in probate. Belongings are distributed under the order for final distribution.

Recording applies only to real property.

Step 9: Close the Estate

Closing is the point where the personal representative or trustee can finally hand the job back.

• Report or petition on time. Under Probate Code section 12200, the personal representative petitions for final distribution or files a status report within one year after letters are issued. If a federal estate tax return is required, the deadline is 18 months.
• Prepare the final account. The court's formal probate overview says a final account is not needed if everyone entitled to distribution signs a waiver or a receipt.
• Court approval of fees. The same page says fees are generally set by law as a percentage of the total value of the estate and are usually not paid until the end of the case.
• Distribute and file receipts. After the order, assets are distributed and receipts are filed to close the estate.
• Trusts. The successor trustee accounts to beneficiaries and distributes.
• Keep records. Accountings, tax returns, deeds and letters are worth keeping for years.

Typical timeline

No single length fits every California estate. The fixed points are the ones above: the 40-day wait for the simplified procedures, the four-month inventory period and the creditor claim period (four months from the date letters are first issued, or 60 days after notice reached that creditor if that is later), the 90-day agency notices, and the one-year or 18-month report deadline under Probate Code section 12200. Real property, disputed claims and complex taxes all lengthen the process.

When the Process Gets Complicated: Contested Matters and Out-of-State Property

Family disagreement or suspected misconduct

A will contest, a dispute among heirs, or suspected misconduct by an executor or trustee is a different subject handled by an attorney who litigates trust and probate cases.

Property in another state

California law governs the California estate. Real property in another state is subject to that state's law.

Heirs who live elsewhere

California's procedures still apply; notice and distribution simply take more coordination.

A business interest

Ownership agreements and ongoing operations may need a business attorney early.

Debts larger than assets

The Probate Code's priority rules decide who is paid. A probate attorney can explain how they apply.