A parent, a spouse or a close relative has died, and in the middle of grief you have been handed a job: a bank wants paperwork, a relative is asking about the house, and someone has said the word "probate." Most people facing this process have never seen a deed up close or ordered a death certificate, and the hardest part is not knowing what comes first. This guide walks through the documents in the order families usually need them, what each one is for, and where each one comes from.
Before You Start: What to Have in Hand
The documents you need depend on three facts: whether there is a will, whether there is a trust, and how each piece of property was titled. It also helps to know which role you hold, because the roles are not interchangeable:
- An executor is the person named in a will to carry it out; the probate court appoints that person before they can act for the estate.
- An administrator is the person the court appoints when there is no will, or no executor able to serve.
- Both are called a personal representative, the person the California Courts' guide to property after someone dies describes as responsible for representing the estate, collecting property, paying bills and distributing what remains.
- A successor trustee is the person a trust names to take over managing trust property after the person who created it dies, generally without a court appointment.
- An heir is a person who inherits under the law when there is no will; a beneficiary is a person named to receive property in a will, a trust or an account.
Some documents come from agencies, such as death certificates from vital records offices and deeds from the county recorder. Others are in the decedent's own files. This guide covers California law; if the decedent lived in another state or owned property there, that state's law applies to it.
Step 1: Obtain Certified Copies of the Death Certificate
Almost every institution involved in an estate asks for a certified copy of the death certificate, so this is usually the first document families order. In California, certified copies come from the California Department of Public Health's Vital Records office and from local offices: the local registrar and county recorder in the county where the death occurred.
California issues two kinds of certified copy. An authorized copy goes only to an "authorized person," and under Health & Safety Code section 103526 that category includes the decedent's parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse or domestic partner, an attorney representing the estate, a person empowered by statute or appointed by a court to act for the estate, and certain others, including a funeral establishment ordering on a family's behalf. Anyone else receives an informational copy marked "INFORMATIONAL, NOT A VALID DOCUMENT TO ESTABLISH IDENTITY."
To receive an authorized copy, the applicant signs a statement under penalty of perjury that they are an authorized person, in person at the office, or with a notarized statement for a mailed or faxed request. Electronic requests may use identity verification in its place.
Families often need several copies, because banks, brokerages, insurers, retirement plans, the DMV, the court and government agencies may each keep one. The issuing office publishes its current fees and ordering options.
Step 2: Locate the Will, Trust, and Any Advance Directives
This step tells the family who is in charge. A will names the executor and directs how property in the probate estate is distributed. A revocable living trust names the successor trustee and governs property titled in the trust's name; that property passes outside probate, and the trust itself is not filed with the court.
Common places to look include a home safe or file cabinet, a safe-deposit box, the office of the attorney who prepared the documents, and the county recorder's office, where some people record documents related to their trust.
Whoever has the original will carries a legal duty. Under Probate Code section 8200, unless a petition for probate is filed first, the custodian of a will must, within 30 days after learning of the death, deliver the original to the clerk of the superior court in the county where the estate may be administered, and deliver a copy to the named executor, or, if the executor cannot be found, to a named beneficiary. The courts call this "lodging the will."
When a trust becomes irrevocable at death, Probate Code section 16061.7 requires the successor trustee to serve a notification on each beneficiary and each heir, generally within 60 days. The section lists alternatives: 60 days after the trustee learns of a person entitled to it, or, if the trustee's office was vacant, 60 days from when the new trustee begins serving.
A health care directive and a power of attorney for finances stop operating at death, but they can help explain earlier decisions or close medical accounts. If no will is found, California's intestate succession rules decide who inherits. A will or trust may also treat real property, meaning land and buildings, differently from personal property such as accounts and belongings.
Step 3: Gather Property and Title Documents
Title is the single most important fact in an estate, because how a thing was owned decides how it passes. The California Courts' page on inventory and estimating property value defines real property as land and buildings, including real estate leases of at least a 10-year term or with an option to buy, and personal property as everything else: cars, jewelry, furniture, cash, stock, bonds and similar rights to be paid.
- Real property. Locate the deed to each parcel. The deed shows whether title was held in joint tenancy, as community property, as sole and separate property, under a transfer-on-death deed or in a trust's name. That page notes deeds are public records at the County Recorder's Office where the property is located. Title also bears on property tax after the transfer, which families weighing an inherited house in California meet early.
- Vehicles. Locate the title for each car, boat or trailer. The California DMV handles vehicle transfers, and the route depends on whether the vehicle was in a trust, held jointly or part of the probate estate.
- Financial accounts. Locate statements for bank, brokerage and retirement accounts and life insurance. The courts' page notes bank records are private and a personal representative must be appointed to access them, though statements are sometimes found at home. Each institution generally asks for a certified death certificate and, depending on the account, letters from the court, a trust certificate or a beneficiary claim.
- Safe-deposit box. California law governs access after a death, and the bank's own procedures apply.
For each item, the courts' page suggests recording a description, how it was owned, and its estimated fair market value at death, including the decedent's share and any money owed on it.
Step 4: Collect Financial and Tax Records
The records in this step show what the decedent owed and what returns remain to be filed. Families often find them scattered across mail, email and online accounts, which is why many gather them in one place.
- Tax returns. The IRS's Publication 559, Survivors, Executors, and Administrators states that the personal representative must file the decedent's final federal income tax return for the year of death and any returns not filed for earlier years. The California Franchise Tax Board handles state returns.
- Retirement accounts. Locate IRA, 401(k) and pension statements and the beneficiary designation forms. For accounts with a named beneficiary, that designation, not the will, generally decides who receives the account.
- Life insurance. Locate each policy and the insurer's contact details; the named beneficiary generally claims directly with the insurer.
- Debts. Locate mortgage, credit card, car loan and other statements. Valid debts are paid from the estate before distribution.
- Business interests. Locate any operating agreement or partnership agreement.
Publication 559 also states that inherited property's basis generally starts from its fair market value on the date of death. A CPA, an enrolled agent or a tax attorney reviews the final returns, any estate income tax return and basis questions for a specific estate.
Step 5: Identify Which California Settlement Path Applies
With documents in hand, the family can see which route the property takes. The courts' self-help guide notes an estate may need probate even if there was a will, and that some property can be transferred without going to court. The broader California estate settlement guide walks through each route.
Property that passes on its own. Under Probate Code section 5302, money in a joint account generally belongs to the surviving account holder, unless there is clear and convincing evidence of a different intent, and a payable-on-death account goes to the named payee if surviving; a will cannot change either designation.
Trust administration. Property titled in a revocable trust is managed by the successor trustee without court supervision. Institutions often ask for a certificate of trust, a short summary, rather than the full trust.
Simplified procedures. The Judicial Council's forms cover the affidavit for collection or transfer of personal property, the petition to determine succession to the decedent's primary residence, the affidavit for real property of small value, and the spousal or domestic partner property petition. Under Probate Code section 13100, the personal property affidavit is available when 40 days have passed since the death and the gross value of the decedent's California property does not exceed a dollar limit that is adjusted periodically. Probate Code section 13050 leaves out of that value property held in joint tenancy, property in a revocable trust, registered vehicles and certain other items. Under Probate Code section 13650, a surviving spouse may petition for an order that administration is not needed for property passing to the spouse. The California Courts publish the current limits.
Full probate. When property cannot pass any of these ways, a personal representative is appointed in superior court. If there is no will, Probate Code section 8461 sets the order of priority for appointment as administrator, subject to the provisions of its article, starting with a surviving spouse or domestic partner, then children, then grandchildren, and continuing through other issue, parents, siblings and further relatives (including relatives of a predeceased spouse or domestic partner), a qualifying conservator or guardian of the estate, and the public administrator, before creditors and any other person.
Where heirs or a trustee are in conflict, or misconduct is suspected, that is a contested matter handled by an attorney who litigates trust and probate cases.
Step 6: Notify Agencies and Institutions
This step can feel endless, and much of it is the same certified copy sent with a short letter to one office after another. Common notifications include:
- Social Security Administration. The death is reported to Social Security; a funeral home may report it, and families commonly confirm it was received.
- California DMV. The DMV handles vehicle title transfers for vehicles that are not in a trust or held jointly.
- Franchise Tax Board. The FTB receives the decedent's final California income tax return and, where the estate has income, a fiduciary return.
- County assessor. A transfer of real property may be reassessed unless an exclusion applies, and the assessor's office explains the filings it requires after a death. Under Rev. & Tax. Code section 63.2, for transfers on or after February 16, 2021, a parent's or grandparent's principal residence passing to a child or grandchild may be excluded if a claim is filed, the home becomes the transferee's principal residence within one year, and the homeowners' or disabled veterans' exemption is filed within a year. The claim is due within three years after the transfer or before a transfer to a third party or the transferee moves out, whichever is earlier, or within six months after a notice of supplemental or escape assessment. A later claim may still be considered, prospectively, if the property has not gone to a third party. Market value above a set limit can still be added to the taxable value, and the county assessor's office reviews eligibility.
- Financial institutions. Each bank, brokerage and retirement custodian asks for a certified death certificate and, depending on the account, letters, a trust certificate or a beneficiary claim form.
- U.S. Postal Service. Mail can be redirected to the executor or administrator.
- Utilities and subscriptions. These are cancelled or transferred.
Families in one county can find the local offices listed in the San Diego County estate settlement guide.
Typical timeline
No single timeline fits every estate, but several dates in California law anchor the early months. The custodian of a will has 30 days after learning of the death to lodge it. A successor trustee generally serves the trust notification within 60 days. The personal property affidavit cannot be used until 40 days after the death. The Proposition 19 claim periods in Step 6 run from the transfer. How long the rest takes depends on which path applies and how quickly institutions respond. A one-page estate settlement checklist can help track these dates.
When the Process Gets Complicated
Property in another state
Real property in another state is governed by that state's law.
Missing or mismatched documents
A will that cannot be found, a trust that was never funded, or a deed that does not match the trust changes which path applies. A probate attorney handles these situations.
Blended families and competing claims
When heirs or beneficiaries disagree about who receives what, the dispute is a contested matter for an attorney who litigates trust and probate cases.
Business interests and accounts with no beneficiary
A business may need its own valuation and transfer process. A retirement account with no living named beneficiary may end up in the probate estate, depending on the plan's terms.
Federal estate tax
Publication 559 states that most estates are not subject to the federal estate tax; the IRS publishes the current exemption. A probate attorney handles court matters, a CPA or enrolled agent handles tax filings, and the county assessor's office answers property tax questions.
