Prob. Code, § 8400 · Article 1. General Provisions
Prob. Code, § 8400
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A person has no power to administer the estate until the person is appointed personal representative and the appointment becomes effective. Appointment of a personal representative becomes effective when the person appointed is issued letters.
(b) Subdivision (a) applies whether or not the person is named executor in the decedent’s will, except that a person named executor in the decedent’s will may, before the appointment is made or becomes effective, pay funeral expenses and take necessary measures for the maintenance and preservation of the estate.
(c) The order appointing a personal representative shall state in capital letters on the first page of the order, in at least 12-point type, the following: “WARNING: THIS APPOINTMENT IS NOT EFFECTIVE UNTIL LETTERS HAVE ISSUED.”
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 862, Sec. 16. Effective January 1, 1997.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB§ionNum=8400.
- Text hash
- sha256 72730b58eaa5230d479b7bfeb9032198847ddf8fa8dac93190d66a31228edd3d
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
Cited by 1 provision
Provisions in this library whose text cites Prob. Code, § 8400. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Probate Code
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