Loading…
Chapter 7 (Probate Rules; Rules 7.0 to 7.13): filing in the Probate Department on the first floor of the El Centro Courthouse (Rule 7.0); captions of petitions; required appearances and pre-approval by the Probate Examiner (Rule 7.2); the Probate Examiner; hearings each Friday at 8:30 a.m., with LPS conservatorship matters on Mondays, set by counsel (Rule 7.4); family allowance orders; independent administration; fees stated when an account is waived; non-statutory fees and commissions; reimbursable and non-reimbursable costs (Rule 7.9); fees for conservators and attorneys; the educational program for non-professional conservators (Rule 7.11); the form and lodging of exhibits (Rule 7.12); and probate examiner's notes posted on the court's website (Rule 7.13).
California > Fourth Appellate District > Imperial County > Superior Court of California, County of Imperial
Chapter 7 Probate Rules Rule 7.0 Filing Location Probate matters must be filed in the Probate Department located on the 1st Floor of the El Centro Courthouse on 939 W. Main Street, El Centro, CA 92243. [Adopted January 1, 2017] Rule 7.1 Caption of Petitions The caption of a petition shall be all-inclusive as to the order sought so that the matter may be properly calendared and posted, and any filing fees determined. If any part of the estate is to be distributed to a trust, the caption shall so indicate. [Adopted July 1, 2007, Rule 7.0 renumbered to 7.1 01/01/17] Rule 7.2 Appearances Appearances are required on all petitions for appointment of conservators/guardians, confirmation of sale of real or personal property and any petition to which objection has been filed. All other petitions may be pre-approved by the Probate Examiner, with no appearance required, if an order is received by the Court prior to the hearing. However, if an interested person appears and objects and the Court determines that an appearance is necessary by Counsel, the matter may be continued. No notice of continued hearing date will be mailed by the Court; it is the responsibility of counsel to determine whether the matter has been approved or continued. [Adopted July 1, 2007, Rule 7.1 renumbered to 7.2 01/01/17]] Rule 7.3 Probate Examiner Counsel may telephone the Probate Examiner’s Office to determine if there are any defects in the file two days prior to the hearing. [Adopted July 1, 2007, Rule 7.2 renumbered to 7.3 01/01/17] Rule 7.4 Hearings All probate matters are heard on Friday of each week at 8:30 a.m. in the assigned probate department except Lanterman, Petris, Short (LPS) Conservatorship matters. Lanterman, Petris, Short (LPS) Conservatorship matters are scheduled on Monday of each week in the assigned department. The hearing date is scheduled by counsel and required to be on all notices of hearing at the time of filing thereof. The Court does not schedule the date of any hearing or mail notices of any hearings. [Adopted July 1, 2007, amended 01/01/12, Rule 7.3 renumbered to 7.4 01/01/17] Rule 7.5 Order for Family Allowance The duration of an order for family allowance is limited to six months if no inventory and appraisal has been filed, and is limited to one year if an inventory and appraisal has been filed. [Adopted July 1, 2007, amended January 1, 01/01/12, Rule 7.4 renumbered to 7.5 01/01/17] Rule 7.6 Independent Administration When a personal representative has been granted authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act (beginning at Probate Code, Section 10400), the following polices shall apply: (a) The original of the notice of proposed action and proof of mailing or personal delivery of the notice shall be filed with the Court. (b) In any accounting or petition for distribution, the personal representative shall report all acts taken without court authorization, approval, confirmation, or instruction that would be required if authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act has not been granted (“independent acts”). With respect to each independent act, the personal representative shall state whether notice of proposed action was not given, the personal representative should allege whether such notice was not required or waived. Independent acts reported in a prior noticed petition need not again be reported in a later petition. (c) If no independent acts have been taken during administration, this fact should be stated in the petition for final distribution. [Adopted July 1, 2007, Rule 7.5 renumbered to 7.6 01/01/17] Rule 7.7 Fees Stated When Account Waived In accounts, or in petitions for distribution accompanied by waiver of accounting, the report must state the amount of the personal representative’s commissions payable as well as the amount of the attorney’s fees and the basis for calculation thereof. When income is included in the basis for calculation, even though the accounting is waived, a detailed schedule of income must be presented. [Adopted July 1, 2007, Rule 7.6 renumbered to 7.7 01/01/17] Rule 7.8 Non-Statutory Fees and Commissions (a) A petition for services other than statutory compensation rendered in a probate or other proceeding shall include: (1) A declaration by the attorney, personal representative, trustee, or other fiduciary of the services rendered or to be rendered by each of them itemizing their services by date, time, and service rendered; (2) The sum requested for each item of service, together with the total amount requested for such services (and not merely “reasonable fees”); and (3) A reference in the caption and prayer to the additional fees. (b) In determining such fees, the Court shall consider the difficulty of the tasks performed, the reasonable value of time expended, the amount of the estate accounted for, and whether an accounting is waived. [Adopted July 1, 2007, Rule 7.7 renumbered to 7.8 01/01/17] Rule 7.9 Payment and Reimbursement of Costs of Attorneys, Conservators, Guardians or Personal Representatives (a) The following costs advanced may be reimbursed to the attorney, conservator, guardian, or personal representative without prior court permission: (1) Fees charged by the Clerk of the Court (2) Newspaper publication fee (3) Surety bond premiums (4) Probate referee fees (5) Court investigator’s fees (b) The following expenses are considered by the court to be a business expense and are not reimbursable costs or fees: (1) Photocopy expense and postage (except as set forth in subsection (c) below) (2) Telephone charges including appearances such as Court Call (3) Computer research fees (4) Clerical/Secretarial services (5) Local travel and mileage (6) Runner services (c) Discretionary Reimbursement. Requests for reimbursement of allowable costs must be supported by itemized declarations and are subject to the court’s discretion: (1) Necessary use of alternative delivery services: i.e., UPS, Fed-Ex, wire transfer (2) Long distance telephone expenses (3) Long distance travel (4) Extraordinary postage and copying (5) Interpreter and translation services [Adopted July 1, 2019] Rule 7.10 Fees for Conservators and Attorneys (a) Petitions for a fee request should be filed with all accountings. (b) Fees for court appointed attorneys should be requested at the hearing as part of the attorney’s report. (c) Services rendered by conservators and their attorneys must be set forth in a detailed statement of the facts upon which the fee request is based, including a schedule which states: the nature and difficulty of task performed; the results achieved; the benefits to the conservatee or conservatee’s estate; a description of each separate service performed; the hours spent; and total amount requested. [Adopted July 1, 2007, Rule 7.8 renumbered to 7.9 01/01/17, Rule 7.9 renumbered to 7.10 07/01/19] Rule 7.11 Required Educational Program for Non-Professional Conservators a) A conservator who resides outside of Imperial County may make arrangements to attend a program as described in Probate Code 1457 at a Superior Court in another county in California where available. The proposed conservator shall file written proof of completion of the educational program at least four court days prior to the hearing. b) If a proposed conservator fails to timely provide proof of completion of the educational program, the court may continue the hearing on the petition for a period long enough to allow completion of the program, deny the petition for appointment, or make other appropriate orders. c) This rule does not apply to a trust company as defined in Probate Code section 83, a public guardian as defined in Government Code section 27430 et seq., a regional center established pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with section 4620) of Division 4.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, a licensed professional fiduciary as defined in Probate Code section 60.1, a conservator appointed under Welfare and Institutions Code section 5350 et seq., a limited conservator authorized to consent to the sterilization of an adult with a developmental disability pursuant to Probate Code section 1952, or a temporary conservator appointed pursuant to Probate Code section 2250 unless otherwise ordered by the court. [Adopted January 1, 2017, Rule 7.10 renumbered to 7.11 07/01/19] Rule 7.12 Form and Lodging of Exhibits a) If the exhibits accompanying a petition, motion, or other filing, other than accounting schedules, exceed ten pages cumulatively, they must be lodged with the court rather than attached to the pleadings, which will remain in the court file. Such exhibits must be lodged at the same time as the corresponding papers are filed with the court. b) The following items must accompany lodged material: (1) An original notice of lodgment, which includes a numbered listing of all the items lodged; (2) A means of return, as specified in item C., below. The notice of lodgment must be filed with the court. An additional copy may be submitted to be conformed and returned. The lodgment and notice of lodgment must be served on all parties. c) Return and Retention of Lodged Exhibits. Lodged materials will be returned to the tendering party after the resolution of the calendared matter, unless the party requests their destruction. Therefore, when submitted, lodgments must be accompanied either by a self-addressed, stamped envelope or an attorney service pick-up slip. Following the return of the lodged documents by the court, the tendering party should retain them until the applicable appeal period has expired. [Adopted January 1, 2017, Rule 7.11 renumbered to 7.12 and amended 07/01/19] Rule 7.13 Availability of Probate Examiner’s Notes and Clearing of Defects a) Probate examiner’s notes are available to determine if any defects in pleadings or procedure have been noted by the examiner. b) The notes are available on the Imperial County Superior Court website www.imperial.courts.ca.gov. When the examiner receives additional pleadings and updates the notes, the new notes will be posted to the website. c) After checking the notes, counsel and self-represented parties can contact the assigned Probate Examiner with any questions or explanations that may assist in the clearing of any defects. d) Amended petitions supersede any prior petitions and will be set for hearing in due course. [Adopted January 1, 2017, Rule 7.12 renumbered to 7.13 07/01/19]
Chapter 7 Probate Rules Rule 7.0 Filing Location Probate matters must be filed in the Probate Department located on the 1st Floor of the El Centro Courthouse on 939 W. Main Street, El Centro, CA 92243. [Adopted January 1, 2017] Rule 7.1 Caption of Petitions The caption of a petition shall be all-inclusive as to the order sought so that the matter may be properly calendared and posted, and any fili
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-10-07 (California T4 Imperial build 2026-10-07) from BenchPath custody ca/t4/ca-imperial/docs/local-rules/local-rules-july-2026_0.pdf (3481432 bytes, sha256 33be9789b4c6df80ff4fe8db77a59afeb07f113fa7a5f10b997301762552269a; 237 pages; this chapter is pages 69 to 72) with the shared verbatim composer (v2 reflow). The rules are printed in two columns and were read column by column (the composer's columns option; each column wraps at its own margin): the running header (Local Rules of Superior Court of California, County of Imperial) and the page numbers removed as chrome; the cover, the table of contents, the Local Forms Index, the reprinted local forms and the alphabetic index belong to no chapter card; lines reflowed into the court's paragraphs, each rule heading on its own line; proof 1 (whitespace-only) and proof 2 (same character multiset as the text layer minus chrome) pass. Documented layout fixes (read on the page; the proofs hold): Rule 7.10's history note set as one paragraph. Review note: Rule 7.2's history note prints a doubled closing bracket (“01/01/17]]”), published as printed.
Division XI: information forms for data processing (Rule 11.2); required action - action taken on all calendared cases and a future date always set (Rule 11.19); and pro tem judges - an attorney named as a plaintiff in a civil or small claims case may not sit as a judge pro-tem during the case or within six months following its resolution, nor one named as a defendant in two or more such cases (Rule 11.22). Rules 11.1, 11.3 to 11.5, 11.7 to 11.18, 11.20 and 11.21 are repealed, and Rule 11.6 (voluntary arbitration; see Local Rule 10.2) was repealed and renumbered.
Duval County's indigent-defense and magistration rules under the Texas Fair Defense Act (S.B. 7): who may be booked into the county jail and on what paper; arrest-case numbering; presentment to a magistrate within 48 hours (art. 15.16); the magistrate's warnings, counsel inquiry, interpreter duty, indigence determination and appointment of counsel within 24 hours of a request; the alternative appointment plan under art. 26.04(g)-(h) with annual applications, seven attorney categories (capital, first and second degree, third degree/state jail/misdemeanor, competency, appeals, post-conviction, extradition), CLE and experience standards, random rotation within each category, written acceptance within 48 hours, first contact by the end of the next working day, replacement and suspension of counsel, fee applications within five days of completing services and the compensation attachment ($500 pleas; $175/$150 hourly; $1,400 per jury-trial day; appellate caps); bail schedules by offense class with a personal bond office (fee $20 or 3%), pre-trial supervision and revocation hearings within two working days; arraignment settings and notice; repeal of conflicting rules.