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Probate proceedings governed by the California Rules of Court and the Probate Code except as the rules specify; preparation of orders - a proposed order or letters with every motion and petition (9.1); the probate calendar - probate matters heard with Civil Law & Motion, Tuesdays through Fridays at 8:30 a.m. in Departments A and B of the Historic Courthouse (9.2); matters requiring appearance (9.3); guardianship investigations on the court's mandatory order forms (9.4); conservatorship investigations by the Probate Investigator, appointed by standing order (9.5); costs - up to a total of $200.00 in miscellaneous costs approved without itemizing (9.6); compensation of attorneys, conservators, guardians and trustees, and requests for extraordinary fees, only with prior Court approval (9.7); preliminary distributions (9.8); payment of court investigator fees (9.9); hearing dates for conservatorships and guardianships, generally no sooner than 45 calendar days after the filing date (9.10); requests for evidentiary hearing (9.11); motions for summary judgment or adjudication set only on Thursdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. (9.12); and the civil local rules applied to contested probate hearings estimated to take more than one day (9.13).
California > First Appellate District > Napa County > Superior Court of California, County of Napa
RULE 9: PROBATE Except as otherwise specified by these rules, the procedures set forth in California Rules of Court and the Probate Code govern all probate proceedings. (Effective 7/1/02) 9.1 Preparation of Orders All motions and petitions must be accompanied by a proposed Order or Letters. (Effective 7/1/02; renumbered 1/1/11) 9.2 Probate Calendar A. Timing. The Court hears probate matters with Civil Law & Motion, Tuesdays through Fridays, except days immediately following a Court Holiday, at 8:30 a.m. in Departments A and B of the Historic Courthouse, unless otherwise noted. B. Routine Unopposed Matters. Routine, unopposed probate matters are generally approved by tentative ruling without appearance by counsel. For approved matters, the Court will file the Order and/or Letters Counsel requiring return of endorsed copies by mail must submit a pre-addressed stamped envelope. Nothing herein alters the provisions of Local Rule 2.9. Any party wishing to present oral argument in response to a tentative ruling may do so pursuant to the requirements of Local rule 2.9. C. Contested Matters. If a Probate Petition is objected to, or opposed, the matter will not proceed to evidentiary hearing on the initially set hearing date. The parties will be required to appear at the initially set hearing prepared to discuss whether: 1. Any further opposition is anticipated; 2. The parties intend to submit on verified pleadings and affidavits (see Evangelho v. Presoto (1998) 67 Cal.App.4th 615, 620); 3. Any discovery or other pre-hearing practice is anticipated; and, 4. The parties are willing to participate in alternative dispute resolution proceedings. Should any party desire an evidentiary hearing, the parties should also be prepared to provide the Court with an estimate for the length of the hearing and to set the hearing on the Court’s calendar. (Effective 7/1/02; renumbered 1/1/11, 1/1/24; revised 1/1/26.) 9.3 Matters Requiring Appearance The following probate matters require appearance of counsel or parties at the hearing: A. Application for appointment of conservator; B. Termination of conservatorship (other than by death of the conservatee); C. Contested matters; D. Other matters at the request of the Court. (Effective 7/1/02; renumbered 1/1/11) 9.4 Guardianship Investigations – Mandatory Orders – Local Forms Every petition for appointment of a guardian of the minor shall be accompanied by a proposed order for investigation, using the appropriate Napa Superior Court mandatory form, which can be found on the Court’s website at http://www.napa.courts.ca.gov. A copy of the signed order for investigation must be served on Child Welfare Services within two (2) court days of being signed by a judicial officer. (Effective 7/1/12; revised 1/1/13) 9.5 Conservatorship Investigations – Standing Orders The Napa Superior Court Probate Investigator is hereby appointed to investigate all conservatorship matters for which a court investigation report is required by law. To avoid this automatic appointment, a petition to waive appointment must be filed. (Effective 7/1/12; revised 1/1/17, 1/1/24.) 9.6 Costs Costs must be itemized. However, up to a total of $200.00 in “miscellaneous costs” for duplication or telephone calls or the like by the personal representative or the attorney may be approved without itemizing. (Effective 7/1/93; renumbered 1/1/11; renumbered 7/1/12) 9.7 Compensation of Attorneys, Conservators, Guardians, Trustees, and Requests for Extraordinary Fees A. No compensation for conservators or guardians or their legal counsel, or for extraordinary fees, shall be paid without prior Court approval. The Court will review such fee petitions in accordance with the provisions of California Rules of Court, rules 7.702, 7.703, and 7.750, et seq. Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 7.751(b), all petitions for orders fixing and allowing compensation to a guardian or conservator or their legal counsel must comply with California Rules of Court, rule 7.702. B. When court approval is needed for compensation to a trustee, the amount will be determined in accordance with the provisions of Probate Code section 15680, et seq., and California Rules of Court, rule 7.776. Generally, a fee of one percent of the market value of the trust assets will be considered the reasonable compensation for ordinary trustee services, although the Court will entertain requests for a higher rate of compensation. If a trustee seeks additional compensation for extraordinary services, the trustee must provide the Court with a detailed description of the extraordinary services rendered and the amount of additional compensation requested. C. A party may aid the Court in its determination of just and reasonable compensation for trustees, conservators, guardians, or their legal counsel by filing in advance of the hearing a statement addressing factors that may be considered by the Court such as those provided in California Rules of Court, rules 7.756 and 7.776. (Effective 7/1/02; revised 7/1/09; renumbered 1/1/11; renumbered 7/1/12; revised 1/1/18) 9.8 Preliminary Distributions Petitions for preliminary distributions must include a statement as to why the estate may not now be closed. (Effective 7/1/02; renumbered 1/1/11; renumbered 7/1/12; renumbered 1/1/17) 9.9 Payment of Court Investigator Fees Pursuant to Probate Code sections 1513.1 (guardianships), the Court shall make an assessment for any investigation or review conducted by the Court Investigator, and shall order reimbursement to the Court for the amount of the assessment, unless the Court defers or waives reimbursement based on a showing of hardship. Payment of the assessed court investigator fee is due before the initial hearing date on any matter for which a court investigation was conducted. Failure to make timely payment will not delay approval of any petition or accounting, but will result in the matter being referred to the Court’s monetary collection program. If the guardian or other person liable for payment of the assessment believes the fees should be deferred or waived due to hardship, the subject petition shall include a request for deferral or waiver and shall set forth facts establishing a hardship. (Effective 7/1/09; revised 1/1/10; renumbered 1/1/11; renumbered 7/1/12; revised 1/1/16; renumbered 1/1/17) 9.10 Hearing Dates for Conservatorships and Guardianships Unless the Court orders otherwise, a hearing date shall be set generally no sooner than 45 calendar days after the filing date to allow time for preparation of the Court Investigator’s report, unless a temporary guardianship or conservatorship is granted ex parte, in which case the hearing shall be set within 30 days. (Prob. Code, § 2250, subd. (1)) (Effective 7/1/16; renumbered 1/1/17; revised 7/1/20) 9.11 Requests for Evidentiary Hearing A party requesting an evidentiary hearing in any Probate Matter should make such request as soon as practicable (e.g. the initial petition/notice of hearing or objection/opposition or at the first hearing conducted on the subject petition). (Effective 1/1/24; revised 7/1/24) 9.12 Motions for Summary Judgment/Adjudication Hearings on Motions for Summary Judgment/ Adjudication shall be set only on Thursdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. Failure to do so may result in a continuance. (Effective 1/1/24) 9.13 Application of Civil Local Rules to Probate Contested Hearings In addition to all other applicable Local Rules, Local Rule numbers 6.2, subdivisions (A) and (B), 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5 shall apply in contested Probate matters in which a party has requested an evidentiary hearing and any party estimates that said hearing will require more than one day to complete.
RULE 9: PROBATE Except as otherwise specified by these rules, the procedures set forth in California Rules of Court and the Probate Code govern all probate proceedings. (Effective 7/1/02) 9.1 Preparation of Orders All motions and petitions must be accompanied by a proposed Order or Letters. (Effective 7/1/02; renumbered 1/1/11) 9.2 Probate Calendar A. Timing. The Court hears probate matters with C
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-10-09 (California T4 Napa build 2026-10-09) from BenchPath custody ca/t4/ca-napa/docs/general/local-rules-effective-january-1-2026.pdf (the court's rule book, its cover “Local Rules Effective 1/1/26”, as fetched 2026-10-09; 1160403 bytes, sha256 59a4b9c75779cee0fc7cfd9117a7ca5fd4fecfacf7ff354754e0f717151b6f86; 74 pages) with the shared verbatim composer (v2 reflow) rule by rule - the eleven rules (PDF pages 7; 8 to 15; 16 and 17; 18 to 20; 21; 22 to 29; 30 to 44; 45; 46 to 49; 50 to 56; 58 and 59), each beginning at the top of a page: each page's running header (“Superior Court of California, County of Napa”) and footer (the page number) removed as chrome; lines reflowed into the rules' paragraphs; no struck run on any of the 74 pages (review/strike-report-2026-10-09.txt); 9 whitespace-only fixes (build/book-fixes.json: Rule 2.4's list of the Criminal Courthouse's courtrooms, Rule 6.11's attorney fee schedule rows and the history note that closes Rule 4.7, each set back to a line of its own as the page prints them, and one line of Rule 7.10(A)(2) the reflow broke inside a sentence set back to a space; the vertical-gap, short-line and false-break audits find no other); 1 same-character fix (build/book-captions.json: Rule 2.14 A's chart of the case types for which the Court provides an official court reporter set as printed by rows - the header, then each case type with its answer on a line of its own); proof 1 (whitespace-only) and proof 2 (same character multiset as the text layer minus chrome) pass. The cover, the list of currently effective rules, the table of contents, the list of local forms, Appendix A (locating a qualified private child custody evaluator) and the index belong to no card.
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.