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The probate calendars - South County on Thursdays at 9:00 am in Dept. SB 5 of the Anacapa Division; North County on Mondays at 8:30 am in Dept. SM 4, Tuesdays at 9:00 am in Dept. SM 2 and Wednesdays at 8:30 am in Dept. SM 1 of the Cook Division; probate notes posted approximately one week before the hearing, deficiencies cured by verified supplements or amendments (local rule 1721(c)(2)(2)), documents later than 5:00 p.m. three (3) court days before the hearing possibly not considered, continuances under Local Rule 1722(a)(1); clarification of a posted note by e-mail to the Probate Examiner, for South County cases only; the probate facilitator, court investigators and probate referees; and attachments, amendments, supplements, continuances and objections.
California > Second Appellate District > Santa Barbara County > Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara
Overview South County Probate matters are heard on Thursdays at 9:00 am in Dept. SB 5 of the Anacapa Division, 1100 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara North County Probate matters are heard on Mondays at 8:30 am in Dept. SM 4, Tuesdays at 9:00 am in Dept. SM 2, and Wednesdays at 8:30 am in Dept. SM 1 of the Cook Division, 312 E. Cook St., Santa Maria. Forms Many Probate Court cases require the filing of multiple printed legal forms, in addition to documents that must be prepared in pleading format according to California Rules of Court, rule 2.100 . The printed legal forms are revised frequently, so make sure you have the most current forms. The forms are available at the locations above and can be printed from this web site. They are also available from the Judicial Council web site. You must read the forms very carefully and answer each question and fill in each blank if it applies to your particular estate. You must also be careful to include any attachments that are required by a particular form. Filing incomplete or incorrect forms can result in a delay in having your case approved, and you will be required by the Judge to file amendments or supplements to your documents until the Court has all the information it needs. Cost of Filing and Responding to Complaints A fee schedule is available online and at the Clerk's Office. Role of Court Staff An understanding of the various court staff members who will be involved with your case and the different roles that each plays will help you obtain the information you need to make sure your case moves smoothly through the Probate Court. Probate Clerk The Probate Legal Process Clerk files the documents submitted in decedents' estates, guardianship of minors, and conservatorship of adult cases. The Legal Process Clerk cannot give legal advice but can help determine what forms you may need and verify available hearing dates. Probate Examiners Probate Examiners review all documents for content and legal requirements before such matters are acted on by the Court at calendared hearings or on ex parte applications, thereby substantially reducing the judicial time required to hear probate cases. The Probate Examiner will post probate notes on the court's website for all calendared matters they have reviewed, approximately one week prior to the scheduled hearing date. It is the party’s responsibility to regularly check the website for the probate notes for their specific case. Find probate notes on the Tentative Rulings page. Deficiencies may be cured by filing verified supplements/amendments pursuant to local rule 1721(c)(2)(2). Documents submitted later than 5:00 p.m., three (3) court days prior to the hearing date, may not be considered. A continuance must be secured pursuant to Local Rule 1722(a)(1). If the deficiencies are not cured, and a continuance is not properly secured, then appearances are required. For South County cases only, you may contact the Probate Examiner at ProbateExaminer@sbcourts.org for clarification about a specific posted probate note or when directed by the judge only. Please include the case number, hearing date, and the specific probate note needing clarification. You may not contact the Probate Examiner for legal advice. E-mails containing attachments or documents for filing will be ignored. E-mails concerning North County cases will not be addressed. Probate Facilitator In matters involving cases of Conservatorship of the Person only, or Guardianship of the Person only (not of the estate) in northern Santa Barbara County, the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act grant program makes available the services of a Probate Facilitator at no cost to the parties. The Probate Facilitator is a licensed attorney who assists self-represented litigants in such cases with Petitions, Objections, Terminations, Visitation, Successors, Fee Waivers, Notice and Service, Annual Status Reports and more. The Probate Facilitator does not represent anyone in court. Please contact the Probate Facilitator at 805-614-6622 or 805-614-6413 (Español). The office is located at 312 E. Cook Street, Building E, 2nd floor, in Santa Maria. Probate Notes Probate Notes are posted under Tentative Rulings in the Online Services section. Go to Tentative Rulings Contact Information South County Santa Barbara Superior Court Anacapa Division 1100 Anacapa Street P.O. Box 21107 Santa Barbara, CA 93121-1107 Probate Clerk: 805-882-4520 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Monday - Friday, except holidays North County Santa Barbara Superior Court Cook Division: Mailing Address 312-C East Cook Street Santa Maria, CA 93454 Cook Division: Location 312 East Cook Street Building E Santa Maria, CA 93454 Probate Clerk: (805) 614-6414 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Monday - Friday, except holidays Related Links Probate Self Help Guide Guardianship Self Help Guide Newspapers Adjudged for Legal Advertising Conservatorship Handbook Click on the topics below for more probate information Court Investigators The Court Investigators interview all persons who are the subject of a petition for conservatorship before the appointment is made, to determine if they understand the proceedings or have any objections. They also interview them periodically after the appointment to determine if they are being cared for properly. They also investigate guardianships where the proposed guardian is a relative of the child. If the proposed guardian is not a relative, the local Child Welfare Services agency will perform the investigation. Court Investigator Fee Schedule Probate Referees The California State Controller appoints probate referees to perform reliable, prompt, and low-cost appraisal of all types of estate assets. The service of a probate referee is required for court resolution of an estate and also available for non-probate trust administration. Ronald C. Bock 644 University Dr. Lompoc, CA 93436 805-736-1344 probatereferee@yahoo.com Anthony Cangelosi California Probate Referee P.O. Box 2532 Orcutt, CA 93457 805-934-8562 acangelosi@tedesco.com Sandra Miller 2684 Quail Valley Rd. Solvang, CA 93463 805-693-8611 sma_appraisals@verizon.net Attachments Sometimes a printed form will ask for documents or additional information to be attached, or will refer to an Attachment. If an attachment is required, you should staple a complete copy of the required document or a separate piece of paper containing the necessary information to the printed form. You should identify each document at the bottom of the page to correspond to its respective item number on the printed form (for example: Attachment 3(a) or Attachment 10). If the attachment consists of information typed on a separate sheet of paper rather than a document (such as a decedent's will), you should also include the title of the printed form at the bottom of the page in case the pages are pulled apart and separated. If the attachment is part of an order to be signed by the judge, you should include a separate line for the date and the judge's signature at the end of the last page of the attachment. Amendments/Supplements All documents shall be electronically filed pursuant to Local Rule 1012. Amendment An amendment may be filed as a separate document to correct incomplete or incorrect information in a document or printed form that has been filed with the Court. An Amendment should be prepared in pleading format with a title that identifies the document that is being amended (for example, Amendment to Petition for Appointment of Guardian of Minor). If the original document or printed form that is being amended was sworn to ("verified"), then the Amendment must also be verified. A sample Verification is included as part of this website. Supplement A supplement is similar to an amendment and is used to add missing information that was not included in a document or printed form that has been filed with the Court. A Supplement should be prepared in the same manner as an Amendment. Amended Petition If the amount of information to be corrected on a document or printed form is significant, it may be easier to file an Amended Petition that has been completely redone. An Amended Petition will usually require new notice to be given to interested persons, even if notice has already been given. Continuances If there are problems with the documents that cannot be corrected prior to the hearing date, your hearing will have to be continued so that the problems can be corrected. See Local Rule 1722 for the procedures for requesting a continuance. Where notice of the scheduled hearing requires publication and publication has been completed, the probate judge will give you a new date in court. Objections Even if all of your documents are preapproved or found to comply with applicable law and procedural requirements, objections may be filed by interested persons who have received notice of the hearing date. Objections may be filed prior to the hearing (which we strongly recommend) or the objecting party may appear at the hearing to object to the petition. In the latter case, the probate judge will continue the hearing so that written objections may be filed. If you are filing an objection to a calendared petition within 10 days of the hearing date, you should request that the Legal Process Clerk route your filed Objections to the Probate Examiner and judge.
Overview South County Probate matters are heard on Thursdays at 9:00 am in Dept. SB 5 of the Anacapa Division, 1100 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara North County Probate matters are heard on Mondays at 8:30 am in Dept. SM 4, Tuesdays at 9:00 am in Dept. SM 2, and Wednesdays at 8:30 am in Dept. SM 1 of the Cook Division, 312 E. Cook St., Santa Maria. Forms Many Probate Court cases require the filing of m
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-10-07 (California T4 Santa Barbara build 2026-10-07) from BenchPath custody ca/t4/ca-santa-barbara/pages/divisions__probate.html (the page as fetched 2026-10-07; 655286 bytes, sha256 64d1a1358f7d7a516e160a86e46c8f51ba3ca81d864ccccb7b52b12a3f036e99) with html-compose.py (the Orange composer): the article's content sections (section.jcc-section, div.jcc-news-full) only - the site header, menus, breadcrumb, title banner and footer lie outside them; each block starts a line and each table cell is set on its own line; chrome removed: 0 items; proof (the multiset of non-space characters equals the sections' text less chrome and scripts) passes. Review note: The page says documents submitted later than 5:00 p.m. three (3) court days before the hearing may not be considered; Local Rule 1721(c)(2)(2) says supplements processed within two (2) court days of the hearing will not be reflected in the posted notes (a review task). The page's North County calendar sets Dept. SM 1 on Wednesdays at 8:30 am; Department SM 1's policies revised 08/27/2026 set probate at 9:30 a.m. (the same review task). The probate notes are posted on the Tentative Rulings page, which BenchPath does not fetch.
6 verbatim requirements on divisional requirements in GIUSEPPINA MIRANDA's division.
4 verbatim requirements on divisional requirements in HILARY CREARY's division.
2 verbatim requirements on divisional requirements in NATASHA DEPRIMO's division.