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A personal representative maintaining all estate cash in an interest-bearing financial account or other investments authorized by law, except an amount reasonably necessary for orderly administration of the estate (Probate Code §9652) - estate funds deposited neither into the attorney's client trust account nor all into a non-interest-bearing account without the court's prior approval; the Letters agreeing with the signed Order, the Probate Examiners reviewing Letters before issuance, which affects obtaining issued Letters the same day as the petition hearing; an Inventory and Appraisal filed in all decedent's estates, conservatorship and guardianship matters by the statutory date even when the estate has no assets, a failure very likely resulting in a required court appearance; where the Inventory and Appraisal was submitted to the probate referee but not filed before the Inventory Review date, a declaration by the personal representative or counsel attesting to it with an anticipated timeframe for filing, the Court in its discretion continuing the Inventory Review hearing without required appearances; and, for a proposed personal representative residing outside California, the Court advised of any known California creditors or liabilities, by a verified declaration in advance of the hearing, the Court in its discretion approving the petition without requiring appearances.
California > Fifth Appellate District > Stanislaus County > Superior Court of California, County of Stanislaus
Welcome to the Probate Examiner's Corner section of the Probate Division webpage where you will find news, reminders, and guides! Front Page Bulletin Proposed Local Rules - taking effect January 1, 2027 The proposed revisions to the Local Rules, which will take effect January 1, 2027, are available for download on the court's website. The public comment period for the proposed revisions is now open, and will end on November 15, 2026. Please take a look at proposed LRs 8.03 "Forms of Papers Presented for Filing"; 8.08, "Hybrid Probate Code and Civil Pleadings"; 8.09 "Ex Parte Approval of Probate Settlement Agreements"; 8.26 "Naming Heirs and Beneficiaries in Petition"; 8.33 "Bonding of Personal Representatives". Sharing the News The Judicial Branch of California has published multiple proposals regarding proposed rules and forms that will impact the probate community, taking effect January 1, 2027. The proposals are published online and the Invitation to Comment will expire May 18, 2026. Court-wide Impact Fee Waivers Proposal to amend seven rules of court and revise twenty-two (22) fee waiver forms. Summary: Senate Bill 54 (Stats. 2025, ch. 646) exempts veterans disability service-connected compensation from monthly income for purposes of determining whether a fee waiver applicant’s income is 200 percent or less of the current federal poverty guidelines. The Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee and the Probate and Mental Health Advisory Committee propose amending seven rules of court and revising 22 fee waiver forms to implement SB 54, correct misapplications of existing law, and make other improvements. Download Proposal Probate proceedings Proof of service Proposal to modify forms to comply with new service requirements; create two new optional forms, revise five forms, revoke two forms. - Summary: Assembly Bill 747 (Stats. 2025, ch. 563) made numerous changes to the laws regarding service under the Code of Civil Procedure. which apply to service required by the Probate Code. To bring the forms used for service in probate proceedings into compliance with the new service requirements, the Probate and Mental Health Advisory Committee proposes approving two optional forms, revising five forms, and revoking two forms. Download Proposal Probate and Limited Conservatorships Several new and revised forms to improve accessibility Proposal to create revise and create new forms for limited conservatorships: petition, order, and letters; as well as new attachments for probate and limited conservatorships. Summary: To implement portions of Assembly Bills 1663 (Status. 2022, ch. 894) and to make conservatorship forms more accessible and user-friendly, the Probate and Mental Health Advisory Committee proposes adopting seven forms for mandatory use and revising three mandatory forms. The proposal will provide new forms for a petition and for an order for appointment of a limited conservator, and new attachments for use in both general and limited conservatorships. The committee intends for the proposal to simplify the forms and make them more intuitive and understandable for self-represented litigants, conservators, and proposed conservatees. Download proposal Probate and Limited Conservatorships Replace form "Duties of Conservator and Acknowledgement of Receipt of Handbook" with two separate forms. Summary: To conform to changes in conservatorship law, the Probate and Mental Health Advisory Committee proposes revoking one form, adopting two mandatory forms to replace the revoked form, and amending one rule. One proposed form would be a statement of the duties of a conservator for the court to distribute to each newly appointed conservator. A conservator would use the second proposed form to acknowledge receipt of the statement of duties and the Judicial Council’s Handbook for Conservators as required by Probate Code section 1834. The proposed rule amendment would update form references to use the new form titles and numbers. Download proposal Guardianships Joint guardian nominated by custodial parent, serving with unavailable parent Proposal to revise and create forms to adopt process for appointment of a custodial parent and a nominated guardian as joint guardians of the person. - Summary: Assembly Bill 495, effective January 1, 2026, authorizes a court to appoint a custodial but unavailable parent and a person nominated by that parent as joint guardians of the person of the parent’s child. In response, the Probate and Mental Health Advisory Committee proposes amending one rule, adopting one form, revoking one form and approving two new forms in its place, and revising four forms to facilitate the process of petitioning for and appointing joint guardians under the new law. The proposal would also revise and renumber an information form, update cross-references, simplify language, and make other improvements to the forms. Download proposal Inside Scoop Hot off the presses! Decedent's Estates INTEREST-BEARING ACCOUNT: Pursuant to PrC§9652, a personal representative must maintain all estate cash in an interest-bearing financial account or other investments authorized by law, except for an amount that is reasonably necessary for orderly administration of the estate. As the court explained in more than one matter, it is not acceptable to deposit estate funds into the attorney’s client trust account without the court’s prior approval, nor is it acceptable to deposit all estate funds into a non-interest-bearing account without the court’s prior approval. This court has considered an argument that all the cash in the estate is “an amount reasonably necessary for orderly administration”. This court did not find that argument compelling. LETTERS: Purs. to statute (PrC§§8400 et seq), it has always been the court’s policy that the Letters must agree with the signed Order. The Probate Examiners must review Letters prior to issuance, and that review includes comparing the signed Order to the proposed Letters. That will impact the public’s ability to obtain issued Letters the same day as the petition hearing. The Probate Examiners apologize for the inconvenience to the probate community, but the review is a necessary step of the court’s oversight. INVENTORY AND APPRAISAL FORMS: An Inventory and Appraisal must be filed in all decedent's estates, conservatorship, and guardianship matters by a date certain pursuant to statute. If the estate has no assets at all as of the date of the appraisal (e.g., the date of decedent's death, or the date of appointment), an Inventory and Appraisal is still required and failure to file the form even when the estate has no value will very likely result in a required court appearance. For more information, those interested are invited to review the California Probate Referee Guide published by the California Probate Referee's Association, which is available for download online. If more time is needed to marshal the assets, please see California Probate Code section 8800(b) and (c). Failure to file the Inventory and Appraisal by the statutory deadline, or obtain an extension of time, may result in penalties. If the Inventory and Appraisal has been submitted to the probate referee but not filed prior to the Inventory Review date, the Personal Representative, or their retained counsel, may file a declaration attesting to these facts and provide an anticipated timeframe for filing. The Court may, in its discretion, continue the Inventory Review hearing without required appearances. OUT OF STATE PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES: If a proposed personal representative resides outside the State of California, the petitioner or their retained counsel will be expected to advise the Court if there are any known California creditors or liabilities. Petitioner may file a verified declaration attesting to these facts in advance of the hearing. The Court may, in its discretion, approve the petition without requiring appearances. Below the Fold - older news PUBLIC NOTICE: Local Rules are revised biannually, every January and July. The revised Local Rules of Court which took effect January 1, 2026 are available for download. For the probate community, Local Rule 8.07 provides clear guidance regarding Guardians ad Litem.
Welcome to the Probate Examiner's Corner section of the Probate Division webpage where you will find news, reminders, and guides! Front Page Bulletin Proposed Local Rules - taking effect January 1, 2027 The proposed revisions to the Local Rules, which will take effect January 1, 2027, are available for download on the court's website. The public comment period for the proposed revisions is now ope
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-10-14 (California T4 Stanislaus build 2026-10-14) from BenchPath custody ca/t4/ca-stanislaus/pages/divisions__probate__probate-corner.html (the page as fetched 2026-10-14; 659837 bytes, sha256 f9548cd31007bb43b95f0f9d4289e9a9ea8e9779c8b05aa46c901ace15a7d4ff) with the Orange HTML composer (compose-site.py, the Judicial Council theme's area): the article's content sections (section.jcc-section), news bodies (div.jcc-news-full) and title banners (div.jcc-hero; the first banner's heading, the page title, is chrome) - the site header, menus, breadcrumb and footer lie outside them; each block starts a line and each table cell is set on its own line; chrome removed: 1 item (the page title, “Probate Examiner's Corner”); proof (the multiset of non-space characters equals the containers' text less chrome and scripts) passes. Review note: The page's proposed Local Rules taking effect January 1, 2027 (comment to November 15, 2026) are held: proposed, not adopted. Its Spanish translation is an older edition without them.
6 verbatim requirements on divisional requirements in GIUSEPPINA MIRANDA's division.
4 verbatim requirements on divisional requirements in HILARY CREARY's division.