California: Petition to Probate a Will Requirements

Requirements one by one

Governing law and proceeding type

California's ordinary opening case is a petition for administration. Under
§§ 8000-8002, the same petition may ask the court to probate the will, appoint a
personal representative, or do both. Probate Code §§ 8003-8006 then require
notice and a hearing at which the jurisdictional facts, existence of the will,
service, and publication are established before the court admits the will and
appoints the representative.

Court and venue

Section 7050 places estate administration in the superior court. For a California
domiciliary, § 7051 fixes venue in the county of domicile even if death occurred
elsewhere. Section 7052 supplies the nondomiciliary hierarchy: a California
county of death controls if property is there; otherwise a county containing the
decedent's property may hear the ancillary administration.

Who may petition

Section 8000 authorizes “any interested person” to start the proceeding at any
time after death. The petitioner does not have to possess the will: the statute
expressly permits a petition when the will is lost, destroyed, or beyond
California's jurisdiction. Filing eligibility is broader than the named
executor's right to appointment under § 8420.

Petition contents

Section 8002 requires the death date and place, the decedent's last residence,
each reasonably ascertainable heir and devisee with age, address, and relationship,
the estate property's character and estimated value, and the proposed personal
representative. If there is a will, the petition attaches a photographic copy,
adds a typed copy when material provisions are handwritten, adds an English
translation for a foreign-language will, and states whether the named executor
consents or waives appointment.

California also mandates Judicial Council form DE-111. Its statewide boxes
identify the relief and letters requested, publication newspaper, independent-
administration authority, proposed bond treatment, estate values, will and
executor status, the proposed representative's residence, and family-survivor and
interested-person information. Rule 7.103 requires every joining petitioner to
sign; any one of multiple petitioners may verify the pleading.

Original will, copies, and lodging

The petition attachment is a photographic copy, not necessarily the original.
The original has a separate delivery rule: unless a probate petition was earlier
filed, § 8200 gives the custodian thirty days after learning of death to deliver
the will to the proper superior-court clerk and deliver a copy to the known named
executor, or to a known beneficiary if the executor cannot be located.

The ordinary filing can proceed without possession under § 8000(b). If another
person holds the will, § 8201 authorizes a production order. If a California
domiciliary's original is detained in an out-of-state or foreign court, § 8202
allows a certified photographic copy with the same proof required for the
original. A lost or destroyed will uses the separate § 8223 statement of its
testamentary words or substance.

Filing or production deadline

Three clocks must not be collapsed. First, § 8000 allows an interested person to
petition any time after death. Second, a named executor who waits more than
thirty days after knowing both of the death and the nomination may be held to
have waived the right to appointment unless good cause explains the delay.
Third, the custodian's thirty-day original-and-copy delivery duty runs from
knowledge of death and does not apply if the probate petition was filed earlier.

Proof and self-proving route

For an uncontested will, § 8220 permits proof through one subscribing witness or
through a subscribing-witness affidavit attached to a photographic copy, or an
affidavit in the original will that includes or incorporates the attestation
clause. If no subscribing witness is legally available, § 8221 permits proof of
the testator's handwriting plus either a subscribing witness's handwriting or a
listed document reciting due-execution facts.

A holographic will is proved like other writings. A lost or destroyed will adds
the written statement of its words or substance, and the admission order must set
out the provisions that were proved.

Notice, hearing, and objections

The ordinary hearing is set fifteen to thirty days after filing. A petitioner who
asks at filing may instead obtain a date thirty to forty-five days out. At least
fifteen days before the hearing, § 8110 requires delivery of notice to each known
or reasonably ascertainable heir and to every devisee, executor, and alternative
executor named in any offered will—even if a later instrument purportedly revoked
the devise or appointment.

Publication is additional, not a substitute. Section 8121 requires the first
publication at least fifteen days before the hearing and three publications, with
at least five days between the first and last publication dates. The court cannot
hear the petition until the publication affidavit is filed.

Section 8004 separates appointment opposition from a will contest. A person
claiming a superior right to appointment files a competing petition and the court
hears both together. A will contestant files an objection under § 8250; summons
then directs served persons to respond within thirty days.

Executor qualification, bond, and letters

Section 8420 gives the named executor the right to appointment, subject to
§ 8402's competency limits. Disqualifications include minority, conservatorship
or inability or unfitness, grounds for removal, non-U.S. residence, and—when an
interested person objects—a surviving business partner. The last two do not apply
to a person named as executor or successor executor in the will.

Before letters issue, the appointee takes the statutory oath, files the Judicial
Council duties-and-liabilities acknowledgment, and supplies any required bond
under §§ 8480-8482.
The will may waive bond, or all beneficiaries may waive it in signed writings
attached to the petition if the will does not require bond; the court may still
require bond for good cause. Section 8400 is explicit that appointment becomes
effective only when letters issue, although a named executor may beforehand pay
funeral expenses and take necessary estate-preservation measures.

What trips people up

• The petition copy and the custodian's original are different requirements.
  DE-111 and § 8002 use a photographic copy; § 8200 separately governs delivery
  of the original will.
• There are two different thirty-day clocks. One affects the named executor's
  appointment priority, while the other governs the custodian's delivery duty.
• Notice is both delivered and published. Publication requires three runs and
  a filed affidavit; sending DE-121 to the listed people does not replace it.
• Being named executor is not authority to administer. With narrow
  preservation exceptions, power begins only when letters issue.

Common questions

Must the original will be attached to DE-111?

No. Section 8002 requires a photographic copy with the petition. The original is
handled under the separate custodian-delivery rule in § 8200, and the clerk may
already have it when the petition is filed.

Can probate begin if the will is missing?

Yes, but the ordinary proof changes. Section 8000 permits the petition, while
§ 8223 requires a written statement of the lost or destroyed will's testamentary
words or substance and requires the admission order to set out the proved terms.

Is live witness testimony always necessary?

No. In an uncontested case, § 8220 permits the specified subscribing-witness
affidavits. If no subscribing witness is available, § 8221 provides handwriting
and due-execution-document alternatives.

Statutes and sources

• Cal. Prob. Code §§ 7050-7052 — superior-court jurisdiction and venue.
  “The superior court has jurisdiction” over estate administration, with domicile
  and nondomiciliary-property rules selecting the county. Official California bulk code
  (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Cal. Prob. Code §§ 8000-8007 — commencement, who may petition, contents,
  hearing, findings, and order. “At any time after a decedent's death, any
  interested person may commence” the case. Official California bulk code
  (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Cal. R. Ct. 7.103 and mandatory Judicial Council form DE-111 — signature,
  verification, statewide form, and petition fields. “All pleadings filed in
  proceedings under the Probate Code must be verified.” Official rule 7.103
  and official DE-111
  (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Cal. Prob. Code §§ 8110 and 8120-8124 — delivered and published notice.
  Notice goes to each known or ascertainable heir and each devisee, executor, and
  alternative executor in an offered will; publication occurs three times.
  Official California bulk code
  (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Cal. Prob. Code §§ 8200-8202 — will delivery, production, and detained-
  original copy. The custodian ordinarily has thirty days after learning of death
  to deliver the original and the required copy. Official California bulk code
  (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Cal. Prob. Code §§ 8220-8223 — subscribing-witness, affidavit,
  unavailable-witness, holographic, and lost-will proof. “Evidence of execution
  of a will may be received by an affidavit of a subscribing witness.” Official California bulk code
  (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Cal. Prob. Code §§ 8004 and 8250 — appointment opposition and will-contest
  objection and summons. Official California bulk code
  (accessed 2026-08-03).
• Cal. Prob. Code §§ 8400, 8402-8405, 8420, and 8480-8482 — named-executor
  right, competency, oath, duties acknowledgment, bond, and letters. “Appointment
  of a personal representative becomes effective when the person appointed is
  issued letters.” Official California bulk code
  (accessed 2026-08-03).