Probate Notice to Creditors and Claim Deadlines in California

At a glance

Requirements one by one

What this claims process covers

Probate Code § 9000 defines a claim to include the decedent’s contract, tort, and other liabilities, predeath taxes other than property taxes secured by real property liens, and funeral expenses. It expressly excludes a dispute over the decedent’s title to specific property.

Petition-stage publication

California’s published creditor warning is part of the notice of the petition to administer the estate. Probate Code § 8120 requires publication before the petition hearing. Section 8121 requires the first publication at least 15 days before the hearing and makes three publications sufficient when the newspaper publishes at least weekly and at least five days intervene between the first and last publication dates.

Section 8124 prevents the hearing until an affidavit of due publication containing a copy of the notice and the publication date has been filed.

Search and individual notice

Publication does not replace individual notice. Section 9050 requires the personal representative to notify known or reasonably ascertainable creditors, and § 9053(d) states the separate duty:

“A personal representative has a duty to make reasonably diligent efforts to identify reasonably ascertainable creditors of the decedent.”

The notice clock is the later of four months after letters first issue or 30 days after the personal representative first has knowledge of the creditor. Knowledge includes awareness that the creditor demanded payment from the decedent or the estate. Delivery follows § 1215.

No separate notice is required when the creditor has already filed a claim or when the creditor made a demand that the representative elects to treat and pay as a claim under § 9154.

Filing, service, and claim form

California requires two acts:

“A claim shall be filed with the court and a copy shall be served on the personal representative.”

Section 9150 makes the claim invalid if the creditor does not both file and serve it. Service is due by the later of 30 days after filing or four months after letters issue to a personal representative with general powers.

The claim must carry the affidavit required by § 9151. A written-instrument claim ordinarily attaches the original or a copy with all endorsements under § 9152. The Judicial Council form must explain the filing-and-delivery rule and include proof of delivery.

Short deadline and death-based limit

Probate Code § 9100 generally requires filing before the later of:

• four months after letters first issue to a general personal representative; or
• 60 days after individual notice is mailed or personally delivered.

That later-of formula does not toll another limitation period or revive an already barred claim. Code of Civil Procedure § 366.2 generally gives a surviving contract, tort, or other liability action one year after death and limits tolling or extension to the statutes it identifies.

Late claims and express exceptions

Section 9103 permits a late-claim petition when proper and timely individual notice was not sent or when the creditor did not know the facts reasonably giving rise to the claim. The petition has its own 60-day actual-knowledge clock. No late claim may be allowed after final distribution, and § 9103 expressly does not extend the time in Code of Civil Procedure § 366.2.

California also preserves targeted alternate routes:

• Under § 9391, a lienholder may enforce the lien against its collateral without a probate claim if the complaint waives recourse against other estate property.
• Sections 550 to 554 and § 9390 permit an insurance-limited liability action without first filing a claim; recovery beyond coverage requires the probate claim and joinder specified by the statutes.
• Probate Code §§ 9200-9202 apply special public-entity rules. Current § 9202 includes 90-day notices for identified agencies and, for letters first issued on or after January 1, 2026, a child-support notice and four-month agency claim period.

What trips people up

Publication and individual notice are different events. The DE-121 publication occurs before the petition hearing. The known-creditor duty applies after a personal representative is appointed and runs on its own later-of timing rule.

Filing with the court is not enough. Section 9150 also requires service on the personal representative and labels a claim invalid when the creditor fails to complete both acts.

A successful § 9103 petition does not defeat every outside limitation. The section expressly says it does not authorize a claim barred by Code of Civil Procedure § 366.2 or extend that provision’s time.

Common questions

Can the representative simply pay a creditor’s written demand?

Section 9154 permits that limited route when the demand is made within four months after letters first issue, the debt is justly due and paid in good faith for the true net amount, the estate is solvent, and payment occurs within 30 days after the four-month period.

Does a secured creditor always need a probate claim?

Not for collateral-only enforcement that satisfies § 9391. The complaint must waive recourse against other estate property. A creditor seeking a deficiency or other estate recovery should not assume that exception covers it.

Can an insured claim continue without opening a probate claim?

Sections 550 and 9390 permit an action limited to applicable insurance without first filing a probate claim. Section 554 makes recovery outside the policy limits or coverage depend on joining the personal representative and filing the required claim.

Does the personal representative have to notify every possible creditor?

The statute requires reasonably diligent efforts to identify reasonably ascertainable creditors and individual notice to known or reasonably ascertainable creditors. Section 9054 removes the separate-notice duty when a creditor already filed a claim or when a qualifying demand is treated as a claim.

Statutes and sources

• Cal. Prob. Code §§ 8100 and 8120-8124; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 7.54 — DE-121 contents, petition-stage publication, newspaper sequence and location, and proof. Official Legislative Counsel bulk code and Judicial Branch rule: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=8100. and https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/seven/rule7_54 (accessed 2026-08-11).
• Cal. Prob. Code §§ 9050-9054 and 1215 — known-creditor duty, diligent search, timing, statutory warning, exceptions, and delivery. Official bulk code: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=9050. (accessed
• Cal. Prob. Code §§ 9100 and 9103 — later-of short deadline and late-claim petition limits. Official bulk code: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=9100. (accessed
• Cal. Prob. Code §§ 9150-9154 — filing, service, affidavit, attachments, Judicial Council form, and demand-as-claim route. Official bulk code: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=9150. (accessed
• Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 366.2 — general one-year death-based action period and listed exceptions. Official bulk code: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP&sectionNum=366.2. (accessed
• Cal. Prob. Code §§ 550-554, 9200-9202, and 9390-9391 — insurance, public- entity, agency-notice, and collateral-only lien routes. Official bulk code: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PROB&sectionNum=550. (accessed