Probate · Wills · Living Trusts · Statutes Explained
California Inheritance Law: Deadlines, Rights and Remedies
Tell us what happened. We’ll tell you if you have a case — and how long you have to act.
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Live now — a person answers If you believe a trust, will, or estate has been mishandled in California, you may have far less time to act than you expect. Some contest rights expire 120 days after a single notice arrives in the mail. This site explains the law, the deadlines, and what to do next.
Start with the deadline
The most common reason a valid California inheritance claim is never filed is not weakness. It is timing. The 120-day trust contest period runs quietly, and most people learn about it far too late.
It starts with an envelope. A trustee serves a notice under Probate Code §16061.7, and from the day it is served the clock runs — whether or not anyone explains that to you, and whether or not you have seen the trust.
Check your deadlineFree. Takes about a minute. No account required.What is happening to you?
Most people arrive here able to describe the situation but not to name it. Find yours below.
- A trustee or sibling won’t show you the trustBreach of the duty to informYour rights as a beneficiary
- The trust was changed shortly before deathUndue influence or incapacityHow trust contests work
- The trustee is mismanaging or self-dealingBreach of fiduciary dutyRemoving a trustee
- You received a notice and don’t know your deadlineA §16061.7 notice may have started a 120-day clockWhat that notice means
- The trustee will not account for the moneyFailure to accountTrust accounting
- You were left out of a willWill contest or omitted heirWill contests
- A carer or new partner ended up with everythingUndue influenceHow undue influence is proved
- Money moved out of accounts before the deathFinancial elder abuseElder financial abuse
- The house was signed over to someone elseProperty wrongly transferredRecovering property
- You were told you were disinheritedOmitted heir, or an invalid documentDisinheritance and omitted heirs
- A will has been admitted to probateContested probate administrationProbate disputes
What is actually at stake
California inheritance disputes are rarely about greed. They are about a document that changed at the wrong moment, a sibling who moved in and took over, a trustee who stopped answering the phone. The law has specific names for each of those, and specific windows in which each can be raised.
What happens next, and where
Two questions come up before anything else: what the process actually involves, and which court hears it. How a California trust dispute works walks the stages and realistic timing. Where we practice explains which county hears your matter — and why that decides the venue, not who can represent you.
How a case starts here
| Step | What happens | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|
| 1. You tell us what happened | A short case profile in your own words | Nothing |
| 2. An attorney reads it | Not an intake screener — an attorney of this firm | Nothing |
| 3. We tell you what we think | Whether there is a claim, and what deadline governs it | Nothing |
| 4. If we can take it, we say so | If we cannot — capacity, conflict, venue — we say that too | Nothing |
Who publishes this
California Inheritance Law is published by Corcoran Smith Law Corp., a California litigation firm founded by Mark C. Smith, a U.S. Army combat veteran and UC Berkeley School of Law graduate. The firm represents heirs and beneficiaries statewide, meeting clients in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Los Angeles.
This is the firm’s own publication, not a directory and not a matching service. Every attorney is named, and every bar number links to the State Bar’s own record so you can check it. More about the firm, or visit corcoransmithlaw.com for the firm’s full practice — estate planning, real estate, veterans law, and general counsel work alongside inheritance litigation.
This site exists to explain the law. When you are ready to instruct someone, the firm is who you instruct.
Need help with legal fees?
We litigate select cases on contingency, with no upfront fees.
Costs are separate from the fee, and whether you are responsible for them is set out in the written agreement before you sign anything.
How contingency fees work in California
A contingency fee means the attorney is paid from what is recovered rather than by the hour, so a beneficiary who cannot fund litigation out of pocket can still bring a claim. California regulates these agreements closely. Under Business and Professions Code section 6147, the agreement must be in writing and the attorney must give the client a duplicate copy, signed by both, when the contract is made. It must state the agreed contingency rate; how disbursements and costs incurred in prosecuting or settling the claim will affect that fee; and to what extent the client could be required to pay for related matters. Unless the matter falls under section 6146, the agreement must also state that the fee is not set by law and is negotiable. These are not formalities: failure to comply with any provision of section 6147 makes the agreement voidable at the client’s option, leaving the attorney entitled only to a reasonable fee.
Sources: Business and Professions Code s.6147 - Contingency fee contracts · Verified 2026-08-03.
Not every matter suits a contingency arrangement, and the firm does not take every case on one. Whether yours qualifies depends on the facts, the likely recovery, and the assets actually available to satisfy a judgment. Ask when you call.
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