Probate / Estate Administration

We have active Probate cases in all of the Southern California counties (except Imperial) and are familiar with local rules and procedures in each.  This is important when choosing Probate counsel.  In a Probate attorney's fees are set by a schedule or have to be approved by the Court - so the thing that sets us apart is knowing  how to get things done.

While a properly designed and implemented 5 Part Estate Plan will allow you to avoid Probate we find that we are seeing more traditional Probate than ever.  Some of this has to do with unexpected illnesses that progress faster than people expected.  But many of the Probate cases we see are simply self-inflicted by people that actually had an Estate Plan but did not set it up correctly.

Make no mistake, though Probate is a form-driven Court-supervised process, successful and speedy results requires a great deal of experience in the Probate Court.  Yes we use paralegals for typical tasks, but we do not put them in charge of an entire file and check in on them every few months as is common practice.  We are involved in the decision making and develop a strategy to get your family out of Probate as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Please feel free to contact us with any Probate questions:  matt@tonkovich.com