The Law Offices of Diane Haisha-DeForest is experienced in filing Probate Petitions. Diane can guide you through the treacherous shoals of property inheritance, while dotting all the I’s and crossing all the T’s. She is well versed in interpreting nuances of the California Probate Code. Whether an estate needs to be probated depends entirely on the nature and size of the decedent’s assets. Providing guidance in estate and probate matters enables our firm to serve families of decedents by alleviating conflicts, and unburdening the family, which would otherwise have to wade through a tremendous amount of paperwork in an area which requires daily contact with beneficiaries, and courts.
Diane also employs the use of Personal Property Affidavits and Heggstead Petitions along with attorney letters which when used properly many times are enough to avoid a probate on the estate. Call our office to see if a Probate filing is necessary or if other methods can be employed to settle the estate of your loved one without a Probate.
Schedule of Attorney and Executor Fees for California Probates
California’s fee schedule for attorneys is found at Probate Code Section 10810 and for executors is found at Probate Code Section 10800, and is a somewhat complicated formula. For ease of approximation, a simplified formula can be used. It works for probate estates with a value between $100,000 and $1 million. It is 2% of the probate estate value + $3000. That sum would be the statutory fee for the attorney and the executor would receive an identical sum.
| Probate Estate Values | Total Attorney and Executor Fees* |
|---|---|
| $100,000 | $8,000 |
| 200,000 | 14,000 |
| 300,000 | 18,000 |
| 400,000 | 22,000 |
| 500,000 | 26,000 |
| 600,000 | 30,000 |
| 700,000 | 34,000 |
| 800,000 | 38,000 |
| 900,000 | 42,000 |
| 1,000,000 | 46,000 |
| 2,000,000 | 66,000 |
| 3,000,000 | 86,000 |
| 4,000,000 | 106,000 |
| 5,000,000 | 126,000 |
* The Attorney receives one-half of this sum and the executor receives the other half. However, often extraordinary fees are allowed which could make this total even higher!
** Above fees do not include Court Filing Fees, Appraiser Fees,etc.
*** Above fees do no include filing of last income tax fees, or Death Tax fees!