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By: Scott Grossman on December 22nd, 2017

When Do I Get My Money from the Probate?

When Do I Get My Money from the Probate?

Well, that is not a simple question as you might think. The short answer is nobody’s supposed to get anything until probate closes.

How long that will take will depends upon the assets that are going through probate and the county that you’re in. There are very big differences in California from one county to another in some counties. In some counties if everything goes smoothly and everything is done right the first time during probate, you may be able to close the probate in as little as 10 months

Now, I know some people for that and say, “As little as ten months are you kidding? “Well this is probate. There are certain things that have to happen. There’s no way around them and a fast probate in those counties would be ten months. There are other counties in California where if everything goes right the first time and everything goes just the way it’s supposed to in each step in the process you’re still looking at a minimum of one year and two months before the probate is going to close.

That’s just the nature of probate and it’s actually the last thing that happens in probate. The last pleading that gets filed with a probate court is the one that asks the judge for an order telling the executor or the administrator to distribute the estate. So that’s when beneficiaries get paid.

There’s one important exception to this

An executor or an administrator does have the ability during the course of probate to file a petition for a partial distribution. A partial distribution is just what it sounds like. The executor where the administrator has to be able to tell the court everything that’s actually in the probate estate (so the judge understands what the value of the estate is). It’s also important to report any liabilities so the judge has an understanding of what the net value of the estate is.

With that information present then, the court can make a determination if the request for a partial distribution can be granted. And this is completely discretionary. A judge can say no for any number of reasons and the judge will be right simply because the judge is allowed to decide. Similarly, if the judge says yes it’s going to happen. So understand in almost every probate case the vast majority of them, you’re not going to actually receive your share of the estate until the end of probate.

If you have to wait for probate or are the executor or administrator to a probate, then contact us today at (888) 443-6590. We are happy to set up a free 30-minute phone consultation with an attorney to review your case.