Welcome to the Superior Court Probate Page
Probate cases generally fall into three categories:
Probate of wills, trusts and estates:
Probate is the court-supervised process by which your assets are distributed and debts are paid after your death.
Conservatorship:
A judge will appoint a conservator when they determine through a court process that a person cannot take care of themselves or their finances.
Guardianship:
The judge gives someone that is not the child's parent custody of the child or the right to control the child's property or both.
Probate Notes
If you presently have a hearing scheduled, check Probate Notes.
FYI: If a matter is procedurally in proper format, no notes will be provided.
Notes will only be provided for cases where a deficiency is noted.
Any and all deficiencies will need to be corrected at least seven (7) days before the scheduled hearing.
If the deficiencies are not corrected, an appearance is required and, absent a showing of good cause as set forth in a filed declaration, the Court will continue the matter for a minimum of three (3) weeks.
Fees
Fees are required to be filed in conjunction with any of the above listed filings.
You may ask the court to waive the filing fee if certain income limits meet the financial guidelines.
The fee waiver form can be obtained by clicking on the link at
Forms noted below.
A current schedule of fees can be viewed at the following link:
Fee Schedule
Hours Of Operation
Business hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. You may view a posting of Court Holiday closures at the following link:
Court Holidays
Court Drop Box
In order to accommodate the need for alternative filing methods, the Court has established a Drop Box at the Monterey Division. The Drop Box is available 24 hours a day for depositing documents for filing with the Court Clerk’s Office and is located at the curb directly adjacent to the parking area closest to the building.
The contents of the drop box are retrieved each business day at 8:00 a.m. and are deemed filed the prior business day, if accepted for filing after review by the clerk.
Documents should be placed in an envelope so they are intact after depositing in the drop box. All documents with filing deadlines of less than two court days should be filed at the Clerk’s Office Window(s) and any documents requiring expeditious processing should be filed at the Clerk’s Office Window(s) during regular business hours.
Forms
Forms typically used in this department can be found and printed at the
California Judicial Council website, and our
local court Forms. They are also available for purchase at any of our court locations.
Our Location
Location Information and Directions
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