Après la signature de votre testament de Californie

What signing did

A witnessed California will is in writing, signed by you (or in your name by another person in your presence and at your direction), and signed during your lifetime by at least two witnesses who were present at the same time, witnessed your signing or your acknowledgment, and understood that the instrument was your will (Prob. Code §6110). A will whose signature and material provisions are in your own handwriting is valid as a holographic will, witnessed or not (§6111). If the execution fell short, a court may still treat the will as properly executed on clear and convincing evidence that you intended it as your will (§6110(c)(2)) — a proceeding worth sparing your family.

California has no self-proving affidavit. An uncontested will is proved on the evidence of one subscribing witness, which may be an affidavit with a photographic copy of the will attached, or an affidavit in the original will that includes or incorporates the attestation clause (§8220). A complete attestation clause and witnesses your family can find are the practical substitute.

The original, and where it lives

The original matters more than any copy. Whoever has custody of your will must, within 30 days after learning of your death, deliver it — personally or by registered or certified mail — to the clerk of the superior court of the county where your estate may be administered, and deliver a copy to the executor named in it, unless a petition for probate was filed earlier; a custodian who fails to do so is liable for the damages the failure causes (Prob. Code §8200).

So the original needs a home the executor can reach: a fire-rated cabinet they know about, the drafting attorney's vault with the executor told which firm, or another place someone you trust can open. Where a will last in your possession cannot be found after your death, the law presumes you destroyed it intending to revoke it (§6124) — and a copy is not the same thing.

Tell the executor what to expect

The executor you named will need to know that they were named, where the original is, who drafted it, and what you own and how it is titled. If a probate is opened, the personal representative files an inventory and appraisal within four months after letters (§8800), gives notice of administration to known creditors (§9050), and receives the compensation §10800 sets for ordinary services — a role worth agreeing to in advance.

Keep it current, and know what changes it for you

A will is revoked by a later will that revokes it expressly or by inconsistency, or by being burned, torn, canceled, obliterated or destroyed with the intent to revoke it, by you or by another person in your presence and at your direction (§6120). A change is made the same way the will was made — by a new will or a codicil executed with the same formalities.

Some changes happen by statute. If your marriage is dissolved or annulled after you sign, the will's gifts to the former spouse, any power of appointment conferred on them, and any nomination of them as executor, trustee, conservator or guardian are revoked unless the will expressly provides otherwise, and they pass as if the former spouse had not survived you (§6122). A spouse you marry after signing who is not provided for may take the share §21610 describes, and a child born or adopted after you sign may take the share §21620 describes — unless the exceptions in §§21611 and 21621 apply.

What a will does not do

A will does not avoid probate; it is the instruction sheet for it. Smaller estates may use shorter routes, such as the affidavit for personal property after 40 days within a dollar limit adjusted under §890 (§13100). A will does not govern property that passes by its own terms: joint tenancy, payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts, retirement accounts and life insurance with beneficiary designations, or property already titled in a trust.

A will does not act during your life, so it does nothing if you become incapacitated; the documents for that are a durable power of attorney and an advance health care directive (§4701).

What happens at your death

The custodian delivers the original to the superior court clerk within 30 days (§8200). If your estate needs probate, a petition is filed, the court appoints a personal representative and issues letters; the representative files the inventory and appraisal (§8800), gives notice to creditors, whose claims are due by the later of four months after letters or 60 days after the notice (§9100), and distributes under the will once the court allows. If the estate qualifies for a small-estate procedure, the property may pass without letters (§13100).

The will and the trust, together

Many California plans pair a revocable trust with a pour-over will: a will that leaves property to the trustee of a trust identified in the will, whose terms are in a written instrument executed before, with or within 60 days after the will (§6300). The property poured over becomes part of the trust and is administered under its terms — but it reaches the trust through the will, which means through probate unless a small-estate route applies. Funding the trust during life keeps the pour-over small.

If you have not signed yet, or need a change

TrusteeClear organizes a trustee's record; for a California consumer it does not draft, review or complete a will. A licensed California attorney of your choosing drafts and reviews wills and codicils, and is the right call when your family, your property or your state of residence changes.