Wills and Estates Lawyers: directory of firms

When a court is involved, it appoints a personal representative, called an executor where a will names one. California's courts describe the role as collecting the deceased person's property, paying their bills and distributing what remains to the heirs or beneficiaries. Where there is no will, state law sets a priority order for appointment, in California beginning with a surviving spouse or domestic partner, then a child, grandchild, parent and sibling.

The steps are broadly similar across states: open the estate, give notice to heirs and to creditors, inventory the assets, deal with claims and taxes, then distribute and close. The timetables, the notice requirements and the amount of court supervision vary considerably, and some states offer informal or unsupervised administration that is far quicker than the formal route.

Not every estate needs the full process. California points people first to whether simplified procedures, including a small estate affidavit, are available for the property involved.

Execution requirements are state law and unforgiving. How many witnesses are needed, whether they may inherit, whether the signing must be notarised to make the will self-proving, and whether handwritten or electronic wills are recognised all differ by state. A will that was valid where it was signed is usually honoured elsewhere, but a homemade document that never met any state's requirements is not.

States also limit what a will can do. Most protect a surviving spouse with an elective share that overrides a disinheritance, and community property states treat marital property differently again. Moving across state lines is the classic trigger for a review, because the plan was written against a different statute.

Planning is usually a flat fee for a defined package of documents, priced by complexity rather than by the size of the estate. A straightforward will, powers of attorney and a health care directive sit at one end; a trust-based plan with funding of the trust, business interests or a blended family sits at the other.

Administration is different. California's self-help materials note that fees generally come out of the estate's assets rather than from the family personally. How those fees are set varies: some states allow a statutory percentage of the estate, others require reasonable fees approved by the court, and the personal representative may also be entitled to compensation. Ask which model your state uses before choosing between a probate-avoiding plan and a simple will.

The federal estate tax is described by the IRS as a tax on your right to transfer property at death, computed on the gross estate, meaning the fair market value of everything you own or have certain interests in when you die. For deaths in 2026 an estate tax return is required where the gross estate exceeds 15 million dollars.

Most families are nowhere near that. What they can encounter is a state-level estate or inheritance tax, imposed by a minority of states at much lower thresholds, sometimes based on where the deceased lived and sometimes on where the beneficiary lives. Income tax also matters more than people expect, particularly the treatment of inherited retirement accounts, which is a planning question best raised with the lawyer and the accountant together.