When a loved one passes away and their estate has to go through probate, one of the first questions families ask is simple: how long will this take? The honest answer surprises most people. In California, probate commonly runs about 12 to 18 months, and it is not unusual for it to take longer.

Knowing that up front helps you plan, set expectations with other family members, and avoid the frustration of thinking something has gone wrong when the process is simply moving at the pace California courts move. Here is what is happening during all those months.

Filing and Notice

Probate begins when a petition is filed with the superior court in the county where the person lived. The court does not hear the matter right away. It sets a hearing date, often weeks or months out depending on how busy that county’s probate calendar is.

Before that hearing, notice has to be given to heirs, beneficiaries, and the public. Legal notice must be published in a newspaper and mailed to interested parties. Only after proper notice and the hearing can the court appoint the personal representative, the person authorized to act for the estate. This opening phase alone can take a couple of months.

The Creditor Claim Period

Once the representative is appointed, California law requires that known and potential creditors be notified and given a set window of time to file claims against the estate. This creditor claim period runs for months and cannot be shortened away.

The estate generally should not be distributed to the heirs until this window has closed and valid claims have been addressed. Even if the family is ready to move on, the calendar is not. This waiting period is one of the biggest reasons probate takes as long as it does.

Inventory and Appraisal by a Probate Referee

The representative must identify everything the person owned and report it to the court in a formal inventory. Many assets then have to be valued by a probate referee, an official appointed to appraise estate property such as real estate, business interests, and other non-cash holdings.

Gathering account statements, locating property, and coordinating the appraisal all take time, and the referee is handling many estates at once. If the estate includes real estate or a business, this step tends to stretch longer.

Court Scheduling and the Pace of the Calendar

Throughout probate, key steps require court approval, and each one depends on getting onto the court’s calendar. In the busier counties across Los Angeles County and the rest of California, hearing dates can be set months apart.

A missing signature, an incomplete form, or a technical defect can bump a matter to a later date and add months. Much of the waiting in probate is simply time spent in the queue, and there is a limit to how much any attorney can speed up a crowded court.

Disputes Among Heirs

Everything above assumes the process goes smoothly. When family members disagree, the timeline can grow dramatically. A challenge to the will, a dispute over who should serve as representative, a disagreement about selling the house, or a fight over how assets are divided can turn a matter of months into one of years.

Even disagreements that never reach a full courtroom battle slow things down, because the representative often has to pause and resolve the conflict before moving forward.

Why a Funded Living Trust Skips the Wait Entirely

Here is the part worth paying attention to while you are still planning. A properly funded living trust lets your family avoid the probate process altogether. Assets held in the trust pass to your beneficiaries under the direction of your successor trustee, without court supervision, without the public notice process, and without waiting on the court’s calendar.

Instead of a year or more of filings and hearings, trust administration can often begin right away and move at the pace of your family rather than the pace of the court. The key word is funded, because a trust only avoids probate for the assets actually titled in its name. To understand how that works, see our articles on probate and on avoiding it through proper planning in this related post .

The Takeaway

Probate in California is not broken when it takes 12 to 18 months or more. That is simply how long the process is built to take, between notice periods, creditor windows, appraisals, and court scheduling. If that timeline concerns you, the time to act is now, while you can still put a plan in place that keeps your family out of the process entirely.

Learn more about how we help families on our probate services page .

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This article is general information about California law, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.