Do I Need to Let Anyone Know About My Hearing in the Probate Court in Los Angeles County California?
There are many things that you need to do before your hearing in the probate division of the Los Angeles County Superior Court (LASC) in California. That’s the only court division there that handles cases involving probate estates of decedents, conservatorships of incapacitated adults, and trusts subject to court supervision or legal dispute. It also handles all guardianships of minors in need of someone to manage their affairs and all minor’s compromise cases.
This is the third post of a three-part post series. This post series pertains to notice of court hearings in the probate division of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
If you filed a petition, then there are a few different ways that you may need to give notice of the court hearing:
1. Mailing Notice of Hearing;
2. Causing Personal Service of a Citation; and
3. Publishing Notice in a Local Newspaper.
For a discussion of fundamentals of providing notice, see our prior post called “Do I Need to Let Anyone Know About My Hearing in the Probate Court in Los Angeles County California? (Part 1 of 3)“.
For a discussion about mailing notice of the hearing of your petition or your objections or opposition to the petition of someone else, see our prior post called “Do I Need to Let Anyone Know About My Hearing in the Probate Court in Los Angeles County California? (Part 2 of 3)”
Personally Serving a Citation
If you filed the first petition in a conservatorship court proceeding, then you need to have someone personally serve a Citation for Conservatorship. He or she needs to serve it on the person who’s the subject of the conservatorship. In a conservatorship court proceeding, that person’s commonly known as the proposed conservatee. To personally serve means to physically hand the citation to the proposed conservatee. You also must personally serve a copy of the petition with the citation.
It doesn’t matter whether the proposed conservatee understands what the Citation for Conservatorship and the petition say. The act of personally serving those documents is what matters.
Normally at the outset of a case the probate court has no “jurisdiction”, or authority, to make rulings affecting anyone. Personal service of the Citation for Conservatorship on the proposed conservatee provides the court with jurisdiction over him or her.
As with the Notice of Hearing, you can’t personally serve the Citation for Conservatorship and a copy of the petition. Someone other than you needs to do it.
Publishing Notice in a Local Newspaper
If you filed the first petition in a probate decedent’s estate court proceeding, then you need to publish notice. Specifically, you need to have a local newspaper publish the notice. That notice needs to provide information regarding the court hearing of your petition. Then the local newspaper needs to file a Proof of Publication with the court. The theory is that anyone with an interest in the estate of the decedent will see the published notice. That gives them the opportunity to provide pertinent information to the court. This may sound like an outdated procedure in the Internet age; the progress of the court is slow and deliberate!
Get Help from an Experienced Los Angeles County Probate Attorney
Ensuring that you’ve let everyone know about the court hearing of your petition can be tricky. If you do it incorrectly, then the court will need to continue the hearing of your petition. It will need to give you another try to do things correctly. Even worse, the court could deny or dismiss your petition altogether.
Hiring an attorney with experience in the Los Angeles County probate court helps you avoid wasting a lot of time. In addition, the advice and guidance of an attorney experienced with probate court cases is invaluable for attaining your goals in cases involving probate estates of decedents, conservatorships of incapacitated adults, trusts subject to court supervision or legal dispute, guardianships of minors in need of someone to manage their affairs, and minor’s compromises.
At Meinzer Law Firm, P.C., we have over 20 years of experience in the Los Angeles County probate court. Contact Meinzer Law Firm, P.C., in Torrance to assist you with your Los Angeles County probate court case.
