How long does a Heggstad Petition take?

Although a Heggstad Petition is quicker and cheaper than probate, the time that a Heggstad Petition takes to complete depends on the county where your petition is filed.

As of this writing, courts in California take 3-11 months to review, hear, and decide Heggstad Petitions. More well-funded courts with ample staff are able to handle Heggstad Petitions in several months. But courts that are low on staff (for funding, covid, or other reasons) can require up to a year to schedule a hearing.

In some cases, courts can grant an “ex parte” Heggstad Petition more quickly. Especially when a sale is pending or when a Heggstad Petition is critical for the continued care of elderly or special needs person, successor trustees can file an ex parte petition for a quicker hearing.

A Heggstad Petition starts with document collection. Before writing the Heggstad Petition itself, your attorney will need (at least): a copy of the trust, any will, a death certificate, and the names and addresses of any trust beneficiaries and heirs of the deceased. Once your attorney has this information, the Heggstad Petition itself can be prepared in 2-3 days. After you approve and sign the Heggstad Petition, the real wait begins.

After your Heggstad Petition is filed, the court will assign a hearing date. Although courts in some counties can assign a hearing date in 2 or 3 months, courts in short staffed counties can schedule hearings 10 months, 11 months, or even a year after the initial filing.

No later than 30 days before the hearing date, all of the beneficiaries of the trust, and in some cases several others, must receive ‘notice’ of the Heggstad Petition, meaning they must be mailed a copy of the petition and a notice of the hearing date, time, and location.

If all of the beneficiaries have not received notice by 30 days before the hearing, the court will dismiss or refuse to consider your Heggstad Petition. So long as some effort has been made to find the beneficiaries, most judges will grant additional time. But that additional time also means that it takes longer to conclude the Heggstad Petition.

Once the court hears and grants your Heggstad Petition, the order needs to be recorded against any homes, usually along with an affidavit of death of trustee.

From start to finish, the Heggstad Petition process can take up to year. So start soon, schedule an appointment with the Law Office of Ravi Patel today to claim your inheritance through a Heggstad Petition.