Last verified 2026-07-14 · every fact checked against the primary sources below

How probate works in Los Angeles County

Last verified: July 14, 2026

The short answer: If the person who died lived anywhere in Los Angeles County, you file the Petition for Probate (form DE-111) with the Superior Court's Probate Division. The filing fee is $435. Attorneys must file electronically; if you are handling it yourself, you can file in person at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles or the Michael Antonovich Antelope Valley Courthouse in Lancaster, or e-file voluntarily. Before the hearing, the court publishes "probate notes" for your case online, and you must clear any listed defects by the third court day before the hearing.

Before you file anything, check whether you need probate at all. The simplified paths at the bottom of this page skip the process entirely for many families.

Where you file

Los Angeles County has 36 courthouses, but probate is centralized. It does not matter which of the county's 88 cities the person lived in. There are two probate filing windows (lacourt.ca.gov):

One important change: effective February 2, 2026, the Antelope Valley Courthouse stopped hearing probate matters in person. It still accepts probate filings, both in person and electronic, but the hearings themselves are held by Department 18 at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse on Thursdays and Fridays, under the calendar name "Department AVPR." Antelope Valley litigants can appear remotely through LACourtConnect, use the remote-appearance technology in Department A22 at the Lancaster courthouse, or drive to Department 18 at Stanley Mosk (court notice, Feb. 18, 2026).

What it costs to file

If you e-file, the e-filing service provider charges its own convenience fee on top of the $435. Each provider sets its own price.

How you file

Los Angeles requires electronic filing for attorneys and makes it optional for everyone else. The court's own wording: "Parties represented by attorneys must file documents electronically. Self-represented parties can file documents in-person at the locations below or electronically" (lacourt.ca.gov).

E-filing goes through one of the court's approved electronic filing service providers, listed on the Probate EFiling page. You pick a provider, upload your PDFs, and the provider transmits them to the court.

[TODO-VERIFY: whether LASC requires the original will to be lodged in paper and the exact procedure; the court's Probate EFiling Document Names List governs what can be e-filed]

From filing to first hearing

State law says the hearing on the petition "shall be set for a day not less than 15 nor more than 30 days after the petition is filed," or 30 to 45 days out if you request it (Prob. Code § 8003). In practice, busy departments set hearings based on calendar availability, which is usually further out than the statute suggests. [TODO-VERIFY: current typical weeks from filing to first available hearing date in the LA Probate Division]

Use the gap well. You must publish notice of the hearing in a newspaper and mail notice to heirs before the hearing, and you should watch your probate notes as the date approaches.

Probate notes: how the court talks to you before the hearing

Before your hearing, a court probate attorney or probate examiner reviews your petition and writes "probate notes." The notes summarize the matter and include a "Matters To Clear" section listing anything missing or defective (lacourt.ca.gov).

Check the notes early and more than once. They are updated as you file responses.

Local quirks an executor should know

• Everything funnels through two locations. Do not try to file probate papers at your neighborhood courthouse.
• If your case is assigned to the Antelope Valley calendar, your hearing physically happens at Stanley Mosk in Department 18 on Thursdays or Fridays. Plan travel or register for LACourtConnect.
• The court encourages remote appearances at all probate hearings via audio or video through LACourtConnect, though some hearings still require physical presence by statute or court order (lacourt.ca.gov).
• The three-court-day deadline for clearing probate notes is earlier than it sounds. If your hearing is on a Monday, your last filing day is the prior Tuesday.

Before you file: check the simplified paths

Formal probate is the expensive road. Two shortcuts cover many Los Angeles families, using the thresholds on Judicial Council form DE-300 (rev. April 2025) for deaths on or after April 1, 2025:

For what counts toward those numbers and what skips probate automatically, see our first-30-days guide.

The Estate Desk handles this for California families. theestatedesk.com